Matthew M. Allner
Discovery Canyon High School, Astronomy & Astrobiology Teacher
Webster University, Adjunct Assistant Professor
Spaceward Bound Atacama 2006, , MDRS 2006/07 Mojave 2007

Matthew Allner received a BS in Biology with a minor in Psychology in 1996 and a BA in Secondary Education in 1997 from Briar Cliff University. He married his wife (Jessica) in 2000, and they have three wonderful children, Isabelle, Nathan, and Alexandra.

Matt completed his MS in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota in August 2009. His thesis development was a compilation of original research studies he has carried out in the area of Human Factors / Social Psychology (Group Dynamic Development in Extreme Environments) for long-duration space flight consideration.

He has been working as a secondary level science teacher for fourteen years now, having taught in California, two school districts in Iowa, and now in Colorado Springs, Colorado where he teaches Principles of Chemistry and Physics, as well as courses on Astronomy and Astrobiology. Recent astrobiology teaching efforts have allowed his students to carry out extensive field studies in two areas of Colorado Springs (Cave of the Winds and Garden of the Gods) to evaluate them as potential Mars analogs sites for students and teachers residing in the area.

In the summer of 2010 Matt was interviewed by the Webster University graduate department (Space Systems Operations and Management Department) and was offered a position to teach Space Bioastronautics as well as develop curriculum for new courses covering topics related to human space flight and future long-duration space missions.

He was an active rescue diver and training officer for the Siouxland Dive Rescue Team for three years in Iowa (2004-07). As a young scientist he is studying group dynamics in extreme environments where aspects of research and experience with the dive team he was on, helped him gain experience and insights into the development of suggestions and research in this area.

Matt has had eight scientific papers and abstracts that were accepted for presentation where he traveled to present his work at the following scientific conferences:

• 2006 and 2008 COSPAR Assemblies (held in Bejing, China and Montreal, Canada);
• 2006, 2008, and 2010 IAC Conferences (held in Valencia, Spain; Glasgow, Scotland; and Daejeon, Korea).

Currently he is completing a revision of a chapter on “Search and Rescue” for a book titled Human Performance in Extreme Environments, which will be published in the fall of 2011. In 2006 he went on research expeditions to the Atacama Desert in Chile, the Mojave Desert (2006 and 2008), and to the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah where he furthered his psychology studies of group dynamic development in Isolated and Confined Extreme (ICE) environments.

Matt was selected by NASA in 2003 as a finalist in the Astronaut Corps, and again in 2009 where he was interviewed in January as one of 110 final candidates being considered. He is certified in CPR and First-Aid, speaks Spanish and is learning Russian.

His hobbies include spending time with his family, volunteering as a catechist with the Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs, coaching his daughter’s/son’s baseball/softball teams, playing baseball, and extreme sports (surfing, snow and rock climbing, caving, SCUBA diving, mountain biking, snowboarding, ).