Nathan Callahan is not quite as slippery as the politicians he made famous and successful in his work as a political writer and consultant. Even though his grandfather's conservative friend and mentor, Strom Thurmond, encouraged the young Callahan to take up writing, Callahan, as all precocious children do, turned cheek and headed straight to the side opposite his family.

In the early 1990s, after honing his chops as a liberal political activist and speechwriter, Callahan wrote and edited "Shut Up, Fag!" Quotations from the Files of Congressman Bob Dornan. With its unsettling title and contemptible subject matter, the book became a cult success and is considered a progenitor of political performance art pieces. Soon thereafter, Callahan helped established the counterculture broadsheet the OC Weekly where he was recognized by the New York Times for helping break through Orange County's conservative media stranglehold.

Responsible for the initial creation of the Orange County Great Park, Callahan has been employed as an auto worker, a graphic designer, a musician, a municipal administrative aide, a xeriscaper, and, most emphatically, a writer. Currently, he can be heard broadcasting from his alma mater the University of California at Irvine where he has produced and hosted a wide-array of programming on KUCI FM, including the flagship programs Weekly Signals and filmschool.

Suburban Manners: An Irreverent View of the 1990s as Witnessed in the Politics, Wealth and Culture of Orange County, California, Interviews: My United States of Whatever and Heaven and Earth:Thoughts on Baseball, Art, and Other Altered States are Callahan's latest published works. His upcoming projects include a series of radio essays entitled The SoCal Byte, and The Open Air Museum, a book about the meaning of art as seen via a historic coffee bean-hauling Volkswagen van.

Adam Gazzaley, MD PhD, is director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center at the University of California, San Francisco, an Associate Professor in the Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry departments, and director of a neuroscience laboratory that conducts research on the neural mechanisms of perception, attention and memory in humans. A major focus of his research has been to expand our understanding of alterations in the aging brain that lead to cognitive decline. His most recent studies explore how we can preserve and improve cognitive abilities. He has authored over 40 scientific articles and his research findings and views have been consistently profiled in high-impact media, notably The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME, PBS, NPR, and NBC Nightly News. He has received awards and honors for his research, including the Cortical Scholar Award, Pfizer/AFAR Innovations in Aging Award and the Ellison Foundation New Scholar Award in Aging. Dr. Gazzaley, a board-certified neurologist, also sees dementia patients at UCSF and teaches cognitive neuroscience at UCSF and UC Berkeley. As a complement to his scholarly life, he is an accomplished nature photographer.

Robert Full is Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and the Director of a new Berkeley center, CiBER, the Center for Interdisciplinary Biological Inspiration in Education and Research. He also directs the Poly-PEDAL Laboratory, which studies the Performance, Energetics and Dynamics of Animal Locomotion (PEDAL) in many-footed creatures. His fundamental discoveries in animal locomotion have inspired the design of novel neural control circuits, artificial muscles, eight autonomous legged robots and the first self-cleaning dry adhesive. Full's research interests extend from analyzing the pitching motion of a Hall of Fame pitcher to assisting computer animators make children's movies (A Bug's Life).

Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Canadian citizen, Keith Bellows, was named editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler magazine in January 1998 and a vice president of the National Geographic Society in March 2000. Under his stewardship, the magazine has been nominated for two National Magazine Awards, won more than 60 Lowell Thomas Awards for best travel writing, and seven Folio Awards for Best Travel Magazine. As a tip of the hat to new media, Traveler has won an iTunes People's Choice Award for Best Podcast of 2006, for which Bellows wrote two scripts. Its "Intelligent Travel" won a 2007 Travvie and a 2009 Lonely Planet Award as best travel blog.

In addition to editing Traveler, Bellows developed a major spinoff of the magazine's website built around the award-winning special issue 50 Places of a Lifetime. He also writes "One on One," a regular interview column with compelling figures - Al Gore, hotelier Ian Schrager, Steve Case, Dolly Parton, futurist Andrew Zolli, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who have something important to say about how we travel and where we go. He helped position TRAVELER as a leader in sustainable travel and has made it the travel photography magazine (it runs the world's biggest travel-photo contest, the only travel cell-phone contest, and a series of city-based photo seminars regarded as the best in the business). He also helped create journeystreams, an innovative open-source web program to help students tell stories.

Prior to joining National Geographic, Mr. Bellows was developing internet content as early as 1994. He worked for Rupert Murdoch's Delphi web service; as creative director launched BabyCenter.com (now owned by Johnson & Johnson); was the executive producer of Excite.com; and was founding partner of WestWorld Media, which developed Metallica's first website and created the college-based Campus Voice.com.

He was the editor of the Smart Health/Smart Parenting Division of the New York-based Meigher Communications. He was founder of the Media Development Group, Inc.., which created print properties for Disney, Utne Reader, Vegetarian Times, and others. As President/Creative, Whittle Communications, he was the editor of its flagship Special Reports magazine and executive producer of the companion "Special Reports TV with Joan Lunden" (combined, America's largest TV/print network at the time, with more than 40 million consumers). In his 14 years at Whittle he launched and edited 30 magazines. He is now writing 100 Places That Will Change Your Child's Life, part of a program he is developing to encourage parents, corporations, and schools to view travel as a critical learning tool. It will be published in October 2011. Mr. Bellows is a graduate of Gordonstoun School (Scotland) and Dartmouth College. He lectures extensively around the world (and is part of the National Geographic Speakers Bureau) and his more than 200 television appearances include the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, and a regular segment on National Geographic Today.

Daniel Wildcat is a professor at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, and an accomplished scholar who writes on indigenous knowledge, technology, environment, and education. He is also co-director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center, which he founded with colleagues from the Center for Hazardous Substance Research at Kansas State University. A Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, Wildcat is the coauthor, with Vine Deloria, Jr., of Power and Place: Indian Education in America (Fulcrum, 2001), and co-editor, with Steve Pavlik, of Destroying Dogma: Vine Deloria, Jr., and His Influence on American Society (Fulcrum, 2006). Known for his commitment to environmental defense and cultural diversity, Dr. Wildcat has been honored by the Kansas City organization The Future Is Now with the Heart Peace Award. His most recent book is Red Alert! Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge.

Dr. Karen Stephenson, hailed in Business 2.0 as 'The Organization Woman', is a corporateanthropologist and lauded as a pioneer and "leader in the growing field of social-networkbusiness consultants." In 2007, she was awarded the Star Award by the International Interior Design Association for her contributions to the workplace. She was also one of only fourfemales recognized from a distinguished short list of 55 in Random House's 2007 Guide to theManagement Gurus. In 2006, she was awarded the first Houghton Hepburn Fellow at Bryn Mawr College for her groundbreaking contributions to civic engagement. In 2001, her consulting firmNetform was recognized as one of the top 100 leading innovation companies by CIO. Herprominence catapulted in 2000 when she was featured in a New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell, regarding the social dynamics of office spaces. Even before these accolades,Stephenson had earned praises for innovatively solving a variety of complex problems whichhave been featured in The Economist, Forbes, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and Wired. Drawing upon her prolific experience and 400 memberdatabase, Dr. Stephenson consistently delivers that 'aha' moment to her clients and audiences.

A global nomad, she has been sighted at the Rotterdam School of Management at ErasmusUniversity where she currently lectures. This was preceded by five years at the Harvard School ofDesign and 10 years at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management.She received her PhD in Anthropology at Harvard University, an M.A. in Anthropology at the University of Utah, and B.A. in Art & Chemistry at Austin College, Texas.

Gregory Boyle - best known as Father Greg by all who meet him -- was born in Los Angeles, one of eight children. After graduating from Loyola High School in Los Angeles in 1972, he entered the order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and was ordained a priest in 1984. He received his BA in English from Gonzaga University; an MA in English from Loyola Marymount University; a Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology; and a Sacred Theology Masters degree from the Jesuit School of Theology. Prior to 1986 Fr. Boyle taught at Loyola High School and worked with Christian Base Communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He was appointed as Pastor of Dolores Mission in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1986 where he served through 1992. During 1993, he served as Chaplain of the Islas Marias Penal Colony in Mexico and Folsom Prison, before returning to Los Angeles and Dolores Mission.

Homeboy Industries traces its roots to "Jobs For A Future" (JFF), a program created in 1988 by Fr. Greg at Dolores Mission parish. In an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth, Fr. Greg and the community developed positive alternatives, including establishing an elementary school, a day care program and finding legitimate employment for young people. JFF's success demonstrated the model followed today that many gang members are eager to leave the dangerous and destructive life on the "streets." In 1992, as a response to the civil unrest in Los Angeles, Fr. Greg launched the first business (under the organizational banner of JFF and Proyecto Pastoral, separated from Dolores Mission Church): Homeboy Bakery with a mission to create an environment that provided training, work experience, and above all, the opportunity for rival gang members to work side by side. The success of the Bakery created the groundwork for additional businesses, thus prompting JFF to become an independent non-profit organization, Homeboy Industries, in 2001.

Today Homeboy Industries' nonprofit economic development enterprises include Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy Maintenance, Homeboy/HomegirlMerchandise, and HomegirlCafe. As Executive Director of Homeboy Industries and an acknowledged expert on gangs and intervention approaches, Fr. Boyle is a nationally renowned speaker. He has given commencement addresses at numerous universities, as well as spoken at conferences for teachers, social workers, criminal justice workers and others about the importance of adult attention, guidance and unconditional love in preventing youth from joining gangs. Fr. Greg and several "homies" were featured speakers at the White House Conference on Youth in 2005 at the personal invitation of Mrs. George Bush. In 1998 he was a member of the 10-person California delegation to President Clinton's Summit on Children in Philadelphia. Fr. Greg is also a consultant to youth service and governmental agencies, policy-makers and employers. Fr. Boyle serves as a member of the National Gang Center Advisory Board (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention). He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Loyola Law School Center for Juvenile Law and Policy in Los Angeles. Previously, he held an appointment to the California Commission on Juvenile Justice, Crime and Delinquency Prevention. Fr. Greg has received numerous accolades and recognitions on behalf of Homeboy and for his work with former gang members, including the California Peace Prize granted by the California Wellness Foundation in 2000 and the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from MALDEF. In 2007, Fr. Greg received the Bon Appetit magazine "Humanitarian of the Year" Award and the Caring Institute's Caring People Award. In 2008, Fr. Greg was honored with the Civic Medal of Honor by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Irvine Leadership Award conferred by the James Irvine Foundation.

In 2009 the Los Angeles Headquarters Association honored Fr. Greg as one of the city's leading visionaries responsible for changing the face of Los Angeles, and the Harvard Club of Southern California recognized him with the John Harvard Award for Distinguished Service to the Community. In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of his ordination, an acknowledgement of his tireless service was read into the Congressional Record by Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA). The Elfenworks Foundation presented the In Harmony with Hope Award to Fr. Greg and Homeboy, and the Los Angeles Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America named Fr. Greg as 2009 Citizen of the Year. The Bank of America Charitable Foundation selected Fr. Greg and Homeboy Industries as a recipient of the 2009 Neighborhood Excellence Initiative Builder award, acknowledging our work in job training. The year, 2008, marked the 20th Anniversary of the work Father Greg began that is now Homeboy Industries and 2009 is the 25th anniversary of Father Greg's ordination as a priest. Homeboy Industries, now located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, is recognized as the largest gang intervention and re-entry program in the county, and has become a national model.

Stephen A. Erickson is Professor of Philosophy and the "E. Wilson Lyon" Professor of Humanities at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He received his Ph.D. at Yale University (1964) and is author of Language and Being (Yale University Press), Human Presence: At the Boundaries of Meaning (Mercer University Press), and The (Coming) Age of Thresholding (Kluwer Academic Publishers), as well as numerous articles in journals such as The Review of Metaphysics, Man and World, Philosophy Today, The Harvard Review of Philosophy, the International Philosophical Quarterly and Existenz. In lectures throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia, Erickson is reflecting on contemporary culture and its relation to spiritual life. His 24-lecture series "Philosophy as a Guide to Living" is available through The Teaching Company. Erickson has been a guest-faculty member at several psychoanalytic institutes and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. He recently was an invited guest in Hong Kong and Xi'an, China to participate with other international and Chinese scholars in discussions concerning the Common Good and a Confucian approach to Chinese Family Health Care.

Ambar Past was born in Durham, North Carolina in 1949, descendent of a wheelwright, Piast, who in 840 became the first king of Poland. Past's mother was a painter and her father a physician and junk collector. Her grandfather was a hillbilly who claimed to have Cherokee ancestry. Ambar grew up in Brooklyn, Chattanooga, El Paso, San Francisco, and Oregon. At an early age she became fascinated with books; she began making her own when she was four years old, wrote her first volume of poetry at age seven, and has worked in print shops since she was eleven.

At the age of 23 Past immigrated to Mexico and became a Mexican citizen. As an itinerate teacher of natural dyes for the National Indian Institute, she spent years living in mud huts among Native American people in remote areas of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. For more than 30 years she has made her home in the Highlands of Chiapas principally in rural hamlets where she learned to speak Tzotzil Mayan. Past is the creator of the graphic arts collective Taller Lenateros (The Lenateros Workshop) in San Cristobal de Las Casas. She also participated in the formation of Sna Jolobil, a weaving cooperative for Mayan artisans, the Mayan writers collective Sna Itz'ibajom, and is president of Libros Prehispanicos A. C.

Past's first writings were published in Tzotzil in the collective book Sloilichiltaktik (autobiographies of Tzotzil women), 1978, and Bon (a manual for Mayans on natural dyes), 1980. In Spanish she has published a number of chapbooks of her own poetry. For 30 years she has worked in the collecting, recording, and translation of Tzotzil ritual poetry, which appear in the bilingual anthologies, published by Taller Leateros, Conjuros y ebriedades, 1998, Incantations By Mayan Women and a music CD-book, Sueno conjuros desde el vientre de mi madre (in press),. Her poems and stories have been published in anthologies and magazines in Spanish, English, Italian, Bosnian, Polish, Lithuanian, German, French, and Japanese.

Past has traveled widely in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia where she has worked as a circus performer, housewife, amber carver, papermaker, silkscreen printer, soap maker, Thai chef, and as a reporter for a Chinese-English newspaper. She is the founder and director of the prize-winning journal for art and literature La Jicara, known as'the most beautiful magazine in Mexico.' Past's work has been shown in book arts exhibitions in the US, Mexico, Austria and Italy. She is the mother of artist Tila Rodriquez-Past, and she is currently preparing a hands-on activities book, Alchemy for Beginners and a collection of her stories, Men I Never Slept With.

Described by his international colleagues as a multi-tasking multi-disciplinary enterprise catalyst, Chris Tilak-sri Dharmakirti currently heads the largest state-owned enterprise reform entity, the Strategic Enterprise Management Agency (SEMA) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He previously headed the apex policy making national body, the National Council for Economic Development (NCED) and was also senior economic and enterprise development adviser to the Ministry of Finance & Planning. Prior to his stint in the public sector, Chris was a senior Vice President of the American $6.5 billion venture capital fund PCCW Ventures in Hong Kong and was mentor for numerous venture start-ups in Asia, North America and Europe. With several international patents for his own inventions ranging from board games to media-technology hardware, Chris is credited for creating the world's first automated multi-media content storage and multi-site distribution server for his in-store and in-train narrowcast television system in 1991. He was also one of the co-creators of Asia's first-ever and largest satellite and cable television service -- Star TV. As a multi-disciplinary ideas man, Chris has also established his international mark in the Advertising & Marketing industry, where he holds the unique distinction of winning back to back awards from Madison Avenue's leading publication Advertising Age which conferred the "Most Creative Agency in the World Award" to Ball WCRS in Hong Kong in 1988 and the "Best Advertising Agency in the World Award" to DDB Needham Hong Kong in 1990.

Mark Kingwell, PhD, is the author of ten books of political and cultural theory, among them the national bestsellers Better Living (1998) and The World We Want (2000), the essay collection Practical Judgments (2002), and, most recently, Nearest Thing to Heaven: The Empire State Building and American Dreams (2006). His writing has appeared in diverse publications, including Harper's, the Harvard Design Magazine, the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities, American Scholar, the New York Times, the Toronto Star, Adbusters, Queen's Quarterly, and the Globe and Mail, where he currently writes a biweekly column on ideas. Kingwell has lectured extensively to academic and popular audiences in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Australia. He is the recipient of the Spitz Prize in political theory, National Magazine Awards for both essays and columns, and an honorary doctorate from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design for contributions to theory and criticism. His new book Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City, was published in 2008.

Ramsay Remigius Mahealani Taum is the founder and president of the Hawai'i based Life Enhancement Institute (LEI) of the Pacific LLC. Ramsay also lectures on host cultural values in the workplace at the School of Travel Industry Management (TIM) at the University of Hawai'i where he formerly served as Special Assistant to the Dean on Host Culture and Community Affairs.
Born and raised in Hawai'i, Ramsay is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, attended the United States Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. Ramsay's eclectic background and experience in business, government and community service makes him a valuable asset in both public and private sectors and has been instrumental in for-profit and non-profit business.

His work in promoting sustainable place based, and Hawaiian cultural stewardship principles and practices is acknowledged locally, nationally and internationally. Ramsay was awarded the 2008 East West Centers Leadership Certificate Program's Transformational Leadership in Sustainability, and in that same year was Hawai'i Home + Remodeling, HONOLULU & Hawai'i Business magazines' 'Who's Keeping Hawai'i Green' 2008 Individual Educator Honoree.

A recognized cultural resource Ramsay is sought after as a keynote speaker, lecturer, trainer and facilitator. He is especially effective working with Hawaii's travel, leisure and retail industry where he integrates Native Hawaiian cultural values and principles into contemporary business. Mentored and trained by respected kupuna (elders), he is a practitioner and instructor of several Native Hawaiian practices including ho'oponopono (stress release and mediation), lomi haha (body alignment) and Kaihewalu Lua (Hawaiian combat/battle art). Ramsay is an active community advocate, serving on a range of national boards, advisory groups and councils.

Jenova Chen (a.k.a. Xinghan Chen) is one of the first-generation video game design graduates from USC School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media Program. He is the creator of the multi award-winning student game Cloud and flOw, co-founder of thatgamecompany and the creative director of Flower. Jenova is dedicated to expanding the emotional spectrum of video games and making them available for a much wider audience. Born and raised in Shanghai China, Jenova ventured to the US in 2003. One of his greatest dreams is to bring the best messages to the video game world. Similar to what Hayao Miyazaki did to anime, Jenova wants to be one of the heroes who can turn video games into a form of art and play that can be appreciated and enjoyed by every human being. University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts MFA in Interactive Media. Jenova graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Engineering, in Computer Science and Engineering; studied in the Advanced Program at Donghua University, School of Garment Design in Shanghai.

E.C. Krupp is an astronomer and Director of Griffith Observatory, which is owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, He recently led Griffith Observatory's $93-million renovation and expansion. He majored in physics and astronomy as an undergraduate at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He began working at Griffith Observatory in 1970 as a part-time Planetarium Lecturer when he was still in graduate school in astronomy at U.C.L.A., where he studied the properties of rich clusters of galaxies with the late Dr. George O. Abell. He completed his PHD in 1972. Dr. Krupp then became a full-time Observatory staff member when he was hired as Curator, and he has been Director since 1974.

Dr. Krupp is the author and editor of five books on ancient, prehistoric, and traditional astronomy amd author of four children's books on astronomy. He is a Contributing Editor for Sky & Telescope magazine and wrote a monthly column on astronomy and culture from 1993 through 2008. He has also published about a hundred other articles for the general reader and dozens of research papers. He is an internationally known expert on ancient astronomy and has visited nearly 1900 ancient and prehistoric sites throughout the world. His last expedition, this past July, spotlighted the celestial antiquities in Mongolia, China, and South Korea and also attempted to shanghaied the 22 July 2009 total solar eclipse south of Shanghai. He has lectured throughout the U.S. and rest of the world for the last 38 years and frequently appears on national and local television and radio.

Blair Lock is a Biomedical Engineer and the Laboratory Operations Manager for the Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs. This world-renowned, highly publicized amputee and neural engineering research group is affiliated with Northwestern University and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago-ranked the "#1 Rehabilitation Hospital in America" since 1991 by U.S. News & World Report. Lock's research team is directed by Dr. Todd Kuiken and has revolutionized their field by developing a novel surgical technique, called targeted reinnervation, that 're-wires' human amputees. This brain-machine interface provides these amputees with unprecedented control of advanced motorized prostheses.

In a few short years, Mr. Lock has helped grow the Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs from a working concept and staff of 3 to an ever-expanding collection of 25 outstanding researchers. This team has collaborated with high-profile centers such as the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Defense's DARPA and TATRC programs, and the Walter Reed and Brooke Army Medical Centers. His group's work is widely published in top medical and engineering journals around the world and has enjoyed great success in high-impact public media. His work has been cover featured in National Geographic; has appeared in Popular Science, The New Yorker, and Esquire, among many others; and has been seen on countless prime time and scientific television features. Mr. Lock has traveled widely and presented this science, its implications, and its impact to many diverse audiences.

Calling downtown Chicago home since 2005, Lock was born and raised in eastern Canada within a family of successful scientists, engineers, teachers, and doctors. He received Bachelors and Graduate degrees in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering and Technology Management from the University of New Brunswick in Canada. His Engineering, research, and management interests have led him though fields or fiber optics, sonar discovery, robotics, virtually reality, and technology integration into natural environments.

Rick Foster has dedicated himself to studying people and communities that thrive. His research has taken them to all seven continents and generated a roadmap to happiness, physical wellbeing, and, ultimately, success. This model is now being studied internationally by mind-body researchers, and is the basis of Rick's training work in leadership, organizational wellness and productivity, health, and wealth management. Rick is a frequent keynote speaker and trainer, and works in the U.S. and worldwide with such clients as G.E., AXA Financial, The Mayo Clinic, New York University Medical Center, and The Zenith. He is also a featured blogger for The Huffington Post. In 2009, Rick began working with the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Public Health and will lecture in the department starting Fall, 2010. Rick has also completed long stints on the faculties of the American Hospital Association's HRET Fellowship Programs and on the graduate faculty at San Jose State University's Accounting and Finance Department. Rick's newest book, (co-authored with Greg Hicks), Happiness & Health, was initially published in May of 2008 by Penguin Group USA under the title Choosing Brilliant Health.
His first book, (again, with Greg Hicks), the best-selling How We Choose to Be Happy (PenguinPutnam), was nominated as Best Motivational Book by the prestigious Books for a Better Life and was selected as one of the Book of the Month Club's Best Books of the Year. Translated into 15 languages, the book is being used by businesses, hospitals and universities around the world. And, Rick and Greg have written a children's book, The Martha Is Mine, an Almost True Story. Rick has appeared on dozens of TV and radio shows, and has been featured in such magazines as Family Circle, Health, Fitness, Working Mother, Fit, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Ebony and Readers' Digest. Rick has a particular love of blogging and late-night live radio talk shows.

Patrick Meier is the Director of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi and the co-founder of the International Network of Crisis Mappers. He was previously the co-director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative's (HHI) Program on Crisis Mapping and Early Warning. Patrick has consulted for numerous international organizations including the UN, OSCE and OECD on crisis mapping and early warning projects in countries ranging from the Sudan and Thailand to East Timor and Colombia. Patrick has an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University and is completing his PhD at The Fletcher School/Tufts University. He is also an alum of the Santa Fe Institute's (SFI) Complex Systems Summer School. Patrick blogs at iRevolution.net

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was born in Mexico City in 1967. In 1989 he received a B.Sc. in Physical Chemistry from Concordia University in Montral, Canada. As an electronic artist, Rafael develops large-scale interactive installations in public spaces, usually deploying new technologies and custom-made physical interfaces. Using robotics, projections, sound, internet and cell-phone links, sensors and other devices, his installations aim to provide "temporary antimonuments for alien agency". His work has been commissioned for events such as the Millennium Celebrations in Mexico City (1999), the Cultural Capital of Europe in Rotterdam (2001), the United Nations' World Summit of Cities in Lyon (2003), the opening of the Yamaguchi Centre for Art and Media in Japan (2003) and the Expansion of the European Union in Dublin (2004) and the 40th Anniversary of the Tlatelolco Student Massacre in Mexico City (2008). His work in kinetic sculpture, responsive environments, video installation and photography has been shown in three dozen countries, including Biennials in Venice (Italy), Istanbul (Turkey), Havana (Cuba), Sydney (Australia), Liverpool (UK), Shanghai (China), Seoul (Korea), Seville (Spain) and others.

His work is in private and public contemporary art collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Jumex collection in Mexico, the Daros Foundation in Zurich and the Tate Collection in London. At the Prix Ars Electronica in Austria, his pieces have received a Golden Nica, a distinction and two honorable mentions. He also won two BAFTA British Academy Awards for Interactive Art in London, a distinction at the SFMOMA Webby Awards in San Francisco, "Artist/ performer of the year" at Wired Magazine's Rave Awards, a Rockefeller fellowship, the Trophe des Lumieres in Lyon and an International Bauhaus Award in Dessau, Germany. He has given many workshops and conferences, among them at Goldsmiths college, the Bartlett school, Princeton, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Cooper Union, MIT MediaLab, Guggenheim Museum, LA MOCA, Netherlands Architecture Institute and the Art Institute of Chicago. His writing has been published in Kunstforum (Germany), Leonardo (USA), Performance Research (UK), Telepolis (Germany), Movimiento Actual (Mexico), Archis (Netherlands), Aztlan (USA) and other art and media publications.

Dr. Andre Fenton is a neuroscientist, biomedical engineer and entrepreneur working on three related problems: how brains store information in memory; how brains coordinate knowledge to selectively activate relevant information and suppress irrelevant information; and how to record electrical activity from brain cells in freely-moving subjects. Andre and colleagues identified PKMzeta as the first memory storage molecule, a discovery identified by Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's journal, as one of the ten most important breakthroughs in all the science reported in 2006. Recordings of electrical brain activity in Andre's lab are elucidating the physiology of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. Andre is a Professor at the Center for Neural Science at New York University. He founded Bio-Signal Group Corp., to develop brain-recording technology for medical applications.