Eilene Theilig has traveled far from her hometown of Houston Texas. Until recently, her professional career was centered around understanding the earth and solar system. With degrees in geology and a research focus on planetary exploration, she was an intern during the Viking Mission to Mars and, later, a National Research Council post-doctoral research associate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

In 1989, she joined the Galileo Project flight team at JPL planning spacecraft activities for the journey to Jupiter and became the project manager for the final two and a half years of the mission. Deciding to follow a different path, in 2003 Eilene entered the Pacific School of Religion where she obtained a Master’s of Divinity degree in May 2006. Her primary interest is in adult Christian education which she exercises as the Director of Lay and Continuing Education at Brite. Because of her background in both science and theology, Eilene maintains an interest in the intersection of science and faith. She is an ordained Disciples of Christ minister.