Kim Binsted facts for kids

Kim Binsted was born in New Jersey, USA. She is a professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She works in the Information and Computer Sciences Department. Professor Binsted studies exciting topics like artificial intelligence (AI). She also looks at how people use computers (human-computer interfaces). Another big interest is what it takes for humans to explore space for a long time.

Kim Binsted's Journey

Early Life and Education

Kim Binsted earned her first degree in Physics in 1991. She studied at McGill University in Canada. While there, she helped start an improv comedy group called "On The Spot."

Later, she earned her Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence in 1996. This degree came from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. During her time in Edinburgh, she performed with "The Improverts." This is a famous improvised comedy group at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.

Working with Computers and Space

From 1997 to 1999, Professor Binsted worked in Tokyo, Japan. She was a researcher at Sony's Computer Science Laboratories. There, she focused on how people interact with computers.

She also spent time working with NASA. In 2003 and 2004, she was a NASA Summer Faculty Fellow. She worked at the Ames Research Center. Her work there involved sub-vocal speech recognition technology. This technology tries to understand speech even when someone is not speaking out loud.

In 2007, she was the Chief Scientist for a special mission. It was called the FMARS Long Duration Mission. For four months, she helped with a project that pretended to explore Mars. This happened on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. It was like a practice run for a real Mars trip.

In 2009, she visited the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). She helped them with their "planetary analogues" program. This program studies places on Earth that are similar to other planets. From 2002 to 2014, she was also part of the UH-NASA Astrobiology Institute. This group studies life in space.

Becoming an Astronaut and HI-SEAS

In 2017, Kim Binsted tried to become a Canadian astronaut. She was one of 72 people who applied. While she was not chosen, it shows her strong interest in space.

Today, Professor Binsted is the main leader for a project called HI-SEAS. HI-SEAS stands for Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation. It is a special research station in Hawaii. People live there for long periods. They pretend to be astronauts on a mission to Mars. This helps scientists learn what it would be like to live and work on another planet.