Background
Dr. Katherine (Katt) Rahill is the Senior Scientist for the Chief Scientist Office of NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) at Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX. She provides direct support and expert recommendations to the Chief Scientist relating to scientific elements of the HRP program. She leads assessments to inform NASA’s decisions concerning approaches and strategies to mitigate the risk of deleterious physiological effects associated with long duration spaceflight. Her work entails monitoring research on human health and performance risks in NASA astronauts and providing strategic planning of integrated approaches to reduce those risks. She is also a NASA Astronaut Applicant.
Dr. Rahill received her MA & PhD from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. She is the Founder/Director of CUA's Lunar Psychophysics Virtual Reality Laboratory. Her dissertation introduced a novel area of specialization, "lunar psychophysics", which considers a range of visual, neurological and physiological components of sensory perception and their relationship to optical properties of light, atmospheric light scattering, and psychophysical changes in lunar environments. Findings sought to provide novel discussions that enhance understanding of how the visual system interacts with other biological systems, shedding light on human adaptability to novel physical stimuli in extraterrestrial environments.
As a Preeminent Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Central Florida, her work was recognized among the top 3 NASA IWS Postdoctoral Poster Projects for Human Space Exploration, and she received the APA Briggs Dissertation of the Year in Applied-Experimental/Engineering Psychology. Her research has been highlighted in The UK Times, Scotland's The Last Question Podcast, Singularity University's "How One Researcher is Using VR to Help Our Eyes Adapt to Seeing in Space" and DC Radio Sputnik.
During her PhD, Rahill completed a 5-year Consortium Doctoral Fellowship at the U.S. Army Research Institute at Ft. Belvoir. She held a pivotal role in the development of the Army Command Climate research program combating issues related to unit performance, such as toxic leadership and sexual assault. She participated in the Army Chief of Staff SSG review of Sikorsky's contract for Military and Presidential aircraft.
During her time as Chair of Communications for the Society of Military Psychology (APA Division 19), she transformed the online media presence for APA Military Psychologists, and is a graduate of the APA Military Psychology Society Leadership Program. Her work on ethical leadership in the Army received a honorable Presidential Citation from APA Division 19. She introduced of the Society of Military Psychology and the Association for Psychological Science at CUA, receiving an Excellence in Teaching and Leadership Award from the CUA Department of Psychology for her contributions to curriculum development.
Dr. Rahill received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Dayton. As an undergraduate, she conducted research at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where she was a lead contractor of the Multi-Modal Communications Lab in the Battlespace Acoustics Branch/Warfighter Interface Division/711th Human Performance Wing. In recognition for her contributions, she received the US Air Force Challenge Coin of Excellence in Leadership through Research, Education and Consultation for Human Performance. Additionally, she spent 3 years supporting clinical research on domestic violence and re-victimization in the Women's Psychology Lab, and received a department nomination for the Reverend Raymond Roesch Award of Excellence to the Outstanding Students in Psychology.