Mark Kerr
Member of AIAA Space Architecture Technical Committee (SATC) – Awards Subcommittee
BACKGROUND
Mark Kerr is an architect with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in the Seattle District and a Lieutenant Commander (LDCR) in the reserve component of the Navy Civil Engineer Corps. Mr. Kerr has worked for USACE for 8 years and has served in the Navy Reserves for 16 years, which included deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, LDCR Kerr deployed to Haiti where he served as an Engineering Planning Officer conducting fieldwork after the 2010 Earthquake. In 2013, LDCR Kerr led a group of Seabees and Marines in construction of two emergency evacuation centers for the Yup’ik tribe of Newtok, Alaska in the event of flooding from the Ninglick River.
Additional professional experience include serving as a crew member for NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA XII); work as an ECLSS Engineer at Bigelow Aerospace; an instructor of Human Factors in Design at the University of New Mexico; an attendee to the 2002 European Space Agency, Lunar Base Design Workshop in the Netherlands; a research technician in pulmonary physiology at the University of Washington; a hyperbaric technician at Virginia Mason Medical Center; and, two summers at the South Pole Station in Antarctica. Mr. Kerr is also a Registered Architect in the State of New Mexico and a Fellow of The Explorers Club.
With a background in design, construction, and human factors in extreme environments, Mr. Kerr’s background and interest closely relates to outer space for the purpose of creating, as closely as possible, simulations in which to understand the complex factors involved. His goals are to continually blend his passion for exploration, specifically space exploration and to aggressively engage in analogue locations such as mountains, caves, deserts, Polar Regions, oceans, and other intense analog environments.
Mr. Kerr holds a Bachelor of Science in History from Iowa State University, a Space Systems Certificate from the Naval Postgraduate School, a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, and a Master of Architecture from the University of New Mexico where his Master’s Thesis, “Architecture in the Exploration of Isidis Planitia” focused on a single habitat as a greater part of mobile strategy for exploration of the Martian surface.
ACADEMIC
- 2018 Master of Arts, National Security and Strategic Studies, Naval War College, Newport, RI
- 2010 Space Systems Certificate, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
- 2004 Master of Architecture, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
- 1993 Bachelor of Science, History, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
