Brian K. Riley (Adrian Austin Apollo)
U.S. Air Force Reserves (inactive status)
PERSONAL DATA: Born April 29, 1962 in Kankakee, Illinois. Grew up in Kankakee and also St. Anne, Illinois, then Fresno, California after age 12. Enjoys Scrabble, Omega Chess, collecting books, as well as documenting the oral history of family members and family friends.
EDUCATION: Clovis High School, Clovis, California; B.A. in mathematics/computer science option from California State University, Fresno (1985); M.A. in linguistics from Gallaudet University, Washington D.C. (1987); currently a Ph.D. student studying higher education policy at the University of California, Davis, graduation expected in 2017.
ORGANIZATIONS: American Educational Research Association (AERA), California Association of the Deaf (CAD), National Association of the Deaf (NAD), The Joint Alumni Association of Arnold Air Society, Angel Flight and Silver Wings (JAA).
SPECIAL HONORS: Bachelor of Arts with honors; Air Force ROTC - Superior Performance Award; California Association of the Deaf (CAD) - CAD Appreciation Award.
EXPERIENCE: While still a high school student, starting in his sophomore year, Riley began a course of self-directed study in computer science at CSU Fresno, becoming one of the first three people ever to use the Internet (then ARPANET) in Central California at a time when only approximately 177 computers were connected worldwide. Riley believes that exploring "inner space" (epistemology) is equally important as exploring outer space, and as a mathematics instructor for several years sought to motivate students with a philosophical aptitude to explore issues in the epistemology of math and science. For several years Riley has been working on a grand epistemological theory uniting the philosophy of mathematics (foundations) with general qualitative epistemology, after having been initially inspired by his professor-mentor at Fresno State who had done his doctoral work under the supervision of mathematician A.P. Morse. As an AFROTC General Military Course (GMC) scholarship student at Fresno State, Riley served occasionally in a command role while only a freshman and sophomore with juniors and seniors under his command in the field. Also as sophomore, Riley served as Deputy Commander (rank: AAS/Captain) of the CSU Fresno Arnold Air Society squadron.
FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: As an Air Force cadet flying from California to Colorado Springs, briefly flew a T-43A navigator trainer jet, as co-pilot under pilot's supervision, and also received informal navigator training experience.
NASA EXPERIENCE: As a student in the independent study geometry class as part of the gifted study program at Cooper Junior High School in Fresno, California, participated in an educational program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena.
SPACE FLIGHT EVENT PARTICIPATION: As reporter on assignment at Mojave Spaceport, greeted astronaut Brian Binnie on the tarmac moments after his completing the historic SpaceShipOne space flight to win the Ansari X-Prize and conducted interview for op-ed piece.
23 July 2015