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Steering Committee and Staff Biographical Information

STEERING COMMITTEE

ROBERT J. FERL, Co-Chair, is a distinguished professor and the assistant vice president for research at the University of Florida. His research includes analysis of the fundamental biological processes involved in plant physiological adaptations to environments, with an emphasis on the environmental opportunities presented by space exploration. He is an expert in plant gene responses to environmental stresses and the signal transduction processes that control those responses. His research has taken him to the high Canadian Arctic to study biological responses to remote terrestrial impact craters and to Antarctica to investigate advanced plant production in support of space exploration habitats. His honors include the NASA Medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and Exceptional Public Service. He previously served on the National Academies’ Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space: Plant and Microbial Biology Panel (2009–2011) and as the co-chair of the Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space.

KRYSTYN J. VAN VLIET, Co-Chair, is a professor of engineering and the vice president for research and innovation at Cornell University, Cornell Tech, and Weill Cornell Medicine. At the outset of this study and survey, she was the Koerner Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her research focuses on material chemomechanics: the material behavior at the interface of mechanics, chemistry, physics, and biology, and, in particular, thermodynamically metastable surfaces and interfaces. Van Vliet served previously as MIT associate provost and associate vice president for research, overseeing campus space management, technology licensing, and corporate relations, and co-directed the MIT Biomedical Engineering Minor Program. As MIT faculty, Van Vliet also conducted research in Singapore, where her interdisciplinary team invented and developed new technology platforms for diagnostics and treatment of cell and tissue disease, as well as cell therapy manufacturing solutions.

ADAM P. ARKIN is the Dean A. Richard Newton Memorial Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Arkin is the director of the Center for Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space. The center seeks microbial and plant-based biological solutions for in situ resource utilization that reduce the launch mass and improve reliability and quality of food, pharmaceuticals, fuels, and materials for astronauts on a mission to Mars.

Arkin’s laboratory for systems and synthetic biology seeks to uncover the evolutionary design principles of cellular networks and populations and to exploit them for applications in the areas of systems and synthetic biology, environmental microbiology of bacteria and viruses, bioenergy, biomedicine, and bioremediation. Arkin earned a PhD in physical chemistry from MIT.

SUSAN M. BAILEY is a professor and radiation cancer biologist in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences at Colorado State University. Part of Bailey’s current research program includes being one of 10 investigations selected for the NASA Twins Study, an integrated effort to launch human space life science research into a new era of molecular or “omics”-based studies. Bailey and her team assessed changes in telomere length and telomerase activity, DNA damage responses in the space- and Earth-bound twins and in a cohort of unrelated astronauts, and matched ground control subjects. Bailey previously served on the National Academies’ Committee to Review NASA’s Evidence Reports on Human Health Risks. She serves on the editorial board of two scientific journals, is an author on over 70 peer-reviewed publications and three book chapters, and is an inventor on one patent application. Bailey received a PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

DEBJYOTI BANERJEE is a professor of mechanical engineering and petroleum engineering and the dean’s fellow in the Inter-Collegiate School of Engineering Medicine at Texas A&M University. Previously, he was a hiring manager of the Fluidics and Device Engineering Group at Applied Biosystems (Life Technologies). Banerjee received 17 U.S. patents. His research interests are in thermal-fluids sciences—for example, multiphase flows with phase change (e.g., the “nanoFin Effect” in boiling and condensation), thermal management (chip cooling), thermal energy storage (phase change materials), micro/nano-fluidics (confined fluids), lab-on-chip technologies (neural organoids, diagnostics), bio-MEMS, bio/nano-technologies (Dip-Pen Nanolithography, nano-calorimetry/“nano-nose”), sustainability (desalination) and renewable energy (molten salt nanofluids for nuclear and concentrated-solar power), food-energy-water nexus—including smart-irrigation/precision-agriculture (e.g., for microgravity), and numerical simulations (lumped/network models, finite elements analyses, computational fluids/heat transfer, molecular dynamics, and machine learning).

PAUL M. CHAIKIN is a Silver Professor of Physics at New York University. He joined the physics faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in 1972 and studied thermopower, density waves, and high field phenomena mostly in organic superconductors. The lure of actually seeing the microscopics of a system led him to soft matter. He helped develop techniques to measure elasticity and motion and understand colloidal interactions. His hard and soft matter interests continued after joining the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania (1983), the staff at Exxon Research (1983), and the faculty at Princeton University (1988). His interests in geometry/topology led to his founding contributions to diblock copolymer nanolithography and studies of defects, annealing, and pattern formation. He helped demonstrate and explain why ellipsoids pack more densely than spheres. In 2005 he helped found the Center for Soft Matter Research at New York University. His more recent research centers on artificial self-replication, self-assembly, active matter, DNA nanotechnology, topological defects on curved surfaces, and quantifying order far from equilibrium.

KATHLEEN E. CULLEN is a professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience, and Otolaryngology, and the co-director of the Center for Hearing and Balance at Johns Hopkins University. Cullen founded and directs Johns Hopkins’ Systems Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Laboratory, which spans the interdisciplinary fields of neural engineering and neuroscience, harnessing the power of innovative computational and neurophysiological methodologies. In addition to those research activities, Cullen currently serves as the program chair and vice president of the Society for the Neural Control of Movement. Cullen has long been committed to improving diversity in science, including the promotion, visibility, and representation of women and underrepresented minorities. Cullen has been an active member of the scientific advisory board of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, which works with NASA to identify health risks in extended space flight. Cullen earned a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Chicago.

DANIEL H. GESCHWIND is the Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics, Neurology and Psychiatry at UCLA and the lead of the Geschwind Laboratory. Geschwind is also the founder, senior associate dean, and associate vice chancellor of the Institute for Precision Health at UCLA. Geschwind is a pioneer in the transcriptomic and functional genomic analyses of the healthy nervous system and the application of systems biology methods in brain disease. Geschwind defined the molecular pathology of autism and several other major psychiatric disorders and has made major contributions to discover new pathways involved in neurodegeneration and to facilitate neural regeneration. Geschwind has received several awards for his laboratory’s work, including the Gold Medal from the Society of Biological Psychiatry and the Ruane Prize, and he is an elected member of the American Association of Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine. Geschwind earned an MD and a PhD in neurobiology from the Yale University School of Medicine.

ROBERT W. HYERS is the George I. Alden Professor and the head of the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a principal scientist and owner of RHA Materials, LLC, which offers contract research and consulting on materials processing and properties to the government and academic institutions as well as private businesses. Previously, Hyers was the president and chief technology officer of the Boston Electrometallurgical Corporation and a staff scientist at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center/Electrostatic Levitation Laboratory. Hyers’s research includes high-temperature materials, condition monitoring and prognosis of structures, and physics-based modeling of materials processing and failure. Hyers holds a patent for porous hydroxyapatite networks for synthetic bone material. Hyers is a fellow at ASM International. Hyers earned a PhD in materials engineering from MIT.

YIGUANG JU is the Robert Porter Patterson Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and serves as the director of the sustainable energy program at Princeton University. Ju’s research interests include combustion, fuels, and low carbon energy conversion in the areas of near limit and supercritical combustion, plasma-assisted combustion and chemical manufacturing, alternative fuels, chemical kinetics, and energy materials. Ju is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a founding fellow of the Combustion Institute, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Combustion Institute and the Institute for Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems. Ju’s awards include the Distinguished Paper Award from the International Symposium on Combustion, the NASA Director’s Certificate of Appreciation award, the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the International Prize from the Japanese Combustion Society, and the Propellants and Combustion Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Ju earned a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Tohoku University.

CHRISTOPHER E. MASON is a professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, with appointments at the Tri-Institutional Program in Computational Biology and Medicine, the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, and the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute. Mason’s laboratory develops and deploys computational and experimental methodologies to identify the functional genetic elements of the human genome and metagenome. The laboratory performs research in three principal areas: (1) molecular profiling in patients with extreme phenotypes, including brain malformations, aggressive cancers, and astronauts; (2) creating new biochemical and computational techniques in DNA/RNA sequencing and DNA/RNA base modifications; and (3) the development of models for cellular and genome engineering. These systems-based methods can enable a better understanding of the functional elements of the human genome and metagenome, such that these genetic networks for ameliorating disease can be repaired or reengineered and the foundation can be laid for long-term human spaceflight and exploration. Mason completed a PhD in genetics at Yale University.

MICHAEL J. PECAUT is a research professor and the vice chair in the Division of Biomedical Engineering Sciences at Loma Linda University. In the past 30 years, Pecaut has focused on the gravitational and radiation components of the spaceflight environment. In addition to actual space flight opportunities involving rodent models (STS-77, -108, -118, -135 and RR-3, -9, -12, -18), flight conditions have been modeled using a variety of forcing functions, including anti-orthostatic tail suspension, centrifugation, and low dose/low dose rate radiation. Further

research has focused on immune function. Pecaut earned a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder.

WILLIE S. ROCKWARD is a chair and a professor of physics at Morgan State University. Research interests include micro/nano-optics lithography, extreme ultraviolet interferometry, metamaterials, and the spectroscopy of binary stars. As the department chair, Rockward investigated the barriers faced by the Department of Physics of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and launched the We C.A.R.E. approach meant to improve the overall number of African Americans in physics and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Rockward previously served as a tenured professor at Morehouse College, where he also served as the chair of the Department of Physics and Dual Degree Engineering Program and as the research director of the Materials and Optics Research and Engineering Laboratory. Rockward is also a former president of the National Society of Black Physicists. Rockward received a PhD in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

ELBA E. SERRANO is a Regents Professor of Biology at New Mexico State University (NMSU). Serrano’s research focuses on the sensory systems for hearing and balance, neurogenetics, and glial neurobiology. An advocate for interdisciplinary research and education, Serrano is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the recipient of a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. Serrano serves as the NMSU lead principal investigator for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) National STEM Resource Hub, a capacity-building and faculty development initiative that aspires to increase STEM student success at over 550 HSI across all 50 states and the U.S. territories. Her honors include being named one of 100 inspiring Hispanic/Latinx scientists in America. Serrano received a PhD in biological sciences from Stanford University with an emphasis in neuroscience and biophysics.

PETER VOROBIEFF is a professor and the assistant chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Mexico. Before joining the ranks of the academia, Vorobieff worked in a variety of places including the Russian Association of Space Explorers and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Primary research interests lie in the area of fundamental hydrodynamic instability studies. Distinctions include being named the Halliburton Professor at the University of New Mexico School of Engineering and 2015 Professor of the Year by Pi Tau Sigma International Mechanical Engineering Honor Society. Vorobieff earned a PhD in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics from Lehigh University.

RONALD L. WALSWORTH is the Minta Martin Professor in the Departments of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering and the founding director of the Quantum Technology Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. Walsworth leads an interdisciplinary research group with a focus on developing precision measurement tools and then applying them to problems in both the physical and life sciences. Honors include the Francis Pipkin Award in Precision Measurements, American Physical Society; a Distinguished Traveling Lecturer, American Physical Society; and a fellow of the American Physical Society. Walsworth earned a PhD in physics from Harvard University.

SARAH WYATT is a professor in the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology and the director of Interdisciplinary Molecular and Cellular Biology graduate program at Ohio University. Wyatt’s research interests include transition of floral dimorphisms; plant signaling, especially as it relates to the response to gravity; and the use of genetic, genomic, proteomic, and bioinformatics strategies to identify novel signaling components. The Wyatt Laboratory uses molecular, genetic, and genomic tools to study plant growth and development and has run several experiments aboard the International Space Station. Wyatt is a fellow of the American Society of Plant Biology. Wyatt received a PhD in plant physiology and molecular biology from Purdue University.

ZHUOMIN ZHANG is the J. Erskine Love, Jr. Professor of Heat Transfer, Combustion, and Energy Systems at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Zhang engages in a broad spectrum of research in heat transfer and thermophysical

engineering, including measurements of the radiative properties and optical response of high-temperature superconducting thin-film materials and devices; thermal modeling of absolute cryogenic radiometers, space-based solar radiometers, and pulsed-laser calorimeters; radiation temperature measurement for rapid thermal processing (RTP) and heat transfer modeling of RTP systems; and investigation of the bidirectional reflectance of rough silicon wafers. Zhang is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the AAAS. Zhang received a PhD in mechanical engineering from MIT.

STAFF

DWAYNE A. DAY is a senior program officer and a study director at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He has served as the study director for the planetary sciences decadal survey midterms, as well as assisted on previous planetary science and astrophysics decadal surveys. He has also served as the study director for studies on NASA’s near Earth objects efforts, advanced aerial mobility, and the size of the NASA astronaut corps. Prior to coming to the National Academies, he was an investigator on the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and the historian for the Congressional Budget Office, and worked for the U.S. Air Force and The George Washington University Space Policy Institute. He is a frequent author on civil, military, and intelligence space history and policy and a former Guggenheim Fellow and Verville Fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

ARUL MOZHI is a senior program officer and an associate director of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) and the Space Studies Board (SSB) at the National Academies. Since 1999, Mozhi has been directing projects in the areas of defense and broader science and technology carried out by numerous committees of ASEB, SSB, the Laboratory Assessments Board, the Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board, the Naval Studies Board, and the National Materials and Manufacturing Board. Prior to joining the National Academies, Mozhi held technical and management positions in systems engineering and applied materials research and development (R&D) at several small- and mid-size high-tech R&D and consulting companies in the Washington, DC, and Boston areas—UTRON, Roy F. Weston, and Marko Materials. He received his MS and PhD (the latter in 1986) in materials engineering from The Ohio State University and then served as a postdoctoral research associate there for 2 years. He received his B.Tech. in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1982.

GREGORY MACK served as a senior program officer at the National Academies. Along with managing the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Committee on Radio Frequencies, he was the study co-director for the Astro2020 decadal survey and is also the study co-director for the Biological and Physical Sciences Research in Space Decadal Survey. Prior to the National Academies, Mack was a government relations professional at the APS, a program director in the Division of Astronomical Sciences at NSF, an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow placed in the Division of Physics at NSF, and a visiting assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Ohio Wesleyan University. Mack received his PhD in physics from The Ohio State University with a focus on theoretical astrophysics. His research concerned theoretical particle astrophysics and cosmology, specifically the particle properties of dark matter.

SANDRA J. GRAHAM has served as a senior program officer at the National Academies’ SSB since 1994. During that time Graham has directed a large number of major studies, many of them focused on space research in biological and physical sciences and technology, including the comprehensive 2011 decadal survey, Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Microgravity Sciences Research for a New Era. High-profile studies in other areas have included an assessment of servicing options for the Hubble Space Telescope, a study of the societal impacts of severe space weather, and the Pathways to Exploration report reviewing the U.S. human space program. Prior to joining the SSB, Graham held the position of senior scientist at the Bionetics Corporation, where she provided technical and science management support for NASA’s Microgravity Science and Applications Division. Graham’s honors include the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Distinguished Service Award, the NRC Division on

Engineering and Physical Sciences Exceptional Achievement Award, and the Orr-Reynolds Distinguished Service Award from the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research. She is a member of the American Chemical Society and the Project Management Institute. She received her PhD in inorganic chemistry from Duke University, where her research focused on rate modeling and reaction chemistry for biological metal complexes and their analogs.

JULIE ANNE SCHUCK is a senior program officer at the National Academies. In this role, Schuck regularly manages projects and staff teams; supports ad hoc expert committees and facilitates their work and consensus building; provides analytical, administrative, and editorial support for studies, convening activities, and report development; and serves as a technical writer. Projects have covered a wide range of subjects, including this study; law and justice issues; challenges in the implementation of health care; national security; STEM education; the science of human-system integration; workforce development; and the evaluations of several federal research programs. Schuck received a BS in engineering physics from the University of California, San Diego, and an MS in education from Cornell University.

ERIK SVEDBERG is a National Materials and Manufacturing Board Scholar at the National Academies, where he has been employed since 2008. In this role, he works with experts from across the nation to develop, negotiate, and oversee scientific and technical advisory studies for federal agencies related to questions of materials science, manufacturing, and engineering design. His previous and current activities at the National Academies include work as a study director for Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems; Research Opportunities in Corrosion Science and Engineering; Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications; Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation; A Quadrennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative: Nanoscience, Applications, and Commercialization; Airline Passenger Security Screening: New Technologies and Implementation Issues; Frontiers of Materials Research: A Decadal Survey; Strategic Long-Term Participation by DoD in Its Manufacturing USA Institutes; and High-Performance Bolting Technology for Offshore Oil and Natural Gas Operations. His work also includes overseeing workshops such as Big Data in Materials Research and Development; Limited Affordable Low-Volume Manufacturing; Materials and Manufacturing Capabilities for Sustaining Defense Systems; Novel Processes for Advanced Manufacturing: Summary of a Workshop; and Domestic Manufacturing Capabilities for Critical DoD Applications: Emerging Needs in Quantum-Enabled Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop. Svedberg has a decade of industry experience with both small and large companies in the materials science area and has been a guest researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology for several years. He has been awarded and overseen five research grants and has published over 80 scientific articles, been granted two patents, and is cited over 1,700 times with an h-index of 22. His PhD and master’s degree are in materials science and he is a fellow of the AAAS, the American Vacuum Society, and the Washington Academy of Science, including being its 2019 leadership in material science award recipient.

STEVEN MOSS served as a senior program officer with the Board on Life Sciences at the National Academies. During his tenure at the National Academies, Moss has focused on the future of the bioeconomy, biotechnology, and needs for the future of research in the life sciences. In addition to his role at the National Academies, Moss is the secretary of the Committee for Environmental Improvement of the American Chemical Society and a member of the Political Action Committee of the Biophysical Society. Prior to joining the National Academies, Moss received his PhD in chemistry and chemical biology from the University of California, San Francisco, where he focused on the signaling pathways of infectious bacteria.

GAYBRIELLE HOLBERT joined the SSB and the ASEB as a program assistant in 2019. In this role, she assists with ongoing projects and workshops by providing logistics, report creation, and project support including the Standing Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space. She previously worked as a communication specialist for the United Black Fund Inc. a non-profit organization that helped inner-city youth by providing after-school programs, scholarships, and resources to engage and enhance their educational needs. Prior to that,

she was the social media consultant for the Development Corporation of Columbia Heights, a non-profit advocacy platform that supports responsible, community-focused economic development and as a production assistant for a startup multimedia production company. She holds a BA in mass media communications from the University of the District of Columbia.

DIONNA WISE is a program coordinator with the SSB, having previously worked for the National Academies’ Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Recently, she was the lead study coordinator for the Astro2020 decadal survey. Wise has a long career in office administration, having worked as a supervisor in several capacities and fields. She attended the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and majored in psychology.

COLLEEN N. HARTMAN joined the National Academies in 2018, as the director for both the SSB and the ASEB. In 2021, she additionally became the director for the Board on Physics and Astronomy. After beginning her government career as a presidential management intern under Ronald Reagan, Hartman worked on Capitol Hill for House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Don Fuqua as a senior engineer building spacecraft at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and as a senior policy analyst at the White House. She has served as Planetary Division director, deputy associate administrator, and acting associate administrator at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, as deputy assistant administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and as deputy center director and director of science and exploration at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Hartman has built and launched scientific balloon payloads, overseen the development of hardware for a variety of Earth-observing spacecraft, and served as NASA program manager for dozens of missions, the most successful of which was the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). Data from the COBE spacecraft gained two NASA-sponsored scientists the Nobel Prize in physics in 2006. She also played a pivotal role in developing innovative approaches to powering space probes destined for the solar system’s farthest reaches. While at NASA Headquarters, she spearheaded the selection process for the New Horizons probe to Pluto. She helped gain administration and congressional approval for an entirely new class of funded missions that are competitively selected, called “New Frontiers,” to explore the planets, asteroids, and comets in the solar system. She has several master’s degrees and a PhD in physics. Hartman has received numerous awards, including two prestigious Presidential Rank Awards.