Dr. Rich Whittle leads the Bioastronautics and eXploration Systems (BXS) Laboratory in the UC Davis Center for Space Flight Research (CSFR). The lab aims to understand the physiological changes the space environment induces in the human body and to develop tools, technologies, and countermeasures to facilitate operations and minimize risk in human spaceflight.

Dr. Whittle completed his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. He previously served as an airborne infantry officer (including operational service in Helmand Province, Afghanistan), and later an engineering officer, in the British Army from 2009 to 2023.