Biography
Brian Shiro is an American geophysicist working for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii since 2016. In this role, he supervises seismic monitoring to mitigate earthquake and volcano hazards in the state of Hawaii. From 2005-2016, he held a position as geophysicist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is an expert on a earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, space exploration, and planetary sciences..
In his spare time, Shiro trains to be an astronaut. In November 2008 and February 2013, he made it to the "Highly Qualified" stage of NASA's astronaut selection process, placing him in the top 10% of astronaut applicants in the United States. In July 2009, he served as crew geophysicist on a month-long simulated Mars expedition to the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island, Canada, and in January 2010, he served as commander on two-week simulated Mars mission to the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. In April 2010, Shiro co-founded the organization Astronauts for Hire to help aspiring astronauts with professional development opportunities and served as the organization's President and CEO through 2015. Since 2013, he has directed the mission support and geology exploration components of Mars analog missions at the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) facility.
Shiro holds a Masters of Science degree in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Masters of Arts degree in Earth & Planetary Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis, a graduate certificate of Space Studies from the International Space University, and three Bachelor of Arts degrees from Northwestern University in the fields of Integrated Science, Geological Sciences, and Physics. He has been working towards earning a doctorate in geophysics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa since 2013.
Brian grew up in the town of Paragould, Arkansas and graduated high school from the prestigious Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences, located in Hot Springs. Shiro is married and has two children as of 2011. His father is a physician, and his mother is a high school English teacher.
