Craig Hardgrove - Founder, Planetary Science & Geology
Dr. Craig Hardgrove has been working in planetary space exploration since 2004. Craig is currently on the Mars Science Laboratory camera and neutron detector teams. He has worked on the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, as well as many other spectroscopic data sets from planetary spacecraft for both the Earth and Mars. He has served as a reviewer for the Planetary edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research as well as an external reviewer for NASA's Planetary Geology and Geophysics program. For the Mars Science Laboratory mission, Craig was the first to show that the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument can be used to identify the presence of hydrothermal or evaporative deposits. In other projects, he has shown how thermal infrared imaging can be used in desert environments to remotely identify sedimentary features indicative of surface water. Through extensive geologic field work in Death Valley, Craig has shown how thermal images can be compared to data from planetary spacecraft in order to reconstruct the geologic history of a planet's surface.

In his spare time, Craig likes to compose music. He has remade the soundtrack to one of Bungie's first video games, Marathon. You can visit http://www.themarathonmusic.com for more info.

Craig's Favorite Games: Halo, Red Dead Redemption, Deus Ex, Grand Theft Auto, Portal, Bioshock, World of Warcraft,
<3 Marathon <3
Experience: Resume, Instruments: [Earth] ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), FLIR (Forward Looking InfraRed) thermal camera, laboratory Raman spectroscopy, as well as both microscopic and macroscopic FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy); [Mars] Mars Global Surveyor TES (Thermal Emission Spectrometer), Odyssey THEMIS (Thermal Emission Imaging System), Odyssey GRS (Gamma Ray Spectrometer), Odyssey HEND (High Energy Neutron Detector).

Tim Glotch - Planetary Spectroscopy
Dr. Timothy Glotch has been working in planetary space exploration and laboratory spectroscopy since 1999. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Stony Brook University, where he runs the Vibrational Spectroscopy Laboratory. He has worked on the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity and is currently a Co-Investigator on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment. His expertise includes visible/near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy, mid-infrared emission spectroscopy, and laser Raman spectroscopy. He has been a reviewer for eight different peer reviewed scientific journals and has served as a reviewer and/or panel chief for > 10 NASA research and analysis funding programs. He is an author on > 30 peer reviewed publications and >80 scientific abstracts. His interests include the composition and evolution of the crusts of Mars and the Moon. He recently discovered silicic volcanoes on the surface of the Moon, suggesting a much more complicated evolution of ancient lunar magmas than had previously been recognized. He was also the first to show the stratigraphic relationship between clays and chloride salts on the Martian surface, indicating the extended presence of liquid water about 4 billion years ago. Tim’s current research projects include understanding the effects of shock heating and pressure (due to meteor impacts) on the structures of clay minerals and using the NYBlue supercomputer to explicitly solve Maxwell’s equations for interactions of small particles with light, with applications to planetary spectroscopy. You can read more about his research here.

In his spare time, Tim is an avid home brewer. His favorite creations include a whiskey porter, an imperial stout, an English-style extra special bitter, a Belgian-style tripel, and a brand new California common.

Tim's Favorite Games: Dragon Age: Origins, Bioshock, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect
Experience: Resume, Instruments: [Vibrational Spectroscopy Laboratory] WiTEC alpha 300R Confocal Raman Imaging System, Nicolet 6700 FTIR spectrometer, Nicolet iN10MX micro-FTIR spectrometer; [Mars] Mars Global Surveyor TES (Thermal Emission Spectrometer), Odyssey THEMIS (Thermal Emission Imaging System), Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars) [Moon] Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, Moon Mineralogy Mapper


Cara Thompson - Geology & Climate Science
Dr. Cara Thompson is currently an Assistant Professor of Geology at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, CA. Cara is also a National Science Foundation Postdoc Fellow at Stony Brook University. She studies the geologic record in order to reconstruct past marine environments. Her interests lie in understanding how Earth's oceans, atmosphere, and biosphere evolve and are affected by large-scale geologic process like plate tectonics. Cara has a comprehensive understanding of Earth's history and climate, as well as the most effective ways to get headshots with the DMR in Halo. You can read all about her research here.
Cara's Favorite Games: Halo, World of Warcraft, Borderlands, Skyrim

Grant Schindler - Robotic Vision & Machine Learning
Dr. Grant Schindler is a Research Scientist in computational perception at Georgia Tech. Grant and Craig have been lifelong friends, and when they aren't destroying each other's faces in some nostalgic games of Marathon, they are collaborating on several research projects that combine their skills and expertise. Grant has also produced several shareware titles, as well as iOS software titles through his company Phlosoft. You can read all about his research here.
Grant's Favorite Games: Myst, Halo, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption, Portal, Braid, Limbo, Warcraft (RTS), Gadget, Journeyman Project

Dave Beck - Art, 3D Asset Creation, and Game Design
Dave Beck is a practicing 3D digital artist and sculptor, living in Wisconsin. He is an Assistant Professor of 3D Modeling and Game Design at the University of Wisconsin - Stout. He is the recipient of the 2010 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge Award, given by the National Science Foundation. In 2010, he was an artistic fellow in residence with the Science Museum of Minnesota. Beck's artwork has been exhibited across the country and featured in publications such as Sculpture Magazine, The New York Times and GameScenes: Art in the Age of Videogames. You can read and see more about his research here.
Dave's Favorite Games: Bioshock, Legend of Zelda, Portal, any rally racing game, Full Throttle, Red Dead Redemption, SimTower, Passage, Katamari Damacy, & The 7th Guest