b. May 29, 1947
Brooklyn, New York

Professional Positions:

1995 – present. V.P. for Ecological Wastewater Treatment Systems, Planetary Coral Reef Foundation

Design, construction and research on constructed wetlands for sewage treatment in Mexico, Australia. SE Asia and the United States; Chairman of Planetary Coral Reef Foundation – Indonesia, which is implementing wastewater garden technology in Bali

1994 – present. Consultant, Biospheres Foundation, development of closed ecological system facilities.

1994 – Vice Chairman, Global Ecotechnics Corporation, Santa Fe, NM

1991-1993 Crew member, first Biosphere 2 closure experiment (1991-1993)

1985 -1994 Director of Environmental and Space Applications, Space Biospheres Ventures, Oracle, Arizona. Responsible for environmental and space applications and spinoff technologies from the Biosphere 2 project, a three acre materially closed ecological system containing tropical rainforest, savannah marsh, marine, desert, intensive agriculture and human habitat biomes.

1981 - present Chairman of the Board and CEO, Institute of Ecotechnics London, a U.K. company limited by guarantee. International ecological consulting and development institute.

1981-1994 Director, Decisions Team Ltd., Hong Kong, Decisions

Team, Inc. USA (1984), International ecological projects design, implementation and management company.

1980 – present. Director, Savannah Systems, Pty. Ltd. Ecological development company focusing on seed production and marketing for drought-resistant grasses for the dry tropics.

1982 –present. Principal, Establishment of five acre micro-catchment fruit orchard, utilizing rain run-off as sole irrigation, New Mexico.

1978 -1980 Managing Director, Principal, Savannah Systems Pty. Ltd., Derby, West Australia. Development of a 5000 acre seed production farm and dry tropical pasture regeneration systems, including improved legumes, fodder trees, orchardry and grazing rotation.

1976 Agriculture studies of traditional Hopi desert farming techniques, Arizona, and Hebrew University (Jerusalem) project to reconstruct ancient Nabatean low water use agriculture in the Negev Desert, Israel.

1975 -1978 Managing Director, Principal, Gardenworks, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Landscaping and nursery company focusing on low water usage plants and water conservation.

1975 -1978 Vice-President, Synopco Corporation, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Landscaping for a construction

company which focussed on adobe architecture, water and energy conserving design.

1974 Principal, Establishment of demonstration high desert fruit orchards, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Five acre, deep-composted, drip irrigation fruit plantation.

1973 -1980 Co-founder and Director, Institute of Ecotechnics Inc., a New Mexico corporation.

Education

1998 Ph.D., Dept. of Enviromental Engineering Sciences /Center for Wetlands University of Florida.

Ph.D. committee H.T. Odum (chair), M.T. Brown, D. Spangler, K.R. Reddy, C.L. Montague. Dissertation

on wetland wastewater treatment systems implemented and researched along the Yucatan coast, Mexico.

Phi Kappa Phi, Honors Engineering Society.

1995 M. S. in Watershed Management, School of Renewable Natural Resources, University of DA

Arizona. Thesis committee: L. Gay (chair), G. McPherson, M. Karpisack. Thesis: Design of Zero Discharge and Safe Discharge Biological Wastewater Treatment Systems Using Fast-Growing Trees

1964 -1968 B.A. Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Summa Cum Laude, High Honors in

Philosophy, Phi Beta Kappa. Daniel Webster Scholar. Major: Philosophy and Pre-medical program in Sciences

Fall 1966 - Exchange student at Fisk University, a black college in Nashville, Tennessee.

Journal and scientific editor positions:

2000-2002 – Scientific Editor for COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) Session on Closed Ecosystems, Space and Earth Applications, Warsaw, Poland (2000) Houston (2002)

1994 – present. Contributing Editor for Earth Applications, Journal of Life Support and Biosphere Science.

Professional honors

Yuri Gagarin Jubilee Medal, 1993, awarded for outstanding service to international cooperation in space

and the environment by the Russian Cosmonautics Federation; elected Fellow of the Explorer's Club,

New York in 1994, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 2000. Honorary member, International Association for Advanced Life Support, University of Alabama at Huntsville; 1991-listing, Marquis Who's Who in Science and Engineering, elected to Phi Kappa Phi, the Honors Engineering Society, 1998.

Conferences, Papers and Publications:

Books and Book Chapters (Written or Edited)

Contributing Editor, The Biosphere Catalogue (ed. T. Parrish Snyder), Synergetic Press, London and Tucson, 1985. Russian translation by MYSL publishers, Moscow (1990). German translation by Sphinx

Publishers, Basel (1990).

Nelson, M.: The Biotechnology of Space Biospheres, presented at Space Life Science Symposium, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan. Published in Fundamentals of Space Biology (ed. M. Asahima and G.M. Malacinski), pp. 185-200, Japan Scientific Society Press, Tokyo, and Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1990.

Space Biospheres by John Allen and Mark Nelson. Paperback, Synergetic Press, Tucson, 1986 and revised

second edition, 1989. Hardback edition by Orbit Books, Malabar Florida, 1987. Russian translation by

Progress Publishers, Moscow (1990), German translation by Sphinx Publishers, Basel (1990).

Nelson, M., G. Soffen, (ed.): Workshop on Biological Life Support Technologies: Commercial Opportunities, NASA Conference Publication, NASA Office of Management, Scientific and Technical Information Division, Washington D.C. 1990. Also published as Biological Life Support Systems,

Proceedings of the Workshop on Biological Life Support Technologies: Commercial Opportunities, (ed.) Mark Nelson and Gerald Soffen, Synergetic Press, Tucson, 1990.

Alling, A., M. Nelson, L. Leigh, T. MacCallum, N. Alvarez-Romo, J. Allen and R. Frye. 1993. Experiments on the closed ecological system in the Biosphere 2 test module. Appendix chapter, pp 463-469 in R.J. Beyers and H.T. Odum, eds. Ecological Microcosms, Springer-Verlag, New York.

Nelson, M., E. Bass, and L. Leigh. 1993. Biosphere 2 and the study of human/ecosystem dynamics, pp. 280-296, In M. J. McDonnell and S. T. Pickett, eds. Humans as Components of Ecosystems: The Ecology of Subtle Human Effects and Populated Areas, Springer-Verlag, N.Y. xxii, 364 pp.

Life Under Glass: The Inside Story of Biosphere 2 by Abigail Alling and Mark Nelson, Biosphere Press, Tucson, 1993. 370 pp., published also in Dutch (1993) and Japanese (Kdansha Press, 1997)

McKay, C., T. Meyer, P. Boston, M. Nelson, T. MacCallum and O. Gwynne, Utilizing Martian Resources for Life Support, chapter in Utilization of Near Space Resources, ed. J. Lewis, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1993

Nelson, M., 1995. Design of Zero Discharge and Safe Discharge Biological Wastewater Treatment Systems Using Fast-Growing Trees, M.S. Thesis, School of Renewable Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, pp. 142.

Nelson, M and W.F.Dempster,1996,Living In Space: results from Biosphere 2's initial closure, an early testbed for closed ecological systems on Mars,pp.363-390 in Strategies for Mars: a guide to human exploration ed.C.R.Stoker & C.Emment ,Vol.86 AAS Publication, San Diego CA.

Nelson, M, 1997. Bioregenerative Life Support Systems for Space Habitation and Extended Planetary Missions, pp. 315-336, In: Fundamentals of Space Life Sciences (ed. Susanne Churchill), Orbit Books, Malabar, FL.

Nelson, M., 1998. Limestone mesocosm for recycling saline wastewater in coastal Yucatan, Mexico, Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, pp. 329.

Nelson, M (Ed.), 2001. Closed Ecological Systems: Earth and Space Applications, Advances in Space Research, Vol. 27, Number 9. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd., Pergamon. pp. 1495-1617

Conferences Chaired and Organized

Chair, Institute of Ecotechnics Galactic Conference, Aix-en-Provence, France, 1981.

Chair, Seminar on North American Succulents, Desert Dome Conservatory, Fort Worth, Texas, 1983.

Chair, Biospheres Conference, Space Biospheres Ventures, Tucson, 1984.

Chair, Genetics, Conditioning and Power Conference, Institute of Ecotechnics, Aix-en Provence, France, 1985.

Chair, Biosphere 2 Conference, Space Biospheres Ventures, Tucson, 1985.

Chair, The Agenda: Possibilities, Tasks and Groups Conference, Institute of Ecotechnics, Aix-en-Provence, France, 1986.

Chair, First International Review of the History, Current Work and Future of Closed Ecological Systems conference, organized by the Institute of Ecotechnics, sponsored by Space Biospheres Ventures and held at the Royal Society in London at the invitation of Professor Keith Runcorn, fellow of the Royal Society and member, SBV Review Committee, 1987.

Co-chair, Bio-Astronautics: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, panel with Academician Oleg Gazenko, Space Future Forum, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1987.

Chair, Institute of Ecotechnics Conference on The Revolution: Information, Genes and Artificial Intelligence, Aix-en-Provence, France, 1988.

Section chair, Space Manufacturing 7: Space Resources to Improve Life on Earth, 9th Princeton/AIAA/ Space Studies Institute conference, Princeton. Workshop section on Space Biospheres. Published in Space

Manufacturing 7: Space Resources to improve Life on Earth, proceedings of the 9th Princeton/AlAA/Space Studies Institute, (ed. G. Maryniak), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Washington D.C., 1989.

Section chair, Space Manufacturing, 8, 10th Princeton/AIAA/Space Studies Institute conference, Princeton. Workshop section on ;Space Biospheres. Biosphere 2 Update Published in Space Manufacturing 8, proceedings of the 10th Princeton AlAA/Space Studies Institute, (ed. Greg Maryniak), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Washington D.C. 1991.

Co-chair, Second International Review of the History, Current Work and Future of Closed Ecological Systems conference, co-sponsored by the Institute of Biophysics (USSR), Space Biospheres Ventures and the Institute of Ecotechnics, held in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Conference chair: Professor I.I. Gitelson, Director of the Institute of Biophysics, USSR Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, and Director, BIOS-3 Project, Krasnoyarsk. Co-chairs: Mark Nelson, SBV, and Dr. G.M. Lisovsky, Vice-Director, Institute of BioPhysics, USSR, 1989.

Chair, Biological Life Support Systems: Commercial Opportunities, a workshop sponsored by the NASA Office of Commercial Programs (Technology Utilization) and hosted by Space Biospheres Ventures at the Biosphere 2 Project site, Tucson, 1989.

Organizer and co-chair, Third International Workshop on Closed Ecological Systems with a session on Carbon Dynamics and Cycling in Natural and Engineered Ecosystems, April 1992, Biosphere 2 project site.

Organizing Committee and co-chair, Fourth International Workshop on Biospherics and Closed Ecological Systems, Linnean Society, April, 1996.

Organizer and Chair, Institute of Ecotechnics conference: Complexity: Biospheres, Culture and Evolution,

October, 1997, Les Marronniers Conference Center, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Organizer and Chair, Institute of Ecotechnics conference: The Future: Worlds, History and Society,

October, 1998, Les Marronniers Conference Center, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Organizer and Chair, Institute of Ecotechnics conference: Experimental Metaphysics: Physiology, Remote Sensing and Cognitive Structures, October, 1999, Les Marronniers Conference Center, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Organizing Committee: Mars Ecosynthesis: Creating Open and Closed Ecosystems, workshop sponsored by NASA Ames Research Center, Astrobiology Institute and Global Ecotechnics consortium, Synergia Ranch, Santa Fe, NM, September 2000.

Organizer and Chair, Institute of Ecotechnics conference, Exploration: Art, Science and Projects, October, 2001, Les Marronniers Conference Center, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Organizer and Chair, Institute of Ecotechnics conference: Time: Metapatterns, the Present Moment and Evolution , October, 2001, Les Marronniers Conference Center, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Organizer and Chair, Institute of Ecotechnics conference: The Ethnosphere: Memes, Themes and Dreams, October, 2002, Les Marronniers Conference Center, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Papers and Conference Presentations

Nelson, M.: Man in the Desert, Desert Conference, Institute of Ecotechnics. Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1977.

Nelson, M.: Patterns of mountain settlement correlated with changes in modes of transport,; Mountain Conference, Institute of Ecotechnics, Katmandu, Nepal, 1979.

Nelson, M.: Conceptual Model to Evaluate Ecological Regions; in Man, Earth, and the Challenges, proceedings of the Institute of Ecotechnics Planet Earth Conference, Synergetic Press, London, 1981.

Nelson, M.: Synergetic Management of the Savannahs, presented at the Second International Savannah Symposium, CSIRO, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Published in The World's Savannah: Ecology and Management, Australian Academy of Science,, (ed. Mott and Tothill) University of Queensland Press, 1985.

Allen, J.P., Nelson, M., and Snyder, T.P.,: Institute of Ecotechnics, in The Environmentalist, 4 (1984) 205-218, Geneva,1985.

Nelson, M., Hawes, P., and Augustine, M.: Life Systems for a Lunar Base, delivered at Lunar and Planetary Institute Conference,Houston, and published, pp. 513-518, in The Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities in the 21st Century (ed. W. W. Mendell), NASA Conference Publication 3168, 2 vols.

Biological Sciences in Space publication series, Vol. 3, No. 1, Tokyo, 1989, and reprinted in Lunar Habitation Vol. 1, by Japan Macro-Engineer Society and Lunar Habitation Institute, Tokyo, 1989.

Nelson, M.: Vernadsky and the Biosphere, presented at Brown University and Vernadsky Institute Microsymposium, Brown University, Providence, R.I., 1988.

Nelson, M.: Mission to Planet Earth and Biosphere 2 Seminar, Planetary Society, held at the Biosphere 2 site, Oracle, Arizona, 1990.

Nelson, M., Alvarez-Romo, N., MacCallum, T.: The Biosphere 2 Project and its Potential Role in Assisting the Space Exploration Initiative , presented at the Innovative Technologies for the Space Exploration

Initiative Symposium of the American Astronautical Society, held at Johnson Space Center, Houston, 1990.

Nelson, M. Leaving the Planetary Cradle, The World and I Magazine, February, 1991, p. 388, Washington Times Corp., Washington D.C.

Nelson, M. The Emerging Science of the Biosphere, The World and I Magazine, May 1991, Washington Times Corp., Washington D.C.

Nelson, M., Dhyr, K., and Hawes, P., Biosphere 2: Laboratory, Architecture, Symbol and Paradigm, International Synergy Journal, Spring 1991.

Nelson, M., MacCallum,T.M., Leigh,L.S., Alling,A. and N. Alvarez-Romo, Innovative Approaches for Integration in Bioregenerative Testbeds -Biosphere 2 Project, Paper for Biosphere Symposium, 24 May 1991 sponsored by Japanese CELSS Society and Japanese Society of High Technology in Agriculture. Tokyo, Japan, published in symposium proceedings.

Nelson, M. and Allen, J.P.: Ecology and Space, presented at Japanese Society for Biological Sciences in Space, Second Annual Conference, Tokyo. Published in Human Engineering in Space,Japanese Society for Biological Sciences in Space publication series, Vol. 3, No. 1, Tokyo, 1989, and reprinted in Lunar Habitation Vol. 1, by Japan Macro-Engineer Society and Lunar Habitation Institute, Tokyo, 1989.

Nelson, M., L. Leigh, A. Alling, T. MacCallum, J. Allen, and N. Alvarez-Romo, l991. Biosphere 2 test module: a ground-based sunlight-driven prototype of a closed ecological system. Paper for COSPAR XXVIII Plenary Meeting, The Hague, Netherlands, 1990, published in Natural and Artificial Ecosystems, Advances in Space Research, v. 12, 5:151-158

MacCallum, T., M. Nelson, J.P. Allen, L.S. Leigh, A. Alling, N. Alvarez-Romo: The Biosphere 2 Project and its Application for Space Exploration and Mars Settlement. The Case for Mars I V, Volume 76, Science and Technology Series, American Astronautical Society, San Diego,1991.

Nelson, M., T. Burgess, A. Alling N. Alvarez-Romo, W. Dempster, R. Walford, and 1. Allen. 1993. Using a closed ecological system to study Earth's biosphere: Initial results from Biosphere 2. BioScience 43(4): 225-236.

Nelson, M., Silverstone,, S. and J. Poynter,, 1993. Biosphere 2 Agriculture: Testbed for intensive, sustainable, non-polluting farming systems, Outlook on Agriculture, Vol 13, No. 3, Sept. 1993 pp. 167-174, CAB International, Oxford, U.K. .

Nelson, M, W. F. Dempster, N. Alvarez-Romo, T. MacCallum. 1994, Atmospheric Dynamics and bioregenerative technologies in a soil-based ecological life support system: Initial results from Biosphere 2. in Advances in Space Research,14 (11):417-426.

Silverstone, S.E. and M. Nelson, 1996. Food production and nutrition in Biosphere 2: results from the first mission, September 1991 to September 1993, Adv. In Space Research, Vol. 18, No. 4/5:49-61

Nelson, M., 1997. Nutrient recycling systems of Biosphere 2: litterfall, decomposition and wastewater recycling, results from the 1991-93 closure experiment, Life Support and Biosphere Science, 4(3/4):145-153.

Nelson, M., 1998. Wetland systems for bioregenerative reclamation of wastewater -- from closed systems to developing countries, Life Support and Biosphere Science, 5(3): 357-369.

Nelson, M., Finn, M, Wilson, C., Zabel, B., van Thillo, M., Hawes, P., and R. Fernandez, 1999. Bioregenerative recycle of wastewater in Biosphere 2 using a created wetland: two year results, J. Ecological Engineering 13: 189-197.

Nelson, M., 1999. Litterfall and decomposition rates in Biosphere 2 terrestrial biomes, Ecological Engineering 13: 135-145.

Silverstone, S.E., Harwood, R.R., Franco-Vizcaino, E., Allen, J. and M. Nelson, 1999. Soil in the agricultural area of Biosphere 2 (1991-1993), Ecological Engineering 13: 179-188.

Allen, J. and M. Nelson, 1999. Biospherics and Biosphere 2, mission one (1991-1993), Ecological Engineering 13: 15-29.

“Design Paradigm for the 21^st Century”, lectures at the Forum 2000, Nagoya Urban Institute, Nagoya, Japan, Jan. 26, 2000 and at the conference of the Human-Centered Design Initiative, Tokyo, Jan. 28, 2000.

Silverstone, S., Nelson, M., Alling, A. and J. Allen, Developing and testing a soil-based bioregenerative agriculture system to feed a four-person crew at a Mars Base. presented at COSPAR conference, Warsaw, Poland, July, 2000, in press, Advances in Space Research.

Nelson, M., Odum, H.T., Brown, M.T., and A. Alling, “Living off the land”: resource efficiency of wetland wastewater treatment, invited paper presented at COSPAR conference, Warsaw, Poland, July, 2000, vol 27, nbr 9: 1546-1556, Advances in Space Research, 2001.

“Natural Systems of Wastewater Recycle and Use”, May 2001 at Udyana University, Bali, Indonesia at workshop on “A New Ecotechnic Approach to Wastewater Treatment”

“Biosphere 2 and the Ecological Engineering Design Paradigm”, May, 2001 at the University of the Pacific, Manila, Phillipines at their workshop on Environmental Conservation

Nelson, M., Alling, A, Dempster, W.F., van Thillo, M. and J. Allen, Integration of wetland wastewater treatment with space life support systems, paper presented at COSPAR conference, Warsaw, Poland, July, 2000, Life Support and Biosphere Science 8 (3/4):149-154, 2002.

Nelson, M. and Tredwell, R., “Wastewater Gardens”: Creating urban oases and greenbelts by productive use of the nutrients and water in domestic sewage, paper for Conference on Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems, April 2002 sponsored by United Nations Environment Program and Environmental Technology Centre, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.

Alling, A, Nelson, M., Silverstone, S and M. Van Thillo, 2002. Human Factor Observations of the Biosphere 2, 1991-1993, Closed Life Support Human Experiment and Its Application to a Long-Term Manned Mission to Mars, paper presented at NASA Mars Ecosynthesis workshop, Santa Fe, NM Sept 2000, Life Support and Biosphere Science Vol 8:71-82

Salisbury, F.B, Dempster, W.F., Allen, J.P., Alling, A., Bubenheim, D., Nelson, M and S. Silverstone, in press, Light, Plants, and Power for Life Support on Mars, paper presented at NASA Mars Ecosynthesis workshop, Santa Fe, NM Sept 2000, Life Support and Biosphere Science 8(3/4):161-172, 2002

J.P. Allen, M. Nelson, A.K. Alling, The legacy of Biosphere 2 for the study of biospherics and closed ecological systems, paper presented at the World Space Congress, COSPAR general assembly, Houston, TX, October 2002, in press Adv. In Space Research, 2003

M. Nelson, J. Allen, A. Alling, W.F.Dempster, S. Silverstone, Earth applications of closed ecological systems: relevance to the development of sustainability in our global biosphere, paper presented at the World Space Congress, COSPAR general assembly, Houston, TX, October 2002, in press Adv. In Space Research, 2003

M. Nelson, W.F. Dempster, A. Alling, J.P. Allen, R. Rasmussen, S. Silverstone, M. Van Thillo, Initial experimental results from the Laboratory Biosphere closed ecological system facility, paper presented at the World Space Congress, COSPAR general assembly, Houston, TX, October 2002, in press, Adv. In Space Research, 2003

Memberships

Royal Geographical Society, British Ecological Society, International Association for Advanced Life Support.

Research interests

Innovative ecological methods of wastewater treatment and use, Ecological engineering, Arid zone agriculture and development , Sustainable agricultural systems, Tropical savannah ecology, Closed ecological systems; Group dynamics, Philosophy of science.