MDRS Crew 78
Feb. 28, 2009 - Mar. 13, 2009
Daily Crew Reports

Name	Speciality
Vincent Beaudry	Commander
Kathryn Denning	Crew Journalist / Antropologist
Balwant Rai	Health and Safety Officer
Grier Wilt	Crew Biologist
Dirk Geeroms	Crew Astronomer
Judah Epstein	Crew Engineer / Executive Officer

Vincent Beaudry	Vincent Beaudry is a junior mechanical engineer, currently completing his Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering, at McGill University, specializing in both aeronautics and space engineering. He recently completed his internship with CAE Inc., the world's leader in the aircraft simulation industry, where he held a position as software developer specialist for the Engine performance division. Having lived and moved all around the world, from Ivory Coast, to Argentina, then Lebanon and finally Canada, Vincent refined his social skills and developed a never-ending curiosity and interest for the unknown. In between his many travels, he still got the opportunity to try out and attain a competitive level in many different sports, as judo, soccer and fencing. For the latter one, Vincent even reached the international level by competing at four different World Championships as a member of the Canadian Team. It was in fact during his high school years, that he developed an interest in space exploration through an astronomy class, realizing that by looking at the stars, we were actually staring at the past. With his private pilot license currently underway, Vincent hopes that he will one day become an astronaut, his greatest goal being to lead the first man-mission to an extra-planetary journey. Taking part in this MDRS project thus brings him one-step closer to his ultimate dream.
Kathryn Denning	Kathryn Denning is a professor in Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies at York University in Canada, where she greatly enjoys teaching archaeology because the subject and her students are both endlessly engaging. She holds a BA and MA in Anthropology from McMaster University, Canada, and a PhD in Archaeology and Prehistory from the University of Sheffield, UK. Broadly speaking, her research examines scholarly and popular ideas about Others, their relationships to us, and how we can know them. The Others she studies include the ancient (in archaeology), the animal (in zoos), the alien (particularly in SETI), and the undead (from Bodyworlds plastinates to vampire folklore). Her space-related work has included publications, conference papers, sessions, and workshops on aspects of SETI related to anthropology, particularly debates concerning interstellar messaging, contact, technological and social evolution, and the projected social impact of a future SETI or astrobiological detection. (She is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics' SETI Permanent Study Group.) She is also working on an ethnography of scientific SETI, which has involved learning about past and present radioastronomy, and observatories. She is currently co-PI of a project with the SETI Institute and the NASA Astrobiology Institute, producing a resource centre for the interdisciplinary study of the evolution of intelligence on Earth. This is her first stint at the MDRS, and marks the beginning of a new research focus on "knowing Mars". She is very fond of nature, ancient places, Segways, scuba diving, falling off surfboards, and things with stripes.
Balwant Rai	Balwant Rai (25 years) is passionate about all aspects of space research, especially on exploring the Martian biological effect on the human body. As many others involved in the MDRS project, he was inspired at an early age by the space program. However, Dr. Robert Zubin's book The Case for Mars and Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam's speech about Living on Mars were definitely a true inspiration. Rai is the founder of Aeronautic Dentistry and proposed its curriculum and guideline currently in place. He is also founder of the BR formula and BR Regression equation used in forensic technology. Not only has Rai wrote 5 books, two of which are still in press, he is also Editor in Chief of four international journals and even plans on starting a new one entitled Life on Mars. His current work concerns the effect of microgravity on oral cavity and includes the elaboration of an instrument to prevent its adverse effect on oral cavity. Rai published over 100 articles on subjects as aeronautic dentistry, microgravity and human factors, antioxidant, cancer markers, saliva, oral and systemic diseases, and forensic dentistry. His biography was even published in Who's Who in Health and Medicine, USA. He is an invited reviewer of NRF, South Africa, expert reviewer of more than 10 different journals, and pending 2 patents. Rai earned his BDS under the guidance of Professor S C Anand, Professor Simmi Kharb and Dr Rajnish K Jain, from the Govt Dental College, PGIMS, Rohtak, India. Rai is currently in the final stages of his masters degree in forensic odontology under the guidance of forensic odontologist, Professor G.Willems, and plans to begin a PhD as well as MS in astrobiology soon after . Rai's role for MDRS crew 78 (Health and Safety Officer) will be to explore the impacts on oral and systemic effect of the MDRS environment. His focus will be the oral hygiene and on the heart related factors of crewmembers in this unique environment. Being more of an aeronautic dentist, he is most excited to get his sterilized hands in some oral space experiment! He hopes to continue with some form of astro-oral biology and marsonauntic research throughout his career, alongside dentistry, biotechnology and biochemistry. In his spare time, Rai listens to enigmas and enjoys reading about new technologies and discoveries.
Grier Wilt	Grier Wilt is currently pursuing Mechanical Engineering and International Studies degrees at The Pennsylvania State University. Grier serves as a mentor for the Women in Engineering Program and as an envoy for both the College of Engineering's Co-op Program and International Program. She is also involved with Penn State's Dance MaraTHON, Engineering House, Society of Women Engineers and American Society of Mechanical Engineers. With a lifelong dream of working for NASA, Grier's aspirations were finally realized when she began working as a co-op at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. She worked on NASA's new space program, Constellation. At Johnson Space Center's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, Grier served as project engineer for the 1/4 scale Crew Exploration Vehicle Water Egress and Survival Trainer and enjoyed her experience immensely. In May she will return to NASA for two more rotations before graduating and hopes to eventually work there fulltime. With a strong belief in international cooperation for space exploration and the advancement of science and technology, Grier looks forward to being a part of this international crew. She has completed an international internship at the Institute for Microsystems Technology (IMTEK) in Freiburg, Germany. At IMTEK, she conducted biomedical engineering research on neuroprosthetics that aids in the development of brain-machine interfaces for prosthetics in humans. Grier will be serving as the Crew Biologist for Expedition 78 and looks forward to her mission.
Dirk Geeroms	Dirk Geeroms has always been fascinated by space related subjects. His first challenge was a speech for his primary school peers about the space shuttle mock-up in the early 1980's. The need to understand the underlying principles of nature led him to the faculty of sciences. In 1994 he earned his master's degree in physics from the University of Leuven in Belgium with a thesis about the heating of the Sun's chromosphere. To share his passion for nature with interested teenagers, he very soon became a high school physics and maths teacher at the Stedelijke Humaniora of Dilsen. In June 2007 he had the luck to participate in an international space camp for educators in Huntsville, Alabama, completely paid by Honeywell. He came back with a boost of new educational ideas and was made a 'space teacher' by the Belgian Euro Space Society. To use English as the communication tool in his lessons, he started a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) project in his school in 2007. Since 2009 he's also been coaching students at the University of Hasselt to help them pass the entrance exam for the medicine faculty.
Judah Epstein	Judah Epstein thrives on exploration and adventure. Exploring Mars is the ultimate journey. And participating as crew engineer/XO MDRS is one step closer to achieving this reality. Judah has ventured on many excursions such as aqueduct development and Wounaan Indian expeditions deep in the Jungles of Panama, Muay Thai kickboxing training in Thailand, catching Anaconda and Piranha in Venezuela, medic in Jerusalem, military hurricane deployments and medical missions on the TX/MX border, staff leader/guide in Israel, adventure races in US, MX, Norway, and the 7 day Jungle Marathon 200+KM in the Amazon Jungle. Judah works as Engineer In Charge in the oilfield. His responsibilities include working as a field engineer at the wellsite in addition to managing field and workshop operations for Fayetteville Shale developments. Judah's work includes operation, maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair of electrical/mechanical/hydraulic downhole robotic tools for use in the oil/gas/coal industry for horizontal well conveyance of perforating explosives, recovery, logging, and geoseismic operations. Judah has worked in Norway, Canada, Denmark, and throughout the USA. Judah also serves as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff, 2LT in the TX State Guard (currently in Medical Unit and previously Military Police), and in the Civil Air Patrol. Judah is currently Chairman and Founder of the Central Arkansas Study Group of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He is also active in the IEEE (Electrical Engineers), serving on the IEEE-CVT Board and previously as Chairman/Founder of his collegiate Branch. Judah graduated from SMU with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. While at SMU, Judah interned in the Robotics Laboratory working on the Pneumatic Haptic Interface system, and he also competed on the Varsity NCAA Division 1 Tennis Team. He then graduated from UTD with an M.S. in Management/Entrepreneurship. In Judah's free time he enjoys many activities such as tennis, scuba diving (professional divemaster), rock/ice climbing, skiing, kayaking, mountain biking, eating chocolate cookies and ice cream, ping pong, competitive shooting, archery, HAM radio, softball, racquetball, hiking, and basically all other fun activities. Judah's future plan is to continue the adventure. This may include acquiring a Wilderness EMT, completing his pilot's license (currently certified for solo flight), obtaining an advanced degree in the geosciences, exploratory scuba diving for pirate shipwreck treasures, and continuing space exploration through additional research expeditions and aspiration of becoming the ultimate explorer; an astronaut journeying to Mars. Goals for this rotation: Ensure proper functionality of equipment through maintenance and repair as needed Assist commander to ensure smooth execution of mission responsibilities Assist crewmembers on science and technical research projects Along with fellow crewmembers, make a positive contribution to the MDRS project to enhance knowledge for future missions to Mars.

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