David Beaty

David Beaty was raised in Colorado, and was educated at Dartmouth College (B.A., major in Earth Science) and Caltech (PhD, major in Geology). His PhD work involved work on samples returned by Apollos 11 and 12. After leaving Caltech in 1980, David entered the minerals industry with Noranda Exploration. He worked on exploration projects throughout the Rocky Mountains, primarily on projects related to zinc, molybdenum, gold, silver, and copper. In 1988, David switched to the oil industry, joining Chevron at their research lab in La Habra, CA. After a time as a research geologist, he became interested in management, and moved from team leader to division manager to acting lab director. In 1999 David left the industrial sector, and returned to the NASA family at JPL. His JPL assignments have included Project Manager, Mars Planetary Protection Manager, Mars Subsurface Exploration Manager, Mars Program Science Manager, and Mars Chief Scientist.

David is married with three children, ages 20, 21, and 24.

Jack Boyd

John W. (Jack) Boyd was recently brought back as the Senior Advisor to the Ames Center Director. Prior to this position he was the Ames Historian and the Ombudsman for the Center. As the official historian, Mr. Boyd captured important historical information for future publications concerning significant research accomplishments of this Center. Previous to this position, he was the Executive Assistant to the Director at NASA Ames Research Center for over 8 years. Mr. Boyd began his career at Ames in 1947, when it was still the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and worked as an aeronautical research engineer conducting wind tunnel studies of the supersonic and subsonic characteristics of fighter/bomber aircraft. He later pioneered early research on the design of unmanned planetary probes to explore Mars and Venus, and helped develop early configurations for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo capsules, as well as the space shuttle design. He is a graduate of George Washington High School in Danville, Virginia, Virginia Tech; and Stanford University.

Mr. Boyd has served as Deputy Director of Dryden Flight Research Center, Deputy and Associate Director of Ames Research Center, and Associate Administrator for Management at NASA Headquarters. Additionally, he was also chancellor for Research for The University of Texas System. He has also been an adjunct professor at The University of Texas (Austin, El Paso, and Pan American campuses) teaching courses in aerodynamics, introduction to engineering, and the history of space flight.

Mr. Boyd is the recipient of many awards, including The Stanford Sloan Fellowship, The NASA Exceptional Service Award, The NASA Outstanding Leadership Award, The NASA Equal Employment Opportunity Medal, Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive, The NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and The Army Command Medal. He is also a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Jim Dator

Jim Dator is Professor and Director of the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, Department of Political Science and Adjunct Professor in the Program in Public Administration, the College of Architecture, and the Center for Japanese Studies, of the University of Hawaii at Manoa; Co-Chair, Space and Society Division, International Space University, Strasbourg, France; former President, World Futures Studies Federation; and Fellow and member of the Executive Council, World Academy of Art and Science. He also taught at Rikkyo University (Tokyo) for six years, the University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, the University of Toronto, and the InterUniversity Consortium for Postgraduate Studies in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. He is a Danforth Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and Fulbright Fellow. He consults widely on futures of law, governance, education, and space.

Claudia L'Amoreaux

Claudia L'Amoreaux is a Community Manager at Linden Lab, creators of the trailblazing virtual world, Second Life. Claudia supports middle school and secondary school educators using Second Life to facilitate extremely immersive, constructivist learning experiences with their students. Before joining Linden Lab, Claudia ran her own eLearning consulting company, pioneering collaborative learning on the Internet since 1985. An early adopter, she started using one of the first networked 3D virtual worlds--Worlds Chat--in 1995. She has provided leadership on internet education projects in the U.S., Brazil, Fiji, Europe, and the Middle East. She is co-founder of the Meta-Learning Lab. Her work has been featured on New Dimensions World Broadcasting Network, BBC World Radio in their Essential Guide to the New Millennium, and in the film, On the Wild Side--Meetings with Remarkable Women. She co-authored the book /Creating Learning Communities/. Claudia received her BA from Raymond College at the University of the Pacific--her focus was on alternative futures. She turned 17 a few days after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. In Second Life, she wears a C-Tech jet pack and lives in a sky pod.

Bryan E. Laubscher

Bryan E. Laubscher received his Ph.D. in physics in 1994 from the University of New Mexico with a concentration in astrophysics. He is currently on entrepreneurial leave from Los Alamos National Laboratory where he is a project leader and he has worked in various capacities for 16 years. His past projects include LANL's portion of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey , Magdalena Ridge Observatory and a project developing concepts and technologies for space situational awareness. Over the years Bryan has participated in research in astronomy, lidar, non-linear optics, space mission design, space-borne instrumentation design and construction, spacecraft design, novel electromagnetic detection concepts and technologies, detector/receiver system development, spectrometer development, interferometry and participated in many field experiments. Bryan led space elevator development at LANL until going on entrepreneurial leave in 2006. On entrepreneurial leave, Bryan is starting a company to build the strongest materials ever created. These materials are based upon carbon nanotubes - the strongest structures known in nature and the first material identified with sufficient strength-to-weight properties to build a space elevator.

John Lewis

John S. Lewis is Professor of Planetary Sciences and Co-Director of the Space Engineering Research Center at the University of Arizona. He was previously a Professor of Planetary Sciences at MIT and Visiting Professor at the California Institute of Technology. Most recently, he was a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing for the 2005-2006 academic year. His research interests are related to the application of chemistry to astronomical problems, including the origin of the Solar System, the evolution of planetary atmospheres, the origin of organic matter in planetary environments, the chemical structure and history of icy satellites, the hazards of comet and asteroid bombardment of Earth, and the extraction, processing, and use of the energy and material resources of nearby space. He has served as member or Chairman of a wide variety of NASA and NAS advisory committees and review panels. He has written 17 books, including undergraduate and graduate level texts and popular science books, and has authored over 150 scientific publications.

Chris McKay

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

Piero Messina

Piero Messina, of Italian nationality, has been working on the ESA's space exploration programme Aurora since its inception also acting as Secretary of the supervisory Board of Participants. He is currently dealing with coordination and public affairs for the Programme Aurora. In this capacity he has been deeply involved in the on going talks with international partners on a global strategy and international cooperation for space exploration. He is the organiser of the series of the joint ESA/ASI Spineto workshops.

He joined the European Space Agency in 1991 where he held several positions in the field of financial and project management. He served as Coordinator with the Director of Industrial Matters and Technology Programmes. He was then responsible for education policies and relations with European Higher Education Institutions until 2003. He represented and still represents ESA in several external bodies and Institutions.

He holds a degree in Political Science, International Economic Relations, from the University of Florence and a Master in Space Studies (MSS) from the International Space University in Strasbourg.

Jeff Volosin

Jeff Volosin is an aerospace engineer with over 20 years of experience in the design, development, and operations of both robotic and crewed spacecraft. Mr. Volosin is currently leading the NASA effort to develop and integrated global exploration strategy which reflects the lunar exploration interests of international space agencies, academia and commercial stakeholders. Prior to joining NASA as a member of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in 2004, Jeff was an aerospace contractor, serving in a number of leadership positions including: Operations Manager for the NASA Communications Network and Flight Operations Manager for the Advanced Composition Explorer, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, and the NOAA Polar and Geostationary satellite constellations. Earlier in his career, Jeff spent 4 years as a system engineer supporting the Space Exploration Initiative studies on human voyages to the Moon and Mars and also supported the Space Station program as an advanced life support engineer. Mr. Volosin is also an adjunct professor in aerospace engineering at Capitol College in Laurel, Maryland where he teaches spacecraft design and remote sensing.

Pete Worden

Dr. S. Pete Worden (Brig. Gen., USAF, ret.) is the new NASA Ames Research Center Director. Prior to becoming Director, Dr. Worden was a Research Professor of Astronomy, Optical Sciences and Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona where his primary research direction was the development of large space optics for national security and scientific purposes and near-earth asteroids. Additionally he worked on topics related to space exploration and solar-type activity in nearby stars. He is a recognized expert on space issues—both civil and military. Dr. Worden has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific technical papers in astrophysics, space sciences, and strategic studies. Moreover, he served as a scientific co-investigator for two NASA space science missions.