Jose Hurtado is a Professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental,and Resource Sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).  He

joined UTEP in 2002 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  Dr. Hurtado obtained his Ph.D. in geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has an M.S. and B.S. in geology from the California Institute of Technology.  His research interests include terrestrial field geology and remote sensing, focusing on the mountains of the western US and the Himalaya, as well as planetary science.  His planetary science work includes remote sensing studies of the Moon as well as field work in analog environments investigating the tools and techniques for planetary surface exploration with humans and robots. Since 2008, Dr. Hurtado has served as an instructor for various NASA training activities, including Earth and Planetary Science field training for NASA astronauts.  During 2014-2015, Dr. Hurtado worked on the operations team at Virgin Galactic as an astronaut instructor and also worked on SpaceShipTwo cabin systems and life-support engineering tasks. Dr. Hurtado currently serves on the executive committees for the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) and the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC). In August 2023, Dr. Hurtado joined the NASA Artemis science team as part of the newly funded Artemis III Geology Team led by the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. In this capacity he will help design and support from Mission Control the science activities conducted by the next astronauts to walk on the Moon. Dr. Hurtado is an FAA-licensed private pilot and UAV (drone) pilot and PADI certified open-water SCUBA diver.  He was a semifinalist interviewee for the NASA astronaut program in 2009, 2013, and 2017.