Our Executive Mentors

TANYA HARRISON, PHD

Dr. Tanya Harrison is the founder of Professional Martian LLC, a company focused on science and sci-fi consulting, communications, and outreach in ways to break space out of the echo chamber to reach broader audiences.

She also serves as the Manager of Science Programs at Planet Federal in Washington DC, the government-focused arm of Planet Labs. In this role, Dr. Harrison helps scientists understand the utility of—and how to access, process, and use—Planet's incredible daily imaging of the entire landmass of the Earth and its coral reefs.

Previously, she was the Director of Research for Arizona State University's Space Technology and Science ("NewSpace") Initiative. She worked on commercial-academic space partnerships and martian geomorphology research. She was also a Science Team Collaborator on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity and the upcoming Mars 2020 sample caching rover.

Dr. Harrison received her Ph.D. in Geology with a specialization in Planetary Science and Exploration from the University of Western Ontario’s Centre for Planetary Science and Space Exploration (CPSX). From 2008 until 2012, she was on the science operations team for NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX) and Mars Color Imager (MARCI) at Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS). She was also a science team collaborator for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Mast Cameras (Mastcam), Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), and Mars Descent Imager (MARDI).

She has also been active in education and public outreach, getting involved with organizations such as The Planetary Society, Expanding Your Horizons, Girl Scouts, Norwescon, The Mars Society, and The National Space Society.

In her spare time, she is a professional photographer and the owner/photographer behind Station Toronto.