Scientists

Materials Scientist  Campbell Laird, Ph.D., Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Engineering and Applied Science, an expert on fatigue, became interested in why airplanes fail when as a boy growing up in Scotland, the U.K. mobilized to find the answer to some spectacular airplane crashes.  In addition to teaching, he consults and serves as an expert on fatigue in materials as far ranging as kitchen utensils, autos, prosthetic devises for humans, and, fulfilling an interest piqued in childhood, airplanes.

Paleoethnobotanist Naomi Miller, Ph.D.  of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology takes pleasure in the details of paleoethnobotany, sifting through, and analyzing the remains of plants from  locations as remote as Iran and Turkey to as close as a site in Princeton, New Jersey.

Microbiologist   Steve Mattingly, Ph.D. accepts invitations.  A microbiologist by training and profession,  he agreed to assist in the dating of the shroud of Turin when asked  He’s used his passion for scientific inquiry to develop a masters program for high school and elementary school teachers of science which give them hands on opportunity to experience the excitement of scientific discovery which they in turn infect  in their students.

Biochemist Mary Pat Moyer, Ph.D. received the regional  Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in "Life Science-Emerging Companies for developing INCELL, and was inducted into the national Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame. Dr. Moyer founded TEKSA Innovations Corp., a for-profit, mixed use technology business incubator for growing biosciences, biomedical, engineering, information technology and telecommunications companies. She also founded a biomedical/biotechnology company, INCELL Corporation (1993) and serves as its President, CEO and Chief Science Officer. The two companies are an outgrowth of  her scientific interests and the necessity to fund those interests. Her sense of humor, appreciation of life, and her true nurturing of  young scientists, add to her success.

Animal Behaviorist Trisha McConnell, Ph.D., animal behaviorist Zoologist and talk show host, spent much of her life helping people and their pets communicate with one another.  In pursuit of understanding human/animal communication better, Trisha McConnell earned a Ph.D. in zoology with an emphasis on animal-human interaction; her consulting firm, Dog’s Best Friend, specializes in behavioral problem-solving and companion animal training for cats and dogs.  

Astronomer Jay Pasachoff , Ph.D., introduces people to astronomy with The Field Guide to the Stars and Planets. He has written 20 books, including the most popular astronomy textbook used in colleges today. He will go to great lengths to view a solar eclipse, and has conducted expeditions to the optimum viewing site for the eclipses in Africa, India, Indonesia, South America, Eastern Europe as well as closer to home. He is on the faculty at Williams College.

Immunologist Kendall Smith, M.D. is a leader in the fight against AIDS. He and his group discovered InterLeukin 2 which is being used to harness the body's own immune system to fight against AIDS and other pernicious diseases.

Conservationist Merlin Tuttle, Ph.D.  Founder of Bat Conservation International, author, wildlife photographer, documentary maker tells us how an interest in bats led to a forty year career as a leading conservationist.