Project Team
| The NASA Ralph Steckler Space Grant is administrated through the Arizona Space Grant Consortium (AZSGC) | |||||
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Dr. Gene Giacomelli - Principal Technical Investigator
A horticultural engineer in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering with 29 years experience in education, research and outreach of Controlled Environment Plant Production Systems. He holds joint appointment with School of Plant Sciences and is a member of the Bio5 Institute for Collaborative Bioresearch. His professional activities have focused on controlled environment plant production systems [greenhouse and growth chamber] research, design, development and applications, with emphases on: crop production systems, nutrient delivery systems, environmental control, mechanization, and labor productivity.
Phase I & II Responsibilities:
Responsible for the quality and direction of the proposed research and development activity, as well as, the appropriate and effective use of all awarded funds. He is responsible for all technical, management and budget issues and is the final authority for this task. He will provide access to the Lunar Greenhouse Research Laboratory at the UA-CEAC for the project efforts, and also provide guidance during the plant growth and analysis phase, convene regular working meetings, and prepare the reports of the project.
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Dr. Roberto Furfaro - Co-Investigator
An assistant professor, Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering, The University of Arizona. His research background includes space systems engineering, intelligent systems for space exploration, Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) and remote sensing from space. He is currently the Science and Processing Operation Center (SPOC) principal systems engineer for the NASA OSIRIS REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission.
Phase I & II Responsibilities:
Will oversee the mechanical and energy performances of the LGH and the SPSC data collection.
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Dr. Murat Kacira - Co-Investigator
An associate professor, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, The University of Arizona. His research background includes applications of non-contact sensing techniques for plant health/growth monitoring and assessment, machine vision and image processing and computational fluid dynamics applications in controlled environment plant production systems.
Phase I & II Responsibilities:
Will be contributing to the research efforts on the LGH system's design and construction of an autonomous plant weighing system and will lead the development of a crop health monitoring with non-contact sensing and telepresence technologies integrated with a decision support system (RENDSys).
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Lane Patterson - Staff
An Agricultural and Bio-Systems Engineering Graduate (MS) and Raytheon Polar Services field engineer, Lane manages the NSF South Pole Food Growth Chamber as well as the the Lunar Greenhouse bio-regenerative life support project.
Phase I & II Responsibilities:
Will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the LGH system, and will grow plants, conduct LGH experiments, collect and analyze data, and support the model development.
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Neal Barto - Staff
Research Specialist, Sr. for CEAC for the past five years, working primarily with the installation, operation, and maintenance of various sensors and data acquisition/control systems. Education includes a BS inHorticulture, and a BS and MS in Agricultural Engineering.
Phase I & II Responsibilities:
Will provide technical support for the LGH operations, and telepresence system.
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David Story - PhD Student
A student from the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, The University of Arizona. His interests are with the automation of sensors and controls within controlled environment agriculture. His previous work has been developing an automated approach to plant sensing and monitoring through machine vision.
Phase II Responsibilities:
Will be involved in the development of the RENDSSys platform where all system data will be collected and displayed for the end user. He will also be involved with the autonomous machine vision system where plant health and status will be monitored.
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Derek Wibben - Undergraduate Student
A student from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Arizona. His interests center around life support systems and the human aspect of space system engineering.
Phase II Responsibilities:
Will be involved in the development of the Solar Concentrated Power System where solar energy will be concentrated and delivered through fiber optical cables to the LGH chambers. He will also be involved with the autonomous solar tracking system and the PAR data collection/analysis.
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Student Workers
Laboratory Researchers and Assistants are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the LGH system, preparing the experiments, installing hardware and monitoring the greenhouse. For Phase 2, a total of 720 hours has been allocated for undergraduate student educational experience.
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Phil Sadler - Consultant
Is the CEO of Sadler Machine Co. maintains a small prototype fabrication shop in Tempe, Arizona where he designs and constructs hydroponic growing systems. Sadler of Sadler Machine Co. in cooperation with the UA-CEAC has designed and fabricated the UA/SMC Lunar Greenhouse. The LGH aluminum structure is property of Sadler Machine Co. on loan to the UA-CEAC for demonstration of BLSS efforts.
Phase I & II Responsibilities:
Will be the use of the Lunar Greenhouse and it systems along with his extreme environment horticulture experience and fabrication/mechanical abilities.
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Dr. Ray Wheeler - NASA-KSC
A plant physiologist at NASA Kennedy Space Center, former lead for crop research with NASA's terminated Advanced Life Support Program. Dr. Wheeler believes plant growth will be an important part of space exploration in the future and is continuing to research what is needed to make growing plants in space possible.
Phase I & II Responsibilities:
Project Technical Advisor for Phase I & Phase II
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Dr. John Hogan - NASA-ARC
An environmental scientist in the Bioengineering Branch at NASA Ames Research Center, where he supports NASA's Life Support and Habitation Systems Program. His major research interests include developing biological and physico-chemical technologies for regenerative air, water and solid waste treatment systems, food production, and systems analysis.
Phase II Responsibilities:
CWE composting Advisor for Phase II
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© 2009-2013 UA-CEAC
Created by David StoryManaged by Story, Kacira, and Giacomelli