Kazutaka Nishiyama received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Aeronautics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, in 1993, 1995, and 1998, respectively. He joined WEL Research Company., Ltd., in 1998 and moved to a position of Part-Time Lecturer with the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan, in 1999. He was a Research Engineer with ISAS in 2001 and is now an Associate Professor. His professional areas of interest and work are in space propulsion using plasma, plasma diagnostics, and development of space systems.