The Fancy Third Person Version

A passion for all things science defines the work of researcher James Bevington as he explores the boundaries of life as we know it. Currently a PhD student at the University of New South Wales, James is involved in experiments conducted on the International Space Station focused on such things as determining the plausibility of life on Mars and developing biological production systems for space-based applications. His education in engineering, earth sciences, space studies, and microbiology make him uniquely qualified to tackle such multidisciplinary projects.

He is a graduate of the Masters in Space Studies program at the International Space University where he learned about all aspects of the space industry but focused on astrobiology and microgravity research. Prior to space, James studied engineering and earth sciences. He did his undergraduate in Biosystems Engineering at the University of Tennessee, a program which spans mechanical and environmental engineering. Here, he worked extensively with data collection systems and sensors with Paul Ayers. He also completed a masters in Environmental Engineering at the University of Georgia as an exchange student with the Trans-Atlantic Precision Agriculture Consortium. His thesis, under the supervision of George Vellidis and Francesco Morari, applied geospatial statistics to study soil hydrology. While at UGA, James was exposed to synthetic biology through the local iGEM team. This motivated him to join the Tullman-Ercek lab at UC Berkeley (now Northwestern) where he still contributes today.

James is best known as the Commander of the NASA funded Mission 5 for HI-SEAS, an eight month simulated mission to Mars. He and his five crew mates lived in isolation on a barren landscape. Their only contact to the outside world was through a 40 minute communication delay and they lived in a 130 square meter habitat doing the things Martian astronauts would do.