Our Team
Sara Stewart
Executive Director
Sara is a licensed architect and firm owner since 2015. With a strong foundation in both architectural practice and scientific research, Sara is a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines' Center for Space Resources. She specializes in the design of environments that prioritize human health and psychological well-being by blending technical expertise and human-centered design. Her work is guided by principles of wellness, resilience, and sustainability, especially in contexts where resources are limited and environmental challenges are severe. Through leadership and cross-disciplinary collaboration, Sara is passionate about bringing architectural solutions for remote, underserved, and emerging frontier communities.
Ian Jehn, PhD, P.E., S.E.
Ian is a licensed professional structural engineer with over ten years of experience in terrestrial building design and construction, including projects in high seismic and extreme environments. He is an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers' Space Engineering and Construction Technical Committee, where he is co-lead of the Lunar Structural Loads subgroup for the upcoming Lunar Infrastructure Engineering, Design, Analysis, and Construction (LIEDAC) guidelines. Ian completed his PhD in Space Resources from the Colorado School of Mines in June 2025. His research area focuses on lunar surface construction and preparation, including extensive research in the structural and geotechnical design and construction of lunar landing and launch pads. His dissertation is titled "A Geotechnical, Structural, and Characterization Analysis of Lunar Foundation Systems."
Daniel K.M. Johnson, PhD
Daniel is an aerospace engineer with almost ten years of experience in designing aerospace and defense systems for use in extreme environments. He completed his PhD in Space Resources from Colorado School of Mines in December 2024, where his doctoral work producing and characterizing icy lunar regolith simulants led to breakthroughs in our understanding of volatile emplacement mechanisms, migration, microstructure, modification methods in the lunar subsurface. This has advanced our understanding of the possible material properties that can be expected by lunar exploration missions, thereby informing technology development for icy regolith prospecting, extraction, and processing campaigns. Daniel is excited to collaborate with teams of researchers and scientists to advance the frontiers of human exploration in the lunar environment, expanding our knowledge of the volatile delivery history to the Moon and the long-term stability of volatiles on and beneath the lunar surface.
Erin McMurchie
Erin is a mechanical and aerospace engineer with 8 years of experience in the aerospace industry and space research.
Her work focuses on computational mechanics and mechanical design of fluids systems in extreme space environments. Her research portfolio includes studies of asteroid impacts into planetary bodies, interactions between magnetic fields and radiation environments in the heliosphere, and technology development for in-situ resource utilization. She currently serves as a research faculty member in the Center for Space Resources and Mechanical Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines. Erin is passionate about developing new technologies for space exploration, pushing the limits of what humans can achieve in space while also advancing resource utilization on Earth.
Her work focuses on computational mechanics and mechanical design of fluids systems in extreme space environments. Her research portfolio includes studies of asteroid impacts into planetary bodies, interactions between magnetic fields and radiation environments in the heliosphere, and technology development for in-situ resource utilization. She currently serves as a research faculty member in the Center for Space Resources and Mechanical Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines. Erin is passionate about developing new technologies for space exploration, pushing the limits of what humans can achieve in space while also advancing resource utilization on Earth.
Christopher Dreyer, PhD
Chris is a mechanical engineer with decades of experience in aerospace technology development across a wide range of subjects. He is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of space resources. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University and an MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder graduating in 2000. He managed a research program at the Colorado School of Mines from 2000 to 2020 as a Research Professor and from 2020 to the present as a Professor of Practice. His experience spans basic research in combustion chemistry, space exploration instrument technology development in laser spectroscopy and mechanical sample handling, robotic lunar site preparation, lunar ice mining, water electrolysis and molten regolith electrolysis. In 2018 he co-founder of the Mines Space Resources Program, the first program in the world to grant degrees in the business, science, technology, and policies of using resources in space. Chris is passionate about advancing humanity's presence in space for the benefit of all and to produce a permanent human foothold off earth.Chris is dedicated to expanding humanity's presence in space, with the mission of establishing a permanent human foothold off Earth for the benefit of all.