Reports from the MDRS
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| Name | Speciality |
| John Thaler | Commander |
| Anna Grinberg | Executive Officer |
| Perry Edmundson | Chief Engineer |
| Michele Faragalli | Surface Exploration Systems (SES) Engineer |
| Nasim Kaveh | Field Engineering Systems (FES) Engineer |
| Cheryl Ann Wartman | Biologist |
| Kerry Cupit | Geologist |
| Arthur Guest | Open-ended Researcher |
 John Thaler |
Born in Burkina Faso, Africa, John Thaler has always been interested in travelling to distant places and is intent on becoming an astronaut in order to be one of Canada's first ambassadors to a celestial object. John is currently an M.Sc. candidate at the University of Calgary and is working on the concurrent effects of gender specific hormones and mechanical stimulation on gene expression in human bone and connective tissue cells. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Biology at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. His undergraduate honours thesis was the metabolic characterization of Gammarus finmarchicus, a marine amphipod from the Bay of Fundy. John participated as the crew biologist of Crew 44/ ExBeta in February 2006 at MDRS and was the executive officer (XO) of Crew 56/ExGamma in 2007. His research project during ExBeta examined the diversity of halophilic microorganisms in hypersaline environments in the MDRS area.
John recently chaired the organizing committee for the Canadian Space Summit 2007 which was held in Calgary, AB on November 17-18, 2007. As treasurer of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) Canada, John is also working on efforts to unite students interested in space exploration. He is a certified SCUBA diver and during his spare time enjoys whitewater kayaking, reading, camping and swing dancing. |
 Anna Grinberg |
Anna Grinberg is a Masters of Science student studying human cardiovascular physiology at the University of Waterloo. Her specific interests are space physiology and life support systems enabling human space flight. The subject of her Masters thesis is testing a NASA fluid loading procedure to reduce incidence of fainting in astronauts when they return to Earth.
Childhood dreams of being an astronaut led to her complete an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at the University of Waterloo. During this time she completed internships at various aerospace and space companies, including MDA, the home of the Canadarm, and discovered the field of space physiology while volunteering in the University of Waterloo's Cardiovascular Dynamics Physiology Laboratory. Following graduation and a trip through Asia, she moved to Strasbourg France to complete a Masters degree at the International Space University. One of the highlights was a trip to Russia, and touching Yuri Gargarin's space capsule. As part of her degree requirements, she completed an internship at the European Astronaut Center, where she had the opportunity to assist in real-time medical operations on the International Space Station. Spending part of her childhood in Saudi Arabia, she grew a love for travelling (and airplane food). To date, she's travelled to 40 different countries, and had the opportunity to live in Latvia, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, and her home, Canada. Spurred by a love for mountains, she began mountaineering at the age of 16 on Mount Kilimanjaro. She is an active musician, having played double bass with various orchestras and singing in her car. |
 Perry Edmundson |
Perry Edmundson was born and raised in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Ever since he was a young child, he has been fascinated by space and has dreamed of becoming an astronaut one day. He excelled academically and decided to pursue aerospace engineering for his university undergraduate degree. He graduated with High Distinction from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1996 with a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree, specializing in Aerospace Structures and Vehicle Design.
Perry has worked for COM DEV - a leading Canadian space company specializing in communications satellite payloads and subsystems, located in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada - for the past eleven years. He began his career as a mechanical engineer performing structural and thermal design and analyses of microwave devices for communications satellites. He then took on the role of Manager of Design Automation for eight years, where he led a small, specialized group responsible for administration, maintenance and automation of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software, as well as company-wide design procedures and practices. Recently, Perry moved to a new position as Spacecraft Mechanical Systems Engineer in the newly formed Mission Development group at COM DEV, focusing on the formulation of concepts and production planning for micro-satellite missions. In 2005, COM DEV selected Perry to attend the International Space University Summer Session Program, held that year at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. There he studied with approximately 100 students from 30 different countries over a nine week period, learning from space experts from around the world in topics such as space engineering, systems analysis & design, policy & law, business & management, physical sciences, life sciences and space & society. Perry returned to ISU in 2006 and 2007 to present a workshop on payload design and remote sensing, sponsored by COM DEV. In January of 2007, Perry began graduate studies at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, pursuing a Master's degree in Astronautical Engineering on a part-time basis through the Distance Education Network (DEN). To date he has completed one course, that being ASTE 520 - Spacecraft Design, achieving a grade of `A'. Perry is an avid space enthusiast and strong advocate of human space exploration. He hopes to be involved in sending the next space explorers to the moon and onward to Mars. Ultmately, he hopes to become an astronaut. Perry's other interests include sports such as golf, tennis, hockey and skiing, as well as motorcycles, cars and traveling. He is the proud owner of a limited edition 2001 Ford Mustang Bullitt GT. |
 Michele Faragalli |
Michele Faragalli is a Master's of engineering student at the center for Intelligent Machines in McGill University. His research deals with the intelligent control of a hybrid quadruped galloping robot in rough terrain. His field of interest is planetary rovers and surface exploration vehicles, as well as space robotics.
Upon completing his bachelor's degree and six co-operative internships in mechanical engineering at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2005, he chose to pursue his dreams of a career in the space sector by attending the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France. It was at ISU where Michele was able meet likeminded space enthusiast with similar goals, and travel to Japan on an internship to work on planetary rovers. Michele is an avid downhill skier and mountain biker, and enjoys his part-time job as a waiter and bar tender in his parent's Inn in Mont-Tremblant. His future goals consist of traveling the world and hopefully one day even off of it! |
 Nasim Kevah |
Nasim Kevah was born in Rasht, Iran, on the south coast of the Caspian Sea. Since her childhood, like most of you, she loved the stars, constellations and wanted to know more about Space. She wanted to become an astronaut since she was thirteen at the time when she got to know about the amazing Canadian astronauts' team.
Nasim is on her forth year of bachelor degree in Mechanical engineering at McGill University. She did an exchange with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, for winter term 2007. She learned a lot through the engineering courses at UNSW and also enjoyed the Australian summer outdoor activities. Getting an internship at the CSA in September 2007 was the most incredible thing that had ever happened to her. The twelve months she spent working at the CSA, on a project related to Martian atmosphere, helped her to better appreciate and understand the various fields of research associated with the exploration of Mars. As part of her work term, she studied the Martian atmosphere weather forecasting and worked on image/data processing to produce cloud ice images on Mars. Nasim is a Director of Chapter Relations at Students for the Exploration and Development of Space in Canada (SEDS-Canada). She is very interested in high school outreach activities related to Space and Mars exploration and she will be doing her first SEDS high school outreach activity in November 2007, in Montreal. SEDS-Canada's goal is to succeed on High School Projects related to space exploration in different Canadian provinces through its chapters. |
 Cheryl Ann Wartman |
Cheryl Ann Wartman is a PhD candidate pursuing research into the effects of stress on organisms, specifically looking at an androgenic potency of pulp mill effluent. Her training, administrative and research experience have helped to develop both theoretical and practical knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research. Undergraduate research included neuropsycholpharmacology with Dr. Catherine Ryan and work as an assistant with research and teaching in both Biology and Psychology Departments which culminated in a BA in Psychology from the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI). Graduate work with Dr. John Burka studied the effects of altered temperatures on various physiological parameters in Atlantic salmon parr resulting in a MSc in Fish Physiology from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Atlantic Veterinary College. As a Sessional Lecturer at UPEI since 2001, she has been involved in the teaching partners program and attended a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) seminar at UPEI.
Family responsibilities, the desire to be with her children through their preschool years, caused a delay in the completion of a PhD, although she was a part-time laboratory technician, then a full-time library technician, finally, the Research Grants Coordinator for UPEI. This honed grant writing, editing, time management and organizational skills. It also taught her to work with individuals from a variety of faculties and schools with conflicting agendas. If she is not in the laboratory, then you will find her enjoying family activities, being creative (knitting, writing, or doing various other crafts), or enjoying the outdoors (cross country skiing, fishing, swimming, hiking). |
 Kerry Cupit |
Kerry Cupitis an earth sciences undergraduate student (4th year) at Simon Fraser University who has long loved learning about space. From making charts of masses and diameters of the planets in grade 4 through to his recent research into the sedimentology of Mars, Venus, Titan, Io and Europa, the field of planetary geology has never ceased to amaze him.
His research into the creation of the Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars garnered some attention from NASA and reinforced his desire for presenting information effectively to as wide an audience as possible. Recently he traveled to New Zealand to study its geology alongside 11 other geologists, and spent the summer in a remote mining camp in northern BC helping explore a copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit. He hopes to have a hand in inspiring the next generation of space scientists by sharing information, making learning about space fun and encouraging exploration efforts on all fronts, including those undertaken by groups like the Mars Society. He plans to pursue a graduate degree in planetary geology. His hobbies include astronomy, building websites, rollerblading, and road trips through the geological wonderland of British Columbia and Alberta. |
 Arthur Guest |
Arthur Guest is currently a visiting student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is working with the Space Architecture Group on projects to assist with architecture analysis of human missions to the Moon and Mars. In 2005, he graduated with a Bachelor's degree from the Mechanical Engineering program at the University of British Columbia with a specialty in thermo-dynamics and fluid dynamics along with 16 months of experience in aircraft design. That summer, Arthur attended the International Space University's Summer Session Program in his home town of Vancouver. This experience was followed by completing a Master's degree with the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. As part of the degree requirements, he was able to work at NASA's Johnson Space Center on the conceptual development of the new lunar lander. Apart from his interest in human space exploration, Arthur is an avid pilot and scuba diver with over 100 hours of flight time and over 500 dives. He is also an avid traveler having visited all continents except for Antarctica (for now). Arthur currently lives in Boston with his fiancée Lindsey. |
The Mars Society
info@marssociety.org - +1 (303) 984-9653
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Copyright © 2008 The Mars Society.
All rights reserved.
info@marssociety.org - +1 (303) 984-9653
11111 W. 8th Ave Unit A, Lakewood, CO 80215, USA
Copyright © 2008 The Mars Society.
All rights reserved.