I do not normally do research myself, but I support research of other professors in our group. My graduate project group builds full-sized human spacecraft mockups that are then used to support research activities of other professors. An example is build of a human space habitat to be used by the Habitats Optimized for Missions of Exploration (HOME) research team. HOME is a NASA research project that funds four professors and several graduate students in the Bioastronautics Group in the AES Department. Another research project supported was the Trinity Team that is working under a NASA grant to conduct research on training in a virtual environment compared to a real environment. My graduate project team built and tested a full size, functional lunar rover mockup to use as the real-world environment for the research. Recently my graduate project class designed a medical clinic for Mars and translated that design into a full-sized trailer to be used as a simulated Mars medical clinic. The fully-functional trailer/clinic simulator will be used at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah to support the Medicine in Space and Surface Environments class taught by CU Boulder AES Department and CU Anschutz Department of Emergency Medicine. Current project work involves working with the Boeing Company on design of a Mars Transit Vehicle. I did participate as a Research Collaborator for the NASA Inspires proposal with Dr. Luis Zea and Dr. Allison Anderson - IXCHEL - Investigating eXoplanetary and Cosmic radiation biological Hazard Extenuation with Lunar regolith.
keywords
space habitat design and human factors
Teaching
courses taught
ASEN 3036 - Introduction to Human Spaceflight
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
Introduces students to the challenges of human space flight. Historical and current space programs and spacecraft are discussed with emphasis on those systems specific to sustaining human crews. Other topics include space environment with respect to sustaining human life and health, physiological and psychological concerns in a space habitat, astronaut selection and training, anomalies, mission operations motivation, costs rationale for human space exploration, and future program directions. Not accepted as a Professional Area Elective for ASEN majors. Approved for upper-division Humanities and Social Science elective for engineering students.
ASEN 5018 - Graduate Projects I
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024
Exposes MS and PhD students to project management and systems engineering disciplines while working a complex aerospace engineering project as part of a project team. The project team may perform some or all of the following project activities during this first semester of the two-semester course sequence: requirements, definition, design and design review, build, test, and verification. Recommended prerequisite: ASEN 4138 or ASEN 5148 or ASEN 5158 or instructor consent required.
ASEN 6028 - Graduate Projects II
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024
Exposes MS and PhD students to leadership positions in project management and systems engineering while working a complex aerospace engineering project as part of a project team. The project team may perform some or all of the following project activities during this second semester of the two-semester course sequence: requirements definition, design and design review, build, test, and verification. Recommended prerequisite: ASEN 4138 or ASEN 5148 or ASEN 5018 or ASEN 5158 or instructor consent required.
