Dan is a principal scientist in the Department of Space Studies at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder Colorado. He has more than 20 years experience researching the collisional and dynamical evolution of main-belt and near-Earth asteroids, Vulcanoids, Kuiper belt comets, and interplanetary dust. Dan is an active pilot, with time logged in over a dozen types of aircraft including the F/A-18 Hornet and the F-104 Starfighter, and was a 2004 NASA astronaut selection finalist.

Dan is one of three SwRI payload specialists who will fly on multiple spaceflights on commercial reusable suborbital vehicles.