15 Facts About Tara Ruttley

Tara Ruttley subsequently served as the lead hardware engineer for the ISS Human Research Facility.

Tara Ruttley served as an aquanaut on the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 6 crew in July 2004.

Since Tara Ruttley had always loved biology and physiology, she started her educational journey focusing on a career in life sciences.

Tara Ruttley received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a Master of Science in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in biomedical engineering from Colorado State University, where she was a member of the Class of 2000.

At CSU, Tara Ruttley became involved with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium and the student branch of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Tara Ruttley soon realized the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to designing hardware for crew health, so she pursued her master's degree in mechanical engineering.

Tara Ruttley belonged to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Sigma Xi while attending CSU.

Tara Ruttley received an offer to work for NASA's Biomedical Systems Division upon graduation.

Tara Ruttley came to work for NASA in January 2001, where her first project was developing a detector for the presence of hydrazine on astronauts' space suits after EVAs from the ISS.

Tara Ruttley went on to become a project engineer for the exercise bicycle currently on the ISS.

Tara Ruttley subsequently served as lead hardware engineer for the ISS Human Research Facility, and later became Associate Program Scientist for the ISS.

In July 2004, Tara Ruttley became an aquanaut through her participation in the joint NASA-NOAA, NEEMO 6 project, an exploration research mission held in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research laboratory.

Tara Ruttley is working with the National Science Foundation on an inflatable Antarctic habitat that would serve as an analog for lunar or Martian habitats.

Tara Ruttley has bicycled from Houston to Austin, Texas, for the MS150, a fundraising event for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Tara Ruttley is a certified Emergency Medical Technician and serves as a motivational speaker to undergraduates with the Council for Opportunity in Education.