Advisory Panel Members
Anousheh Ansari is known as the first female private space explorer after her historic flight on September 18th 2006 to the international space station. She is also the first astronaut of Iranian decent. She obtained a bachelors degree in electronic and computer engineering from George Mason University and a master's degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University. Additionally she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the International Space University. She is currently the co-founder and chairman of Prodea Systems, a digital lifestyles technology company. She has founded other successful telecom businesses as well. Ansari is a member of various elite science advisory boards, including the X-Prize Foundation's Vision Circle and Board of Trustees. She now works to enable social entrepreneurs and bring about radical change throughout the world.
Dr. Michael P Crosby is currently the President and CEO of the Marine Laboratory and Aquarium (MOTE) in Sarasota, FL. He has held various prestigious positions including Executive Director of the US National Science Board, and Senior Advisor for International Science Policy at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He has also served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hawaii Crosby has worked throughout his career to further interdisciplinary work internationally, and has helped to develop science policy and programs within the USA. He has served as a panelist and reviewer for numerous scientific journals. Crosby holds a PhD from the University of Maryland and a BS and MS from Old Dominion University.
Dr. Peter Katona has spent his career immersed in the academic and research field of biomedical engineering. He began with studies in electrical engineering within which he holds a bachelors degree from the University of Michigan and a MS and ScD from MIT. He has held many academic positions including professor and chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He has also served as the Program Director for Biomedical Engineering and Aiding the Disabled at the National Science Foundation followed by an appointment as the President and CEO of the Whitaker Foundation, a privately funded biomedical research and education institute. He is currently positioned as a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at George Mason University and is a fellow of numerous professional organizations including the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Jon Strauss has held numerous prestigious positions in administrative academia. He is currently the President of Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY, and has served as president or vice president of five other universities and colleges including Harvey Mudd College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In the midst of this academic career, Strauss worked as the Chief Financial Officer for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He began his academic journey with a bachelors and masters degree in physics, culminating in a PhD in electrical engineering from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He also played a crucial role in the foundation of the Responsibility Center Management, a decentralized management approach developed at the University of Pennsylvania.
Alexander Konovalov was the Rector of Kazan State University and Director of Alexander Arbuzov Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry of Kazan Research Center within the Russian Academy of Science. He has made significant contributions to the fields of thermo-, stereo-, and electrochemical research. He also holds a number of esteemed positions including chairman of the Research Council for Organic and Oganoelemental Chemistry in the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has been honored with various state prizes including the Golden Medal from Tatarstan Academy of Sciences for achievements in science. He holds both a PhD and Masters degree in Chemistry from Kazan State University.
Barry Marshall is an Australian physician and Nobel Laureate for his work in determining that a type of bacterium known as Helicobacter pylori is the cause of most peptic ulcers. This discovery overturned years of belief that ulcers were caused predominately by stress, spicy food and excessive acid. This also led to further understanding and treatment for stomach cancer. Marshall obtained his bachelor of medicine from Newman College and his Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Western Australia. He is currently a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Western Australia.
Kary Mullis is a Nobel Prize winning biochemist best known for his work on optimizing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. PCR allows biochemists to amplify specific sequences of DNA. Mullis helped to establish this practice as a standard in biochemical research. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology and a PhD in biochemistry from University of California Berkeley. He currently works as a research scientist at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute.
Stane Pejovnik is the Laboratory Head and professor of Material Science at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. He served as the President/Rector of the University from 2009-1013. Previous to that he was the Director of the National Institute of Chemistry in the Laboratory for Materials and Electrochemistry. He is most known for his work on electrochemical materials and energy storage. He received his PhD in Chemistry and Materials Science Engineering from the University of Ljubljana.
Doug Randall is a biochemist who has served two appointments to the National Science Board. The board is chosen to represent the top minds in the nation’s scientific research field and serves as advisors for national policy. Randall’s research focuses predominantly on plant metabolism and understanding the metabolic interactions between photosynthesis, photorespiration and respiration. He has served on the editorial boards of many plant physiology and biology journals and was Chair of the Board of Trustees for the American Society of Plant Biologists. He currently is a professor emeritus of Biochemistry at Missouri University.
Donald Miller spent 40 years as a teacher and cardiovascular surgeon at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, the Seattle VA Medical Center, and at the University of Washington School of Medicine, where he was chief of cardiovascular surgery. He has researched and written numerous articles on modern medicine and the importance of natural and nutritional medicine for maintaining health, as well as articles on the philosophy of science. He has degrees in medicine from both Harvard Medical School and Northwestern Center Feinberg School of Medicine.
