MDRS Crew 27
March 28 - April 10, 2004

During the active field season, the crew of the Mars Desert Research Station rotates every 2 weeks. These are the scientists and engineers who live and work on site within the MDRS. They explore all of the facets of human exploration in a simulated Mars environment. The MDRS will be active for a 7 month period.

Name	Speciality
Alejandro R. Diaz	Commander
Pete Collins	Ecologist
William Foltyn	Geology/Geophysics
Wil McCarthy	Journalist/Engineer
James Russell	Biochemical Engineer
Julie Wardlow	Astrophysics

Alejandro R. Diaz	Alex Diaz was born in Peru in 1975. Reside in Los Angeles, CA, USA since 1985. He has six-years experience at The Boeing Company in the ExtraVehicular & Crew Systems Team of the International Space Station program. During this time, he has been able to see and participate in the day to day activities of how manned space vehicles are designed, integrated, manufactured and launched. Furthermore, as a member of the Boeing ISS EV&CS SCUBA dive team, he has been able to dive with the Astronaut-crew in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) tank at JSC in preparation for ISS Assembly flights. He holds an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC - 2001), a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA - 1998), and he's a graduate of the International Space University (ISU SSP 2002). Currently, he's pursuing an M.A. in Latin American Studies from UCLA. His career goals are to apply his professional and academic experience to future human space exploration, and to assist in the development of space technology utilization and space exploration research in Latin America. One of the potential developments that he sees for Latin America is the utilization of the deserts of southern Peru and northern Chile as future Mars Analog research sites (similar to MDRS). On a personal note, he likes to read, swim, play soccer, and travel. He also enjoys spending time with his family, loved ones, and friends.
Pete Collins	Born in the UK, in 1980. After A-levels, I worked in Vietnam for three months as a volunteer for an environmental NGO, Frontier, doing research in Ben En National Park. Next, I worked for over a year at South East Water, UK, as a chemistry analyst mainly doing trace level pesticide and PAH analysis. In 2000 I went to study for a BSc in Ecology at the University of East Anglia. I am currently working for Norfolk Social Services, but my interest in science has led me to the MDRS, and an Open University short course called Exploring Mars. As an ecologist, I am particularly interested in the Greenhab, but having never been to a desert before I can't wait to get outside in a spacesuit and see the view!
William Foltyn	William Foltyn grew up in Sussex County New Jersey with his parents William and Patricia Foltyn and brother Buddy. Early in his life he became interested in space travel and the obvious need to reach beyond the cradle of the Earth. Movies like Star Trek: TOS, Star Wars, and Blade Runner only encouraged Bill's imagination and drive to pursue knowledge of Astronomy, Mechanics, and Geology. Trips with his Father to view late night meteor showers and fictional tales of aliens and adventures of other worlds helped fuel the interest of space and beyond. Bill Graduated in 1991 from the University of Colorado at Boulder, with a B.S Degree in Geology/Geophysics and a minor in Astroplanetary Sciences. He has participated in Civil Engineering and Geotechnical consulting for residential and commercial building projects. In 1996-1998 assisted Dr Peter D. Baker DC, in researching and developing biomechanical and nutritional relationships to optimize training effects of high performance athletes. Bill later went on to earn various computer science and information technology certifications and has been teaching and consulting in the IT field since. Bill will typically seek enjoyment by doing any challenging and adventurous activity. He has seen black coral SCUBA'ing in the deeps of Belize, undersea lava flows in Hawaii, has hiked, skied, climbed, and biked many of Colorado's 14,000ft. Peaks. He has been seen traveling throughout a large portion of the US and Mexico. William has recently married Liz Murray, who has graciously deferred the honeymoon for this experience of a lifetime. Currently William Foltyn is the VP for the www.RMWTUG.org, and with his businesses partner Steven Weisberg, owns www.L3Computing.com and consults Colorado Front Range businesses in developing IT solutions for small and medium offices. "I am pleased and honored to be part of a program which encourages space exploration for our civilization" - wjfiii
Wil McCarthy	I'm one of those people who never decided what to be, so I'm an engineer, journalist, and science fiction novelist. Specifically, I'm a former contributing editor for WIRED magazine and the science columnist for the SciFi channel's web site, where my "Lab Notes" column has been running since 1999. As a lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, I've been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, AnLab and Theodore Sturgeon awards. My short fiction has appeared in Analog, Asimov's, WIRED, SF Age, and other assorted magazines and anthologies, and my novels include the New York Times Notable Bloom, Amazon.com "Best of Y2K" The Collapsium (a national bestseller) and, most recently, Lost In Transmission. I spent 9 years as a guidance and navigation engineer for Lockheed Martin Space Launch Systems, then another year as a mission analyst for the Space Systems division, before quitting to spend three years as a project engineering manager for Omnitech Robotics. Currently I'm a partner in a small aerospace research company, Galileo Shipyards, with projects ranging from rockets to high-altitiude ballons to quantum nanoelectronics. My only nonfiction book, HACKING MATTER, describes the ongoing research by major corporations and university laboratories, as well as my own company, into quantum-dot based "programmable matter." I was born in New Jersey in 1966, and although I travel a lot and am an avid scuba diver, I've spent most of my life in Colorado.
James Russell	Jim Russell is a research assistant at the University of Colorado in Aerospace Engineering Sciences where he has been employed for the last 2 years by BioServe Space Technologies. He has worked with Bioserve on several spaceflight payloads and on the development of a long term air treatment system for a mouse space habitat. Currently, Jim's PhD research is on Human Space Mission Metrics for the selection of Advanced Life Support Technologies as an alternative to the current metric Equivalent System Mass. His experience includes research into Bioregenerative Life Support Technologies while getting his BS and MS from Rutgers University in Bioresource Engineering and Chemical Engineering, respectively. As part of the MDRS crew 27, Jim hopes to gain some insight and anecdotal data about crew time for different tasks and the different factors that impair crew productivity. In addition to his BioServe and PhD research responsibilities, Jim finds time to support undergraduate research into the biosensor applications of Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). In the coming years, Jim hopes to continue his EIS research as a postdoctoral student and pursue a career as a professor in the field of space life sciences.
Julie Wardlow	I was born in 1985 in England, I now live in Dorset (on the South coast) and having finished my A levels I'm now in the first year of a Physics and Astronomy degree at the University of Durham. Outside of studying I enjoy swimming and occasionally take part in badminton. In the future I would like to be involved in the space program but first I plan to finish my degree and then do a phD in astronomy/astrophysics/cosmolgy.