Annie Meier is a technical lead for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and logistical waste management systems in the Exploration Systems and Development Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Her focus is on applied research for space mission logistical waste conversion, resource extraction, and resource reutilization for human spaceflight in transit and on other planetary surfaces.

Meier has led Drop Tower, Zero Gravity Facility, and suborbital rocket test flight campaigns for waste conversion technology advancement. Additional areas of focus have included in-situ resource utilization, including Mars carbon dioxide capture and conversion to methane via Sabatier reaction, and waste conversion with plasma gasification. She currently leads technology development on trash processing systems that convert spaceflight waste into gases and other products. Meier also supports research seeking to extract water and utilize oxygen from the lunar soil with various techniques. She uses her experience as a crew member and researcher of the 120-day Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mars analog simulation to incorporate more realistic expectations of human participation during technology development. She also uses her prior experience as chief of the Exploration Systems and Development Office to grow and mature diverse teams with multi-discipline backgrounds to solve complex problems. She is passionate about expanding involvement in waste awareness and engaging the future generations through education and outreach.

Meier was born in New York and earned BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering from Manhattan College before earning a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of South Florida. Research for her dissertation, entitled “Photocatalytic Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Fuel for Earth and Mars” was supported by a fellowship from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the NASA Science Innovation Fund.