Video

Deborah Bial
Founder and President
Posse Foundation
New York, New York
Age: 42

Deborah Bial is an education strategist who addresses the challenges of college access for underrepresented populations by identifying and fostering latent talent and opening opportunities for them to pursue higher education.  Traditional admissions metrics such as grade point average, class rank, and entrance exam scores have long been recognized as inadequate predictors of success for some undergraduates.  Through her Posse Foundation, Bial offers an alternative model for identifying promising young people from less advantaged, urban environments.  Working with public high schools and other community organizations, Bial evaluates potential candidates using a rigorous assessment process based on qualities such as leadership, teamwork, communication skills, and motivation – qualities that are as critical to successful navigation of undergraduate education as academic track records.  The most promising students are invited to join a “posse,” a small group that participates in an eight-month, pre-collegiate training program that builds individual and team skills and serves as an essential social support system once students arrive at college.  In parallel, she develops partnerships with admissions officials from dozens of highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities, offering a powerful means to augment the cultural and economic diversity of their institutions.  Bial is now refining her model to provide a focused program for students specifically interested in science and medicine.  Today, 90 percent of “posse” students graduate, a rate significantly higher than the national average.  By demonstrating the importance of less-recognized skills in educational achievement, Bial continues to open doors for thousands of students and to reframe college admissions into a more successful and inclusive process.

Deborah Bial received a B.A. (1987) from Brandeis University and an M.A. (1996) and Ed.D. (2004) from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.  She has served as the founder and president of the Posse Foundation since 1989.  Bial is also a founding partner of the consulting company Firefly Education LLC.

Information as of September 2007

Peter Cole
Co-founder and Co-editor
Ibis Editions
Jerusalem, Israel
Age: 50

Peter Cole is a translator, publisher, and poet who brings the often overlooked works of medieval Spain and the modern Middle East to English-speaking audiences.  His highly regarded translations of the poetry of Solomon Ibn Gabirol and Shmuel HaNagid, two of the great Hebrew poets of the Andalusian “Golden Age,” offer readers a lyrical illustration of the extraordinary Arab-Jewish cultural partnership that flourished in tenth- through twelfth-century Spain.  A poet himself, Cole’s translations infuse medieval verse with contemporary meaning while remaining faithful to the original text.  His renderings of HaNagid’s poems in particular, long regarded as “untranslatable,” retain the subtleties, complexities, and formal elegance of the original verse.  Underlying Cole’s translations is an implicit message of cultural and historical cross-fertilization that is also evident in his work as a poet and a publisher.  His Ibis Editions publishes little-known works translated from Arabic, Hebrew, German, French, and Ladino, enlightening English-speaking audiences to the thriving literary tradition of the Levant.  By fostering literary dialogue in and about the Middle East, Ibis provides an occasion for intellectual and cultural collaboration.  In a region mired in conflict, Cole’s dedication to the literature of the Levant offers a unique and inspiring vision of the cultural, religious, and linguistic interactions that were and are possible among the peoples of the Middle East.

Peter Cole began his undergraduate studies at Williams College (1975-1977) and received a B.A. (1980) from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.  He is the author of two volumes of poetry, Rift (1989) and Hymns & Qualms (1998), and has also published many volumes of translation from Hebrew and Arabic, including Selected Poems of Shmuel HaNagid (1996), Selected Poems of Solomon Ibn Gabirol (2001), Taha Muhammad Ali’s So What: New and Selected Poems, 1971-2005 (2006), and The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492 (2007).  He is the co-editor of Ibis Editions, which he co-founded in 1998, and has been a visiting writer and professor at Wesleyan University, Middlebury College, and Yale University.

Information as of September 2007.

Video

Lisa Cooper
Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine and Department of Epidemiology
Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, Maryland
Age: 44

Lisa Cooper is a nationally and internationally recognized physician and public health researcher whose scholarship on clinical communication is improving medical outcomes for minorities in the United States.  A Liberian raised outside of the U.S., she brings a unique perspective to American medical care.  While most studies concerning the disparities in health care across race and gender have focused on socioeconomic causes, Cooper has identified the crucial role race, ethnicity, and gender play in the physician-patient relationship.  In a landmark 1999 Journal of the American Medical Association paper, she found that minority patients perceived their physicians’ decision-making style as significantly less participatory than non-minorities.  She also established a direct link between the propensity of physicians to involve patients in treatment decisions and the success of health care interventions.  In response to these findings, Cooper has developed culturally tailored education programs designed to improve the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension and depression among African-Americans.  Preliminary results indicate that when patients and physicians are trained in patient-centered communication skills, patients are more likely to keep scheduled appointments, take medications as prescribed, and adhere to diet and exercise regimens.  Given the growing population in the U.S. of ethnically diverse consumers, Cooper’s analytical and clinical skills are key to enhancing the quality and delivery of medical care.

Lisa Cooper received a B.A. (1984) from Emory University, an M.D. (1988) from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and an M.P.H. (1993) from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.  She is currently a professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  She also holds a joint appointment in the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Information as of September 2007.

Ruth DeFries
Professor, Department of Geography and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center
University of Maryland / College Park
College Park, Maryland
Age: 50

Ruth DeFries is an environmental geographer who uses remotely sensed satellite imagery to explore the relationship between the Earth’s vegetative cover, human modifications of the landscape, and the biochemical processes that regulate the Earth’s habitability.  One of the greatest uncertainties researchers face when analyzing the world’s carbon balance is the extent of tropical deforestation.  In the past, the deforestation rate has been cobbled together using national statistics on forest cover and coarse-resolution satellite imagery that cannot detect changes finer than the level of individual pixels.  Recognizing the limitations of these strategies, DeFries and a team of collaborators developed a more precise approach to mapping land cover that views the landscape as a continuum of land cover characteristics rather than as discrete classes of forests.  With this method, DeFries has compiled datasets that have significantly changed the scale and focus of ecosystem research, enhanced her and other researchers’ ability to make more plausible projections of future climate change, and contributed to understanding how human activities are altering habitat needed to conserve biodiversity.  At the regional level, she has played a key role in exploring the impact of human-induced changes in land cover, initially focusing on central Africa and moving on to map areas in Southeast Asia and the Brazilian Amazon.  Combining expertise with sophisticated satellite-imaging systems and a deep understanding of the environmental effects of agriculture and urbanization, DeFries is providing a clearer picture of the processes transforming our planet.

Ruth DeFries received a B.A. (1976) from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. (1980) from Johns Hopkins University.  She was a research scientist (1980-1983) at the India Institute of Technology in Bombay and senior project officer (1987-1991) at the National Research Council. She joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1991, where she is currently a professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Geography and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. 

Information as of September 2007.

Video

Mercedes Doretti
Co-founder
Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team
Brooklyn, New York
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Age: 48

Mercedes Doretti is a forensic anthropologist who unearths evidence of crimes against humanity, restoring voices to long-silenced victims and presenting critical findings to tribunals, human rights organizations, and special commissions around the globe.  As a university student, Doretti co-founded the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF in Spanish) in 1984 to investigate the cases of men, women, and children who disappeared under the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.  From its inception, EAAF’s multi-stage process has involved exhaustive historical research and interviews to locate clandestine graves; painstaking excavation and documentation of remains; determination of cause, manner, and time of death of victims; and the return of identified victims’ remains to families.  Soon after commencing work in Argentina, Doretti and EAAF expanded their geographic scope, and they now work in more than 30 conflict-torn countries throughout Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.  Doretti’s approach is twofold – the collection of hard scientific evidence and implementation of new laboratory technologies for the identification of remains is complemented by compassionate, personal collaboration with grieving families during each step of the investigative process.  In order to underscore the value of forensic anthropology in the promotion of human rights, she has produced field manuals and documentary videos about her work and led the development and training of other locally based teams around the world.  From El Salvador to East Timor, Bosnia to Iraqi Kurdistan, Doretti makes witnesses of bones and seeks justice on behalf of populations whose immense losses have been omitted from the historical record.

Mercedes Doretti received a Licenciatura (1987) from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and completed courses in biological anthropology at Hunter College, City University of New York.  A founding member of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, she continues to serve as an EAAF researcher and as the coordinator of the organization’s New York City office.  From 2003 to 2005, she was president of the Latin American Association of Forensic Anthropology.

Information as of September 2007.

Stuart Dybek
Distinguished Writer in Residence
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois
Age: 65

The author of three short story collections, numerous anthologized works of short fiction, and two books of poetry, Stuart Dybek roots his writing firmly in Chicago’s ethnic neighborhoods, then mines these locales for the dreams, folklore, and fantasies that flourish within.  Throughout his work, Dybek establishes an almost palpable sense of place, meticulously depicting each physical detail, from the flickering glow of a portable TV to the camphor reek of a grandmother’s sickbed.  It is with the same precision, humor, and compassion that he renders his characters and their sometimes triumphant but often disappointing circumstances.  His stories resemble parables, as he pays tribute to the religious and folkloric heritage preserved by the elders who populate his fiction and to writers such as Franz Kafka, Isaac Babel, and Bruno Schulz.  The simplicity of Dybek’s parable-like style is complemented by complex imagery and forays into the vibrant dream-lives and mystical visions of his characters, those who dwell between the real and the fantastic so as to expand their stifling urban surroundings.  Dybek’s work dramatizes how a new storytelling tradition takes shape; his writing borrows from the literature and iconography of the Old World yet emerges from the New World – from the speech and streets and music and movies that feed the imaginations of contemporary American communities.   

Stuart Dybek received a B.S. (1964) and an M.A. (1967) from Loyola University of Chicago and an M.F.A. (1973) from the University of Iowa.  Currently Distinguished Writer in Residence at Northwestern University, he was a professor of English at Western Michigan University from 1974 to 2006 and continues to teach in their Prague Summer Program.  Dybek is the author of three books of fiction, Childhood and Other Neighborhoods (1980), The Coast of Chicago (1990), and I Sailed with Magellan (2003), as well as two collections of poetry, Brass Knuckles (1979) and Streets in Their Own Ink (2004).  His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, the Paris Review, and the Atlantic Monthly, among many others.

Information as of September 2007.

Marc Edwards
Charles P. Lunsford Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia
Age: 43

Marc Edwards, a civil engineer, is playing a vital role in ensuring the safety of drinking water and in exposing deteriorating water-delivery infrastructure in America’s largest cities.  An expert in the chemistry and toxicity of urban water supplies in the United States, he has made significant advancements in a broad array of areas, including arsenic removal, coagulation of natural organic material, and the causes and control of copper and lead corrosion in new and aging distribution systems.  Melding rigorous science, concern for public safety, and dogged investigation, Edwards’ recent work focused on the identification and analysis of lead contamination in the Washington, D.C. area’s local water supply.  In this research, he made the startling discovery that the addition of chloramine disinfectant (a new and widely used replacement for chlorine) in tap water actually increased the incidence of lead leaching in residential and commercial aqueducts, in many cases above acceptable EPA limits.  He went on to link several cases of lead poisoning, earlier thought to be caused by lead paint, to local tap water.  His findings also revealed systemic weaknesses in the regional water testing program, prompting the Washington Area Water Authority to replace lead service lines throughout the district.  Now expanding his focus to other cities, he is defining new and more effective ways to test local water and predict the risk of chemical contamination in urban infrastructure.  Through his exhaustive research efforts, Edwards is making critical contributions to the health of individuals and communities throughout the U.S. in an often-neglected area of domestic public safety. 

Marc Edwards received a B.S. (1986) from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an M.S. (1988) and Ph.D. (1991) from the University of Washington in Seattle.  Since 1997, he has been affiliated with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he is currently the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  He taught previously at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Information as of September 2007.

Michael Elowitz
Assistant Professor of Biology and Applied Physics
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
Age: 37

Michael Elowitz is a molecular biologist who is laying the groundwork for the next stage in the genomics revolution – understanding how genes interact.  To do so, Elowitz employs a strategy of designing artificial genetic “circuits,” first modeling them computationally and then introducing the elements in vivo to test their activity.  Experimenting with the first synthetic biological oscillator, he surprised many by demonstrating that even relatively simple negative feedback genetic regulation loops can generate complex behavior within a cell.  His work revealed that, because of the low concentration of effector molecules, concepts familiar in electronics such as noise and bistability also find currency in explaining gene regulation.  In another critical experiment, Elowitz showed that when two reporter genes with identical regulatory elements were engineered into bacteria they expressed themselves differently and that these differences were due to both intrinsic and extrinsic noise.  More recently, he investigated the regulation of a complex stage in normal cellular differentiation of bacilli known as “competence” in which they are temporarily able to incorporate DNA from their external environment.  Evidence from imaging studies and mathematical modeling suggest that the underlying genetic circuit consists of both positive and negative feedback loops.  Through these and other studies, Elowitz is addressing the long-standing question of how cells can maintain a well-regulated state in a complex and noisy environment.

Michael Elowitz received a B.A. (1992) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. (1999) from Princeton University.  Since 2003, he has served as an assistant professor of biology and as an applied physics Bren Scholar at the California Institute of Technology.  His numerous articles have appeared in such journals as Science, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Information as of September 2007.

Saul Griffith
Co-founding Partner
Squid Labs
Alameda, California
Age: 33

Saul Griffith is an inventor whose innovations span industrial design, technology, and science education.  Through a variety of endeavors at MIT and as a principal in Squid Labs, Griffith demonstrates his boundless energy for inventing across diverse disciplines in the global public interest.  While still a graduate student at MIT, he designed a unique membrane-based molding system that can produce a variety of common lenses from a single pair of flexible molding surfaces.  This prototype has the potential to change the economics of corrective lenses in rural and underserved communities around the world and continues to be a major focus of research and development energy at Squid Labs.  At MIT, Griffith co-founded Thinkcycle.org, a web community that has produced socially conscious engineering solutions, such as novel household water-treatment systems. Thinkcycle.org is the forerunner of Instructables.com, a remarkable do-it-yourself website driven by user contributions.  He is also a creative force behind HowToons, an animated educational resource designed to engage children in hands-on science and engineering projects.  Through the spin-off company Potenco, Griffith initiated the project design for a hand-held human-powered generator, which has the potential significantly to improve access to electronic devices such as laptops and water purifiers throughout the world.  Though still quite young, he holds several patents in optics, textiles, and nanotechnology.  In these engineering ventures as well as others yet to be imagined, Griffith is a prodigy of invention in service of the world community. 

Saul Griffith received a B.MET.E. (1997) from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, an M.E. (2000) from the University of Sydney, and an M.S. (2001) and Ph.D. (2004) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He is a co-founding partner of Squid Labs and serves as a technical advisor at Potenco in Alameda, California.

Information as of September 2007.

Sven Haakanson
Executive Director
Alutiiq Museum
Kodiak, Alaska
Age: 40

Sven Haakanson is the driving force behind the revitalization of indigenous language, culture, and customs in an isolated region of North America.  A native Alutiiq trained with a Ph.D. in anthropology, he is straddling worlds in an effort to preserve and give contemporary meaning to Native history and local legends, rituals, and customs.  The Alutiiq Museum, which he directs, is an archaeological archive and anthropological repository of cultural artifacts of the Kodiak archipelago.  Under Haakanson’s leadership, the museum also serves as a traveling resource, bringing innovative exhibitions, educational programming, and field research to the landlocked villages throughout the island of Kodiak by boat and small plane.  The museum provides Haakanson with a unique opportunity to establish and cultivate collaborative relationships with museums throughout the world whose holdings include ancient Alutiiq artifacts.  Bridging cultures and continents, he has orchestrated the exhibition and acquisition of Alutiiq masks and other artifacts dispersed throughout Russia and France in the 18th and 19th centuries.  He has also organized first-time, traveling exhibits of antiquities on loan to museums in Alaska.  As anthropologist, Haakanson is currently leading a large-scale study of a sacred Alutiiq site to identify and archive petroglyphs and stone carvings from the southern coast of Kodiak Island.  As skilled carver and talented photographer, his masks and images of isolated tribes and customs depict a way of life rarely seen outside of the region.  Through these and other activities, Haakanson is preserving and reviving ancient traditions and heritage, celebrating the rich past of Alutiiq communities, and providing the larger world with a valuable window into a little-known culture. 

Sven Haakanson received a B.A. (1992) from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and an M.A. (1996) and Ph.D. (2000) from Harvard University.  Since 2000, he has served as the executive director of the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak , Alaska.  He is also an adjunct member of the faculty at the Kodiak College campus of the University of Alaska in Anchorage and the former chair of the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

Information as of September 2007.

Video

Corey Harris
Blues Musician
Unaffiliated
Charlottesville, Virginia
Age: 38

Corey Harris is a guitarist, songwriter, and performer who is leading a contemporary revival of country blues with a fresh, modern hand.  He is a powerful and compelling singer and an accomplished guitarist whose musical artistry is complemented by serious explorations of the historical and cultural conditions that gave rise to the blues.  He demonstrates his respect for the past and his mastery of the Mississippi Delta blues tradition by interpreting the songs of early blues luminaries in new ways, while also creating an original vision of the blues by infusing his music with a broad range of sounds and styles.  Beginning with his 1995 recording Between Midnight and Day, Harris has explored acoustic, rural blues styles with increasing success.  Subsequent recordings, such as Greens from the Garden (1999), Mississippi to Mali (2003), and Daily Bread (2005), reflect Harris’ reinterpretations of the African influences on American blues through ethnographic research and musical collaborations in Mali, Guinea, and elsewhere.  He has demonstrated the boundless expressive power of blues music by weaving traditional styles together with elements from jazz, reggae, gospel, and African and Caribbean folk music.  Maturing from interpreter to creator, his imaginative compositions spark renewed interest in the musical potential of the blues.  Sometimes forgoing the traditional 12-bar structure and mimetic repetition common to most blues music, Harris forges an adventurous path marked by deliberate eclecticism.  With one foot in tradition and the other in contemporary experimentation, he blends musical styles often considered separate and distinct to create something entirely new for the 21st century. 

Corey Harris received a B.A. (1991) from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.  His additional recordings include Fish Ain’t Bitin’ (1997), Vu-Du Menz (with Henry Butler, 2000), Downhome Sophisticate (2002), and Zion Crossroads (2007). He has performed at venues and in festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Information as of September 2007

Cheryl Hayashi
Associate Professor, Department of Biology
University of California / Riverside
Riverside, California
Age: 40

Cheryl Hayashi is a biologist working at the interface of phylogenetics, biomechanics, and materials science to study the architecture, structure, and function of spider silks.  Some species of spiders produce as many as six different silks, each with specific mechanical properties and functions; the protein structure of these silks consists of highly repetitive amino acid groups (with variations in these groups accounting for differences in tensile strength and elasticity of the various thread types).  Hayashi investigates the molecular genetic basis within the genome and in the mRNA transcript that gives rise to the repetitive amino acid structure.  Her analyses across numerous orb-weaving spider species call into question long-held beliefs about the independent evolution of this behavior.  In addition, her examination of sequence differences between individuals of the same species suggests a “modular” mechanism for genetic variation and selection.  More recently, Hayashi has expanded her studies to include silks from other arthropods (such as caterpillars), non-silk proteins such as glues, and comparative analysis of spider silk biomechanics.  Her findings, already advancing our understanding of spider phylogenetics, also have the potential to influence the development of biomimetic material for a variety of applications, from biodegradable fishing lines to medical sutures to protective armor cloth.  With a deep understanding of spider biology, Hayashi is contributing to a fundamental rethinking of arachnid phylogeny and revealing key information about spider silks to support the development of new synthetic materials.

Cheryl Hayashi received a B.S. (1988) from Yale University and a Ph.D. (1996) through a joint program with Yale University and the American Museum of Natural History.  She was a postdoctoral fellow (1996-2001) at the University of Wyoming and, in 2001, became an assistant professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside, where she is now an associate professor.  Her scientific articles have appeared in such journals as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, and the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Information as of September 2007.

My Hang Huynh
Chemist, High Explosives Science and Technology Group
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Age: 45

My Hang Huynh is a scientist working at the boundary of organic and inorganic chemistry to devise novel techniques for synthesizing highly energetic compounds.  Energetic compounds such as explosives are employed in a wide variety of applications but pose hazards in two respects: thermostability and environmental contamination.  Huynh has developed a new class of reactions based on constituents such as azides and alkynes that address both issues.  The thermodynamic properties of substances she has synthesized make them remarkably stable under a wide temperature range, and their structure allows the substitution of toxic heavy metals such as lead or mercury with more benign elements like copper and iron.  Moreover, the methods that she has developed highlight the potential for nitrogen-based reaction centers to serve as the backbone in the synthesis of complex molecules, challenging the orthodoxy of synthetic approaches based on covalent carbon bonding in organic chemistry.  Huynh's advances also promise to improve the safety of workers, such as miners and military personnel, who are chronically exposed to energetic materials.  In addition, the large amount of inert nitrogen gas generated in the detonation of her novel compounds suggests the possibility of new safety applications, including fire prevention in malfunctioning jet engines and improved air bag design.

My Hang Huynh received a B.A. (1991) and a B.S. (1991) from the State University of New York at Geneseo and a Ph.D. (1998) from the State University of New York at Buffalo.  Since 2002, she has been a chemist in the High Explosives Science and Technology Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  Her papers have been published in such journals as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Inorganic Chemistry, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Information as of September 2007.

Claire Kremen
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
University of California / Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Age: 46

Claire Kremen is a conservation biologist whose applied research advances the fields of ecology, biodiversity, and agriculture.  As a leader of a conservation planning initiative in Madagascar, Kremen has used adaptive management and predictive mapping to design and establish protected and multiple-use areas in Masoala National Park, Madagascar’s largest nature reserve.  Her current work in Madagascar includes forecasting deforestation and its impact on species distribution and development of a web-based repository that will provide researchers with up-to-date biodiversity data and analytical tools needed for conservation planning and monitoring.  In other research in the U.S., at the intersection of agriculture and biodiversity, Kremen explores the behavior of diverse native pollinators (primarily bees) and the environments that sustain them.  By analyzing the behavior patterns of bees, Kremen investigates an often overlooked but critical component of the global food web, as more than half of all flowering agricultural crops involve natural pollinators.  She measures several key variables, including geographic distribution of natural habitats, the diversity of insect pollinators, and the delivery of pollination services.  Her results indicate that the ability of a community of native bees to pollinate farm crops adequately is dependent on their access to natural habitats, underscoring the importance of restoring and protecting natural environments on farms.  Through new methods that improve our ability to measure, manage, and conserve natural systems domestically and internationally, Kremen demonstrates the dependence of sustainable agroecology on effective environmental preservation.

Claire Kremen received a B.Sc. (1982) from Stanford University and a Ph.D. (1987) from Duke University.  She is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley.  From 2001 to 2005, she was an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University.  Her papers have been published in such journals as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Science, Conservation Biology, and Ecology Letters.

Information as of September 2007

Video

Whitfield Lovell
Painter/Installation Artist
Unaffiliated
New York, New York
Age: 47

Whitfield Lovell is an artist whose poetic and intricately crafted tableaux and installations document and pay tribute to the passage of time and to the daily lives of anonymous African-Americans.  Inspired by images from his archive of photographs, tintypes, and old postcards from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the civil rights movement, Lovell provides these obscure figures with identity and dignity.  He creates meticulously rendered, life-sized, charcoal portraits on such wooden objects as sections of walls, fences, or barrels, evoking a haunting sense of their presence.  He places these portraits in the context of found, everyday objects – including frying pans, spinning wheels, bed frames, clocks, irons, and musical instruments – to reveal the individual through items related to his or her life.  These compelling and seemingly simple installations are informed by contemporary art practice as well as folk art, vernacular art, and the physical conditions of marginalized communities.  Creating remarkably elegant works, Lovell evokes memories of the past while transcending the specifics of time and space.

Whitfield Lovell received a B.F.A. (1981) from the Cooper Union School of Art.  He taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York from 1987 to 2001 and has been a visiting artist at such institutions as Rice University (1995), the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2001), and the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia (2002).  Lovell’s work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions at national venues such as the Seattle Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Information as of September 2007.

Video

Yoky Matsuoka
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Washington / Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Age: 36

Yoky Matsuoka, a leader in the emerging field of neurorobotics, is transforming our understanding of how the central nervous system coordinates musculoskeletal action and of how robotic technology can enhance the mobility of people with manipulation disabilities.  Working at the intersection of computer science, biophysics, material science, biomechanics, and psychophysics, Matsuoka creates sophisticated prosthetic devices and designs complementary rehabilitation strategies.  In one line of research, she constructed an anatomically correct robotic hand, complete with an intricate tendon structure that enables it to respond to sensor signals closely resembling neural commands.  This model has facilitated investigations into the neuromuscular forces necessary for precise finger movement and constitutes an important step toward the development of a dexterous prosthetic hand that can be controlled by the brain’s neural signals.  Another major project involves the use of virtual environments and visual feedback to distort recovering stroke patients’ perceptions of tasks they perform during therapy.  Designed to address the condition of “learned nonuse,” a habit of decreased movement that affects a quarter of all stroke patients, this system encourages subjects to push beyond perceived limitations to their range of motion and strength, thereby providing more accurate assessments of their progress and increasing the efficacy of rehabilitation.  By illuminating the biomechanics of the hand and experimenting with robot-human interfaces that alter the neural control of movement, Matsuoka is making technological advances that hold life-changing potential for those suffering from serious brain injuries and reduced functional capabilities.

Yoky Matsuoka received a B.S. (1993) from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.S. (1995) and Ph.D. (1998) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  From 2001 to 2006, she was an assistant professor affiliated with the Robotics Institute, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University.  She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. 

Information as of September 2007.

Video

Lynn Nottage
Playwright
Unaffiliated
Brooklyn, New York
Age: 42

Lynn Nottage is an original voice in American theater, a playwright whose entertaining and thought-provoking works address contemporary issues with empathy and humor.  Her ambitious, expressive early works, including Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Mud River Stone, and Por’Knockers, reveal Nottage’s rich poetic imagination as she portrays periods of American history from unexpected vantage points and crafts complex characters of a kind that have garnered little notice among other writers and historians.  Her more recent works, Intimate Apparel and Fabulation, are considered to be her most accomplished thus far and represent major artistic achievements.  Intimate Apparel, a prize-winning drama, is the story of a young black seamstress in early 20th-century New York, a woman working her way through the social confines of her time – predicaments that continue to haunt us today.  Nottage’s imaginative exploration of history, her ability to find resonance in unexpected moments in the past, and her sensitive evocation of social concerns have made her a powerful voice in theater.  She is a dramatist who will continue to provide us with provocative plays in which her characters confront some of society’s most complex issues. 

Lynn Nottage received a B.A. (1986) from Brown University and an M.F.A. (1989) from the Yale University School of Drama, where she is currently a visiting lecturer.  Her plays have been produced throughout the U.S. and Europe at such venues as the Second Stage Theatre, New York, the Tricycle Theatre, London, and the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, among many others.

Information as of September 2007.

Video

Mark Roth
Scientist, Basic Sciences Division
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, Washington
Age: 49

Mark Roth is a biomedical scientist whose pioneering research ranges from molecular mechanisms of genetic regulation to whole-animal physiology to medical diagnostics.  In his early work on messenger RNA processing, he discovered a class of molecules known as SR proteins, which play a key role in stabilizing mRNA as it undergoes the post-transcriptional maturation process.  He postulated that the structure of SR proteins made them ready targets for antibodies from patients with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE).  Based on this hypothesis, Roth developed an important clinical assay for diagnosing SLE and obtained FDA approval for its use.  More recently, Roth has established that conditions such as anoxia and chemicals such as carbon monoxide can, when carefully controlled, induce a reversible metabolic suspension (suspended animation) in some animals.  He recently found, for example, that hydrogen sulfide gas can induce a state of suspended animation in mice that is reversible with no evidence of harm to the animals.  This line of research offers the possibility of important new clinical strategies for treating trauma, stroke, cancer, and a host of other conditions where temporary reduction in metabolism would provide much-needed time for physicians to address underlying problems. 

Mark Roth received a B.Sc. (1979) from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. (1984) from the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Since 1989, he has been a member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Basic Sciences Division.  He is also an affiliate associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle.  His numerous scientific articles have appeared in such publications as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, and the Journal of Cell Biology.

Information as of September 2007.

Paul Rothemund
Senior Research Fellow, Departments of Computer Science and Computation and Neural Systems
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
Age: 35

Paul Rothemund is a technologist whose research focuses on the fabrication of large molecules that reliably self-assemble into complex, arbitrary, programmable shapes.  His training and early research focused on DNA computation using tools borrowed from molecular biology.  In the mid-1990s, others demonstrated the ability to perform specific calculations using DNA; Rothemund advanced the theory underlying these experiments by showing that it is, in principle, possible to implement arbitrarily complex computations (i.e., a universal Turing machine) using DNA along with cutting and splicing enzymes.  His subsequent work focused on the potential for self-assembly to perform computations.  Using experimental systems based on macroscopic plastic tiles or DNA, he demonstrated that geometric shapes that are important in computer science, such as Serpinski triangles and Penrose tiles, can be constructed by self-assembly.  Most recently, he used long stretches of DNA from a virus that attacks bacteria along with carefully constructed “helper” DNA fragments to create complex, arbitrary shapes such as smiling faces or a map of the Americas.  With these whimsical images, Rothemund illustrates the potential for self-assembly methods to generate large, nanoscale molecules that offer an extraordinary degree of flexibility and control over their geometry.

Paul Rothemund received a B.S. (1994) from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. (2001) from the University of Southern California.  Since 2001, he has been a Senior Research Fellow in the Departments of Computer Science and Computation and Neural Systems at the California Institute of Technology.  His articles have appeared in such publications as Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, and PLoS Biology. 

Information as of September 2007.

Jay Rubenstein
Associate Professor, Department of History
University of Tennessee / Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Age: 40

Jay Rubenstein is a medieval historian elucidating 12th-century texts that grapple with the meaning of the First Crusade (1095-1099) and its profound consequences for the future of Europe.  In his book Guibert of Nogent, Portrait of a Medieval Mind (2002), he examined the life and writing of an early 12th-century French monk whose major work, the Monodies, has long fascinated scholars as the first Western autobiography since Augustine’s Confessions.  In addition to offering a critical reading of Guibert’s account of his own life in the Monodies, Rubenstein’s painstaking analyses of Guibert’s sermons, crusade chronicles, and portrayal of the era emerge from his keen historical, theological, and literary sensitivities. In his subsequent work, Rubenstein has explored the larger canvas of crusade histories.  He demonstrated, for example, that many accounts of the First Crusade were the product of cumulative additions by different compilers, and that a lost Ur-text most likely provided the basic structure of several extant versions.  He has also investigated the importance of apocalyptic expectations in the shaping of these narratives and their role in inciting a second wave to the Holy Land.  Rubenstein’s thoughtful consideration of the composition of these texts reveals their important role in the evolution of medieval scholars’ approach to writing history in general.  His essays on the literature of the crusades form part of an ongoing, book-length project that will trace the effects of this conflict on Europe’s political, religious, and literary culture.  Rubenstein’s imaginative rendering of the historical record, paleographic skills, and elegant presentation of manuscript evidence shed valuable light on how violent events such as the First Crusade are recorded and remembered by future generations.

Jay Rubenstein received a B.A. (1989) from Carleton College, an M.Phil. (1992) from the University of Oxford, St. John’s College, and a Ph.D. (1997) from the University of California, Berkeley.  He was an assistant professor of history at the University of New Mexico (1999-2006) prior to joining the faculty at the University of Tennessee, where he is currently an associate professor of history.

Information as of September 2007

Video

Jonathan Shay
Staff Psychiatrist
Department of Veteran Affairs Outpatient Clinic
Boston, Massachusetts
Age: 65

Jonathan Shay is a clinical psychiatrist whose treatment of combat trauma suffered by Vietnam veterans combined with his critical and imaginative interpretations of the ancient accounts of battle described in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are deepening our understanding of the effects of warfare on the individual.  His book, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (1994), draws parallels between the depiction of the epic warrior-hero Achilles and the experiences of individual veterans whom he treats at a Boston-area Veterans Affairs’ Outpatient Clinic.  Reading the poem through the lens of modern experience, Shay rediscovers important nuances that traditional scholarship has often understated in the classical text, particularly that the Iliad is fundamentally a story about the frequently contentious relationship between soldiers and their leaders.  In Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming (2002), using Odysseus as metaphor, Shay focuses on the veteran’s experience upon returning from war and highlights the role of military policy in promoting the mental and physical safety of soldiers.  A passionate advocate for veterans and committed to minimizing future psychological trauma, Shay strives for structural reform of the ways the U.S. armed forces are organized, trained, and counseled.  Respected by humanists and military leaders alike, Shay brings into stark relief the emotional problems faced by military combatants and veterans, ancient and modern. 

Jonathan Shay received a B.A. (1963) from Harvard University and an M.D. (1971) and Ph.D. (1972) from the University of Pennsylvania.  Since 1987, he has been a staff psychiatrist at the Department of Veteran Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Boston, Massachusetts.  In 2001, Shay served as Visiting Scholar-at-Large at the U.S. Naval War College, and from 2004 to 2005, he was Chair of Ethics, Leadership, and Personnel Policy in the Office of the U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel.

Information as of September 2007

Video

Joan Snyder
Painter
Unaffiliated
Brooklyn, New York
Age: 67

Joan Snyder is an accomplished artist whose abstract paintings defy categorization and traverse genres.  Over the four decades of her prolific career, Snyder’s body of work has continually evolved in style and form.  Beginning with her early “stroke” paintings – intense swaths of color painted over pencil-drawn grids – her works have been essentially narratives of both personal and communal experiences.  In these paintings, each brush stroke is like a character in a story, pulsing with emotion and vitality.  After abandoning formal grids as the basic structure of her paintings, Snyder’s work became more explicitly gestural and rooted in memory, while at the same time more complex materially.  She began to incorporate text scrawled into the paint or frames, as well as found objects such as herbs, sticks, feathers, mud, and nails, to create works saturated with feeling.  In The Cherry Tree (1993), for instance, a work expressing Snyder’s grief surrounding her father’s death, she uses paint, papier-mâché, and straw to render an image that is both elegiac and thriving.  While her paintings mirror her personal experience, the visual messages she provides through her images convey universal and readily understood emotions.  Through a fiercely individual approach and persistent experimentation with technique and materials, Snyder has extended the expressive potential of abstract painting and inspired a generation of emerging artists. 

Joan Snyder received an A.B. (1962) from Douglass College and an M.F.A. (1966) from Rutgers University.  Her work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions at such national venues as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.  In 2005, the Jewish Museum in New York presented a retrospective of Snyder’s work.

Information as of September 2007

Dawn Upshaw
Master Vocalist
Unaffiliated
Bronxville, New York
Age: 47

Dawn Upshaw is a classically trained vocalist who is stretching the boundaries of operatic and concert singing and enriching the landscape of contemporary music.  Noted for her mastery of vocal technique and numerous languages and singing styles, Upshaw’s expansive repertoire includes the sacred works of Bach; the major opera roles of Mozart; modern works by Stravinsky, Poulenc, and Messiaen; American popular songs; and new music by such contemporary composers as John Harbison, Kaija Saariaho, and John Adams.  Out of a career rooted in traditional opera, orchestra, and recital performances, she has become a catalyst for the creation of numerous works through her passionate advocacy of contemporary composers, both established and emerging.  Upshaw encourages audiences in the U.S. and abroad to embrace noteworthy and frequently challenging new works through carefully designed concert programs that seamlessly integrate the avant-garde and eclectic with the familiar.  As a teacher, Upshaw exposes young singers to the expanded array of possibilities for vocal music and affords them the opportunity to cultivate creative partnerships with the composers of today.  Through her performances, award-winning recordings, teaching, and commissions, Upshaw is breaking down stylistic barriers and forging a new model of a performer who is directly involved in the creation of contemporary music.

Dawn Upshaw received a B.A. (1982) from Illinois Wesleyan University and an M.A. (1984) from the Manhattan School of Music.  Her numerous recordings include Knoxville, Summer of 1915 (1990), The Girl with Orange Lips (1991), Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 (1992), Dawn Upshaw Sings Vernon Duke (1999), and Osvaldo Golijov: Ayre (2005), among many others.  She is a member of the vocal studies faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center and, in 2005, was named the Charles Franklin Kellogg and Grace E. Ramsey Kellogg Professor of the Arts at Bard College.

Information as of September 2007

Video

Shen Wei
Founder and Artistic Director
Shen Wei Dance Arts
New York, New York
Age: 39

Shen Wei, founder and artistic director of Shen Wei Dance Arts, is a choreographer who combines Eastern and Western influences and multiple artistic disciplines to create a bold and visually arresting form of dance-theater.  Born in China’s Hunan province and trained from his youth in calligraphy, painting, and Chinese operatic performance, Shen became a founding member of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, the first modern dance company in China, prior to moving to New York in 1995.  Through choreographed movements that are precise and inventive, he and his dancers perform highly stylized steps and gestures inspired by Western dance traditions as well as Chinese opera, acrobatics, and martial arts.  With the compositional rigor of a visual artist, he incorporates vivid colors, striking costume design, and imaginative use of space into theatrical works that are, at once, kinetic paintings.  Staging his dances on a grand scale with a high level of production detail, Shen defies expectations with each new work.  Folding (2000) begins with dancers draped in dramatic red against a shimmering blue backdrop and concludes with the chanting of Tibetan Buddhist monks, while his Rite of Spring (2003) offers a spare, minimalist approach to a classic modernist score.  In these and other works, Shen Wei fuses a diverse range of art forms into an aesthetically striking dance language that is all his own.

Shen Wei received degrees from the Hunan Arts Academy and the Guangdong Dance School. He performed with the Hunan State Xian Opera Company (1984-1989) and the Guangdong Modern Dance Company (1991-1994) prior to founding Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2000.  His company has performed in festivals and at venues throughout the U.S. and internationally, including the Lincoln Center Festival, the American Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, Sadler’s Wells, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, among many others.  A painter as well as a choreographer, Shen’s works have been exhibited in New York City and Hong Kong.

Information as of September 2007.