Biography - James F Reilly

Dr. Jim Reilly joined APUS in December, 2009, as the Dean of the School of Science and Technology. He received his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1977 and 1985, respectively. He received his PhD in geosciences in 1995 from UTD with his dissertation titled The Structural and Stratigraphic Controls on the Distribution of Chemosynthetic Communities in the Gulf of Mexico. Field work required a combined 22 days underwater in deep submergence vehicles operated by the US Navy and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.
After 17 years as an exploration geologist, Dr. Reilly was selected as a member of the 15th astronaut class in 1995. He flew three shuttle missions, STS-89 in 1998, STS-104 in 2001, and STS-117 in 2007, for a total time in space of over 850 hours. He also conducted five spacewalks for a total of over 31 hours of EVA time.
He retired from the Astronaut Corps in 2008 moving to Colorado Springs, where he worked in senior management with two small companies before joining APUS in December, 2009.
Dr. Reilly is a commissioned officer in the US Navy Reserve as an Engineering Duty Officer, Space Cadre (VS-4, Expert), Naval Astronaut. His duties include building curriculum for space operations courses for the Navy and teaching those courses around the world.
In his free time, Dr. Reilly enjoys skiing where he is active in the National Ski Patrol, flying, hiking, fishing, hunting, and travelling.