Gerald
Nordley: “Under the Light of Alien Suns”
An author and astronomical engineer, Gerald explores issues of habitability
of worlds around other stars. Particular attention was paid to Gliese
876, a typical star with an M3 spectrum and the nearest star known to
have planets. Under the right conditions, it's two giant planets might
have moons with atmospheres and liquid water.
Peter Diamandis
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis is a pioneer in the space tourism arena. He is
the Chairman and President of the X
PRIZE Foundation, co-founder of Space
Adventures, and the CEO of Zero
Gravity Corporation, a commercial company developing FAA-certified
parabolic flight. In 1987, Diamandis co-founded the International
Space University (ISU) where he served as the University's first managing
director.
Dave Tamori
Dave is a nationally honored art teacher and a leader in innovative curriculum
design. Dave spoke on the role that the Arts have in the development of
aesthetic thinking, and the connections Art has with Science. Dave is
a musician, dancer and martial artist.
Charles
Ostman: "Invocation of Rapture"
Charles Ostman is currently a senior fellow at the Institute for Global
Futures, and chair of the Technology Development Committee of NanoSig,
a non-profit entity facilitating development in nanotechnology-related
ventures. Charles explored a linkage between the aesthetic content of
nature and biologically inspired processes used to render compelling aesthetic
content. Included in his presentation were a wide variety of examples
of biologically inspired procedural art as well as renderings of previous
cultures throughout history.
Gus Frederick
Gus is an instructional technologist for the Oregon
Public Education Network. Gus discussed recent educational results
from the NIAC Phase II Martian Cave study, and the connection of Funded
Space Projects to real-world educational opportunities for schools.
Richard Zimmer
Richard is an anthropologist and a psychologist. He teaches in the Hutchins
School at Sonoma State University. He has been doing his Mars Colony/Mars
Habitat class for the last five years. He also teaches other exemplary
classes, such as Garbage.
H.
Paul Shuch: "SETI Sneak Attack"
Dr. Shuch is an aerospace engineer credited with the design of the world's
first commercial home satellite TV receiver. He now directs his microwave
interests toward the search for life in space. Dr. Shuch received his
Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Before
joining The SETI League as its Executive Director, he served as an engineering
professor on various campuses for a total of 24 years.
Ed Smallwood: "The Library of Civilization"
Ed has previously worked with the West Coast team on the Epona
Project - a 5 year experiment to create a detailed, group world. He
appeared in the Discovery Channel and BBC documentary "The Natural
History of an Alien" with several other members of the Epona team
for all of about 30 seconds, so he still has a little more than 14 minutes
of fame left. He lives in San Jose, CA with his wife of 8 years, his 3
year old daughter, his 9 month old son, and a cat.
Douglas
Raybeck: "Visualizing Contact Possibilities"
Douglas is a Professor of Anthropology in the Anthropology Department,
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. His main research interests include deviance,
cognitive systems, psycholinguistics, and system and future studies. He
has carried out extensive fieldwork in West Malaysia, and has published
a variety of manuscripts emphasizing the cognitive strategies employed
by Kelantanese Malays in managing their cultural and social situations.
His latest work is Looking Down the Road: A Systems Approach to Future
Studies.
Lara Battles: "Art of the Social Interface:
ETI/Human"
Lara works as a Marriage and Family Therapist on
the coast of California and teaches Community College classes in psychology
and ESL. A tomboy by nature, she has always had a taste for the alien
and an interest in working with personalities which break out of the box's
orbit. She finds the therapeutic discipline of pattern-detection in humans
useful, or, at least, entertaining, applied to projections of CONTACT.
She has survived single-parenthood and fates stranger than abduction and
now seeks a quiet retreat in which to indulge her mid-life crisis.
Donald M. Scott
Donald currently wanders Earth as a NASA
Educator. A teacher for more than 30 years, he has also been a Ranger;
there, he developed special interest in the work of George R. Stewart.
Scott looks forward each year to the CONTACT conference, a place to explore
new ideas with friends and colleagues.
Israel Zuckerman: COTI
Israel has an academic background in anthropology and environmental studies
and is a science fiction fan and avid gamer. He is the coordinator of
the COTI simulations and the developer of many operating protocols for
our COTI HI curriculum project.
Robert (Bob) Richards
Bob is the Director of the Space and Atmospheric Division of Optech Incorporated,
a world leading developer of laser sensors (Lidar) for space vision systems
and planetary exploration. Bob has been involved with international space
development for over 15 years. He co-Founded the International Space University
where he served as the University's first Associate Administrator for
Strategic Planning and Director. Bob has appeared widely on television
and radio programs as a space exploration communicator. In 1992 he co-anchored
Roberta Bondars' historic shuttle launch on Canada AM with Pamela Wallin,
and joined forces with Arthur C. Clarke and other space luminaries in
co-authoring Blueprint for Space, a book on the development of the space
age, published by the Smithsonian Institution.
Jim
Funaro
Founder of CONTACT, Jim is an instructor emeritus in anthropology at Cabrillo
College, which recently awarded him its highest honor for teaching excellence.
Publications demonstrating his research interests are "Anthropologists
as Culture Designers for Offworld Colonies" and "On the Cultural
Impact of Extraterrestrial Contact." Besides his degrees in Anthropology,
he has a BA cum laude in Literature and is a published poet; he won the
American Anthropological Association's 1997 prize for poetry.
Joel
Hagen
Joel is an award winning artist who divides his time between painting,
sculpting, and computer graphics. He teaches computer graphics at Modesto
Junior College and CSU Stanislaus. In the 1980s, Hagen organized projects
exploring the nature of the creative process in which scientists, artists
and writers collaborated on exercises in disciplined imagination. He has
carried on with this concept as cofounder of the annual CONTACT conferences.
An active advocate of international space efforts, Hagen is a founder
and board member of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.
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