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Paul Davies, Director of BEYOND at cosmos.asu.edu

Paul Davies, the Director of BEYOND, is a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astrobiologist and best–selling author. His research ranges from the origin of the universe to the origin of life, and includes the properties of black holes, the nature of time and quantum field theory. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1995 Templeton Prize, and the 2002 Michael Faraday Prize from the Royal Society.

Ariel D. Anbar, Associate Professor in School of Earth & Space Exploration and Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Ariel D. Anbar is an Associate Professor jointly appointed in the School of Earth & Space Exploration and the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Arizona State University. He received an A.B. from Harvard College in 1989 and completed his Ph.D. in Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology in 1996. Before coming to ASU he was on the faculty of the University of Rochester from 1996 to 2004.

Kip Hodges, Deputy Director of Beyond at tectonics.asu.edu

Kip Hodges is a geologist and Founding Director of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. His field research includes work in the Arctic, western North America, the Peruvian Andes, and the Himalayan–Tibetan system. He has helped develop new analytical techniques in low–temperature isotope geochronology.






Lawrence Krauss, theoretical physicist

Lawrence M. Krauss is an internationally known theoretical physicist with wide research interests, including the interface between elementary particle physics and cosmology, where his studies include the early universe, the nature of dark matter, general relativity and neutrino astrophysics. He has investigated questions ranging from the nature of exploding stars to issues of the origin of all mass in the universe.













Anita Goel works in the field of nanobiophysics and nanobiotechnology, studying the physics of life. She is Chairman and Scientific Director of Nanobiosym Labs, President and CEO of Nanobiosym Diagnostics, Inc. and Research Scholar in the Physics Department at Harvard University.









Christopher P. McKay, Planetary Scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames

Chris received his Ph.D. in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and has been a research scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center since that time. His current research focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human exploration. Chris been involved in research in Mars–like environments on Earth, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys, Siberia, the Canadian Arctic, and the Atacama desert to study life in these Mars–like environments. His was a co–I on the Titan Huygen’s probe in 2005, the Mars Phoenix lander misson for 2007, and the Mars Science Lander mission for 2009. He is the deputy program scientist for Constellation – the NASA program for future human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Felisa Wolfe–Simon at www.ironlisa.com Felisa Wolfe–Simon is a geobiochemical oceanographer. Her research addresses fundamental questions related to the evolution of life, by unraveling the geobiochemical co–evolution of life and Earth, using tools in both molecular biology and biochemistry. Her work bridges biology, chemistry, and geology.









Jeffrey Tollaksen, Chapman University

Jeffrey Tollaksen is a theoretical physicist who works in the field of quantum mechanics, including foundational interpretation questions. Together with Yakir Aharonov he has developed the theory of quantum weak measurements, and explored their applications to the nature of time and the role of the observer in quantum mechanics. He established the Center for Quantum Studies at georeg Mason University before moving to Chapman University in 2008.












Yakir Aharonov, Chapman University

Yakir Aharonov is one of the founders of modern quantum theory. Together with David Bohn, he discovered the so-called Bohm-Aharonov effect, a cornerstone in our understanding of the wave nature of matter, and the subject of a Wolf Prize. Aharonov has also been instrumental in developing the concept of quantum weak measurements and post-selection, currently very active areas of both theoretical and experimental research. Aharonov has been for many years Professor of Physics at Tel Aviv University, and also holds a number of appointments in the United States.






Dr. Gil Levin

After service in the public health departments of Maryland, California and the District of Columbia, Levin founded Spherix in 1967. Levin has combined a career of invention with the management of this publicly–held Maryland corporation. He invented and developed radioisotopic detection of microorganisms and its instrumentation. He has over 130 papers published in science and technology journals; over 50 patented inventions world–wide in microbial detection and identification, microbial wastewater treatment processes, biological nutrient removal, disease detection, nonfattening sweeteners, and safe–for–humans pesticides. NASA appointed him as Co–investigator on the Mariner 9 Mission to Mars, as Experimenter on the Viking Mission to Mars, and as a Team Member for the Mars Oxidant experiment that the U.S. placed on the Russian 1996 Mars Mission. He was Principal Investigator of a NASA return Mars sample study, and was a Member of the NASA–appointed Planetary Quarantine Advisory Panel. Levin served as a Trustee of The Johns Hopkins University, as a member of The Johns Hopkins National Engineering Advisory Council, The Johns Hopkins National Library Advisory Council. He has received awards from Hopkins, the AAAS and NASA. He is a member of the Cosmos Club of Washington, DC, and is listed in Who’s Who in America.





                 
From Left: Rick Shangraw, Vice President, ASU; Robert Nemanich, Chair and Professor, Department of Physics; George Poste,Director, The Biodesign Institute; Quentin Wheeler, Vice President and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, ASU.