Crew 162

Renee Garifi, CommanderSecondary roles: Astronomer, GreenHab OfficerThis season, Renee serves as the Commander of Team ISU after previously participating as the Executive Officer of Crew 147 last field season. Renee is currently contracted as a flight controller for the International Space Station program. She has an undergraduate research background in astrobiology and holds a Master of Science degree in Space Studies with Human Space Flight.Her previous research topics include the astronomical investigation of exoplanet transit candidates, extremophilic microbial stress adaptation responses to spaceflight, microbial adaptation to lunar soil simulant and biophysical research on the colloidal amyloid protein fiber formation theory of neurodegenerative diseases. Renee is a founding member of the International Space Station for the Nobel Peace Prize Initiative. As she develops her knowledge of space systems professionally and academically, her future goals include working on the next space station program after ISS; either in orbit around Earth, the Moon or Mars.

Anderson Wilder, Executive OfficerSecondary role: Crew EngineerAnderson is currently working as a 7th Grade Science Teacher in his hometown of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He holds a Bachelors in Psychology and Linguistics with a minor in Cognitive Science. He graduated as part of the MSS 15 class after completing his internship at NASA’s Johnson Space Center working with the Behavioral Health & Performance Element on a project focusing on asynchronous communications. During his time at ISU his Individual Project was titled “What is Spacey?” focusing on what different characteristics individuals use to classify something as “spacey.” He also worked on the human-centered design of the Interstellar Worldship Team Project. He is applying to PhD programs in Psychology and planning to start in the Fall of 2016.

Carmen Felix, Health & Safety OfficerSecondary role: Crew JournalistCarmen is a Mexican space professional with a MSc. in Space Science from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, and a BSc. in Electronics and Communications from ITESM in Mexico. She has experience in the telecommunication sector having worked for AT&T and Sasken – Texas Instruments. She worked at NASA Ames Research Center during 2010, for the Small Satellite Division, specifically initiating the PhoneSat project, nano-satellite based on a smartphone. She also opened the opportunity for the first Mexican high school group to participate in the NASA Ames’ STEP program, and helped Mexican Universities to create internship opportunities at NASA Ames in 2012. During the last years she worked with the Space Safety Magazine, and joined the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety since 2012. Since 2009, Carmen has been an active member of SGAC, holding positions such as SGAC National Point of Contact (NPoC) for Mexico from 2011 to 2015, member of the SGAC Space Safety and Sustainability (SSS) Project Group, and member of the organizing team for SGC 2012 in Naples. She is currently the leader of the Aerospace Chapter in the Mexican Talent Network in the Netherlands. Carmen is passionate about space exploration and human spaceflight. Carmen participated in the Rio Tinto Mars Analog Mission in 2011, MDRS-OeWF Mars Analog Mission during the World Space Week 2013, and organized the AMADEE-15 Mars Analog Mission 2015 with the Austrian Space Forum.