Emeritus research astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who co-founded the Dr. Edgar Mitchell Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary Encounters (FREE) alongside Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, attorney Rey Hernandez, and researcher Mary Rodwell, and serves as the foundation's Executive Director. Co-edited FREE's 2018 study 'Beyond UFOs.'
Rudy Schild is an emeritus research astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who co-founded the Dr. Edgar Mitchell Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary Encounters (FREE) together with Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, attorney Rey Hernandez, and Australian researcher Mary Rodwell, and now serves as the foundation's Executive Director. He co-edited 'Beyond UFOs: The Science of Consciousness & Contact with Non Human Intelligence' (2018) with Rey Hernandez and John Klimo, presenting the results of FREE's multi-year survey study of self-described contact experiencers alongside essays on consciousness research.