FMARS 2007
CapCom Bios

Dennis Creamer Science Editor and CapCom	Dennis Creamer is a veteran of MDRS Crews 25 and 42, and was also on the MDRS Mod 3 refit crew. He attended the University of South Florida, and Florida State University, and is a retired biologist, with about 30 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, mostly in the Ecological Services Branch. He has been on Mission Support for several years.
	Geoffrey Delage is a computer engineer whose full time work includes writing low level software for environmental control systems. His interests include Astrobiology, Human Space Flight (requirements and challenges involved in day to day life in space), Space Architecture (how to design habitats for space stations and in space vehicles such as those needed to journey to Mars), Earth to LEO transportation (how to build a system that cheaply, reliably and safely can transport people and goods to low earth orbit for transfer to a space station or space vehicle, while being environmentally benign) and Celestial Physics (the study of extra solar objects such as Pulsars, Quasars, Black Holes and Neutron Stars). He is the founder of the University of New Brunswick Space Society, is an alumni member of the Ottawa Board of Education Space Simulation, participated in an exchange with a Space Simulation in South Carolina in 1999, and has attended the US Advanced Space Academy. This is his first year on Mission Support.
Julie A. Schmiedlin Edwards CapCom Coordinator	Julie Edwards is a retired laboratory researcher from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, MI. Her interests include Martian Astrobiology (the search for life on Mars), Space Architecture (laboratory design for a Mars habitat or pressurized rover), and CELSS and life support (greenhouse structure and function). Julie is a founding member of the Mars Society, Mars Society Chapter Contact for the state of Michigan, and secretary of the Michigan Mars Society chapter.
Robert Hawk	Robert Hawk, a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, was introduced to the Mars Society through the Civil Air Patrol missions to the Mars Desert Research Station. On his third tour (CAP-MDRS V Jun 26-30 2006), his second as a Crew Commander, he met Chief Engineer, Paul Graham who invited Robert to get involved with the Mars Society Engineering Team. Through this involvement he began to support the MDRS during field season 06/07 where he received additional training as a support engineer and as a CapCom. He currently serves as an Alternate CapCom for FMARS during the four-month mission. Robert started with the Engineering Team as a Senior at West High School in Salt Lake City, making him one of the youngest on the Mission Support staff. He was invited to join the refit mission before the MDRS 06/07 field season and the shakedown team at the beginning, but because of school commitments, he had to decline both invitations. He fully intends to serve on a "real" crew during the 2010/2011 field season. He will be graduating High School on May 30th, 2007. Robert is also a Cadet Lieutenant Colonel in the Civil Air Patrol (United States Air Force Auxiliary), which is the agency that introduced him to The Mars Society. He will have served with the Civil Air Patrol for seven years in September of 2007. In that time he has received a Meritorious Service Award for his work in training the Rocky Mountain Region Team from Utah at the National Cadet Competition in the Aerospace and Leadership knowledge components of that competition, a Commander's Commendation for his work in commanding the 2006 Desert Hawk IV Training Encampment (Boot Camp for CAP Cadets) and the Air Force Association Cadet of the Year Award Medal (2003) for his work in Aerospace Education for the Thunderbird Composite Squadron (RMR-UT-067). Additional achievements include a letter of commendation from CAP National Headquarters for a speech to Utah Teachers encouraging them to teach more Aerospace curriculum to their students. In this speech, he convinced 34 teachers (all of the teachers present at the seminar) to sign up for curriculum from the Civil Air Patrol. About October of 2007, Robert will leave for a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. When he returns in 2009, he is likely to attend Arizona State University, chasing a Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering. After completing his education, he will either join the United States Navy or the United States Air Force, chasing a career as a fighter pilot. He intends to stay with the Civil Air Patrol and The Mars Society indefinitely.
Tahir Merali	Tahir Merali is in the final year of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto (U of T) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Serving his first MDRS and FMARS season as Mission Support, Tahir's passion for space exploration is quite evident in the community in Canada and abroad. He attended the International Space School in Houston, Texas in cooperation with NASA's Johnson Space Center (2002) and has since returned as a team mentor (2007). He is Executive Director of the International Space School Alumni Association (ISSA) as well as past President and executive of the U of T Astronomy and Space Exploration Society (ASX) (2005-2007). He is also a current member of the Mars Society of Canada and the Canadian Space Society. Tahir plans to pursue further space related studies at the International Space University, and attain an MBA and his pilot's license en route to reaching his goal to become an astronaut. His interests include traveling, playing hockey and astronomy.
Lavina Parwani	Lavina Parwani often has the tendency to stretch herself too thin, accepting everything that comes her way with the simple statement, "I would love to be a part of this!" This determination of hers to not shut the door in the face of opportunities has resulted in her being a part of several projects: President of PhilSEDS, the Solar Car project, SEDSat-2 and training as CapCom for the MDRS simulation team. She somehow (with precarious balance) manages to juggle these with her academics and a social life, which has been non-existent for some time. In her free time, when she has any, she enjoys talking to her friends in the US and Europe, role-playing and watching such awesome TV shows as Battlestar Galactica, Heroes and Firefly. As a person, she is determined (some would say stubborn), passionate, and impetuous.
Stacy Sklar	Stacy Sklar is currently attending Mesa Community College studying GIS/Remote sensing. Stacy has been an active member of the Mars Society since the second convention in Denver (1999). She was apart of the scouting group looking for Mars analog sites for MDRS in the American Southwest. Stacy scouted locations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah in 2000/2001. She has served as a MDRS crew member on the shakedown crew during the Christmas break 2001, Crew 3, 36, 46, 51 (guest scientist), 59 (with her father), and 2005 FMARS 10. Stacy served as a backroom geologist for Expedition One and Expedition Alpha and Beta. Stacy also served as the RST Geologist for various crews including Crew 21, 25, Crew 29 and 38 (NASA Mobile Agents). Stacy's other interest include archeology, rock climbing, hiking, and spending time with her family and friends. Stacy is also a avid Star Trek and Harry Potter fan and in her spare time enjoys reading, writing, listening to music, watching movies, and is learning to play the guitar.
Kevin Stube	Kevin Stube has a BA in Psychology and a BA in Religious Studies. He completed his MS in Space Studies at the University of North Dakota in August 2004 through www.Space.edu. He is currently studying project management and taking PhD courses in planetary science and astrobiology at the University of Arizona with the goal of being a program/project manager for future space missions to the Moon and Mars. Kevin believes a push is needed by private and commercial companies into space. Space has become something that governments cannot fund alone any more. Kevin serves as SGAC Executive Council Secretary (www.spacegeneration.org) and Manager of the annual Space Generation Congress (www.explorerswanted.com).
Stacy Sklar	Artemis Westenberg has an M.A. in History, Classical Studies, International Relations, Islam, Leyden University. General Management, Dutch Entrepreneurial Society. Business Administration, Rotterdam School of Management. At present Business Manager Welfare Foundation Rotterdam; Ambassador Dutch Space Industries; financial advisor Dutch National Space Association; lecturer. Nationally decorated feminist, who has been part of the feminist movement since her teenage years. Famous for her lawsuits against the government that changed laws and so the lives of the female population of the Netherlands. Trained as manager in many fields (e.g. financial, project, logistics, PR), her work experience is diverse: working for various multinational corporations as PR manager and Business Administration manager; president of the Rotterdam Women's Council, the largest pressure group organisation of the Netherlands; lobbyist for many very diverse projects. CapCom MDRS / FMARS Artemis has served on 5 MDRS crews. She has been a board member of the Mars Society Netherlands from the very first, and has organised many Mars Society gatherings and conferences in the Netherlands, noteworthy: the EMC2 (second European Mars Society Convention), and is in the process of organising the EMC7. She is the 'All Mars Trekking dventure' travel agency for any Mars enthusiast in the Netherlands, organising their trips around Europe and the USA to Mars events. She has filled a Wiki with her experiences at the MDRS and the things she learned as CapCom from countless crews: http://hablife.elwiki.com This as part of her job as one of the Euro-MARS project managers. She was involved from the start with the design of this European Mars Analogue Research Station and scouted the site at Krafla in Iceland in 2002. Artemis has travelled this planet from her birth with her father, a shipmaster of seagoing vessels, which instilled a wanderlust in her blood. She feels at home anywhere in this world and has lived for a short time in many of its capitals. She is an avid reader of magazines (Science, Nature, New Scientist), and _ if she can find the time_ SF, mysteries and historical novels. She collects children books and books on subjects like Egyptology, Archeology, Mars, Judaism and had managed to completely cover her walls with book cases. Artemis likes to built things with her own hands after a thorough design process as is witnessed by her own home. She likes to cook and knows how to adapt any recipe to make it kosher. In her youth she was a dedicated sportswoman in gymnastics and later water polo and swimming. She lives her life in a suburb of Rotterdam, for which seaport she is the proverbial example of a foreigner with a little homesickness in her heart.

FMARS 2007 Crew Blog

FMARS Index | About | News | Mission Data | Multimedia Copyright © 2024 www.fmars2007.org & The Mars Society. All rights reserved.