Dr. Leslie Gertsch earned a B.Sc. in Geological Engineering (1982) and a Ph.D. in Mining Engineering (1989) from Colorado School of Mines (CSM). After stints at the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the CSM Excavation Engineering and Earth Mechanics Institute, she joined the CSM mining engineering faculty and served as the Director of the CSM Center for Space Mining. In 1998 she moved to Michigan Technological University’s mining engineering program. Since January 2003 Dr. Gertsch has been at Missouri University of Science and Technology. She teaches geological engineering and does research at the Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center, where she is the Deputy Director for Rock Mechanics. Dr. Gertsch is actively working to increase support for the science fundamental to responsible non-terrestrial mineral resource extraction.