Dr. Raye Kass is a Professor of Applied Human Sciences Concordia University, specializing in Leadership, Small Group Behaviour and Human Relations. She is the author of Theories of Small Group Development, co-author of three other books and co-editor of the recently published book (2016) Mars One: Humanity's Next Great Adventure.

Dr. Kass has led over 1000 workshops and training programmes / seminars in leadership and managing transitions, communication and problem-solving skills, staff development, team building and conflict management with various universities, research centres, schools, hospitals, penitentiaries, government departments and organizations in Canada, USA, Europe and Asia. Dr. Kass has been highlighted frequently by both national and international press agencies for both her space sciences and group theory research.

Dr Kass was Principal Investigator on two space simulation missions: the 1994 CAPSULS Mission held in Canada and the 240 day space simulation SFINCSS Mission held in Russia in 1999 – 2000. Her ground -based research project with the NASA Ames Research Centre examined the effectiveness of various training approaches to counteract team dysfunction among multicultural and gender-mixed teams. Dr. Kass is advisor to Mars One and is currently developing a training programme for crew selection.