Gioia Massa
a NASA scientist at Kennedy Space Center working on space crop production for the International Space Station and future exploration endeavors. She led the science team for the Veggie validation and she heads an interdisciplinary team to study nutrition, flavor, and food safety of space-grown crops. She has a BS in Plant Science from Cornell, a PhD in Plant Biology from Penn State, and postdoctoral research from Purdue and Kennedy Space Center. She has worked in the areas of plant space biology and bioregenerative life support.