Stories

When humankind next steps on the moon, and eventually on Mars, KBR’s experts will have played a big part in making it happen. One of those experts is Morgan Stosic, a research scientist and psychologist, who was recently recognized as one of Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30.”

Morgan grew up in Reno, Nevada, and had always thought about a career in medicine, specifically studying the brain and how the mind works. At first, she’d considered clinical psychology, but after joining a research lab while completing her undergraduate degree at Oregon State University, she quickly realized that performing behavioral research and interacting with human subjects was her passion.

“I was fascinated by the brain and learning more about the ways we interact together,” Morgan said. “I was drawn to studying what people do and why. We’re interesting and unpredictable. I found the work fun and challenging. Then while completing grad school and my Ph.D., I began working with people in the lab, videoing them having social interactions or solving problems, and I would do a lot of behavioral coding.”

Morgan and research assistants would monitor things like facial expressions, vocal quality and other micro-interactions to understand the dynamics of the subjects and also to see if interactions could be predicted. It was while earning her Ph.D. that she happened upon a NASA grant to work with Dr. Erin Flynn-Evans, currently director of the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Together, they worked to monitor and better understand behavioral expressions of fatigue.

“I didn’t have my eye on a spaceflight career,” she said. “But when I graduated and the job opened up, I thought it would be a good fit.”

One of the key factors of human spaceflight is how the rigors of training and then being in close proximity to others in confined spaces can psychologically affect astronauts. As a lead scientist supporting NASA’s Johnson Space Center’s Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory, Morgan leverages behavioral science to advance how human performance in space is monitored and optimized. This includes analyzing astronauts’ nonverbal cues, facial expressions, vocal cues and body movements to detect real-time indicators of fatigue, cognition and cohesion with team members. Her primary focus in extravehicular activity research, which is being applied to developing the next-generation spacesuits that will be worn by astronauts exploring the moon.

“You might not think psychology has anything to do with spacesuits, but it does,” she said. “Currently, we’re researching the right internal pressure for the suits. We’re examining how changes to the pressure may impact changes to cognitive functioning, memory and attention spans while on extravehicular activities.”

That work will be instrumental in helping astronauts endure the long journey to Mars. Morgan and her teammates are studying the psychological capability to endure the long voyage while isolated with the same crew, and with significant communication delays — 23 minutes to send a signal, 23 minutes to return a transmission. 

“I’m excited about the work we’re doing to think about how we bridge those communication dynamics with that delay,” Morgan said. “It’s not normal for humans to communicate with that kind of delay. So we’re exploring how we can bridge that gap and make communication effective and still maintain closeness with friends and family back on Earth.”

Morgan’s contributions to spaceflight would be impressive for anyone. The fact that she’s just 28 years old makes her work seem even more remarkable. Forbes magazine agreed by recognizing Morgan on their 2025 “30 Under 30” list. Morgan was nominated by her mentor, Dr. Mollie Ruben, with whom she studied at the University of Maine.

“I was surprised and excited, but more than anything this honor reflects the collaborative work being done across the broader human spaceflight research community,” Morgan said.

Morgan Stosic has already accomplished much in her career. When asked about what she’s looking forward to achieving in her career, she had this to say:

“The questions we get to answer are fascinating and important. Sometimes in academia, I think we have a tendency to ask ourselves, ‘Is this actually changing anything or bettering humanity or moving us toward a goal?’ Research doesn’t always have to do those things, but it’s nice to know, while learning and better understanding these human dynamics, that this work could inform not only space exploration for future generations, but also other science aspects of psychology.”