Ryan Villarreal Chosen for Mars Desert Research Station Crew
PhD student chosen for crew 306, which will be stationed at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) for a 2-week mission.
According to Villarreal, who was named an NSF Graduate Research Fellow earlier this year, the research that takes place will focus in part on measuring team dynamics in isolated, confined, and extreme environments such as a Martian habitat. The research is also applicable to environments on Earth with high team demands, such as polar habitats and submarines.
Villarreal's Master's degree research involved methods to measure teams, so when he saw this opportunity it seemed like a perfect opportunity to expand his work in a different context.
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Ryan Villarreal, NSF Graduate Research Fellow, and MDRS crew member
He adds that this is an incredible opportunity to "perform cutting edge research with fidelity far greater than what you can get in a typical lab environment."
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