Presenter Biographies
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Rebecca Bell Rebecca Bell is currently the PreK-12 Environmental Education Specialist for the Maryland State Department of Education. Her background is in biology with a master's in paleobotany through the Department of Botany (University of Maryland). She taught middle and high school biology and earth sciences in Howard and Washington (MD) counties and piloted the secondary Gifted and Talented Education program in Washington County. She served as the State Facilitator for Gifted and Talented Education at MSDE, then moved back home to Environmental Education in 2000. Current projects include working with the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Farm to School program to team local farmers' and school cafeterias to bring fresh foods to students and working with the MD Department of Natural Resources on their Children in Nature initiative. Her first book, Feet Wet, Hands Dirty showcasing environmental projects done by Maryland teachers and students, was published in November, 2007. In August, she will be sailing on the Delaware II as part of NOAA's Teacher at Sea program. |
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Al Byers Al Byers serves as the Assistant Executive Director of Government Partnerships and e-Learning for the National Science Teachers Association. As an executive for NSTA, Mr. Byers oversees the strategic management of large-scale professional development (PD) and e-learning endeavors in partnership with mission-based government agencies, state departments of education, and philanthropic foundations that desire e-PD programs that are both scalable and sustainable on a national level. |
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John H. Dunnigan John H. Dunnigan is the Assistant Administrator for NOAA’s Ocean Service. He has broad experience in marine science and policy and in the service of marine resource conservation. Mr. Dunnigan has been associated with NOAA throughout his career, beginning as a NOAA Congressional Affairs intern in 1972. Since 2002, he has overseen NOAA's efforts promoting fishery conservation and management programs aimed at achieving the optimum sustainable yield from U.S. fisheries on an annual basis. He has played a key role in guiding NOAA policy under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. While serving as director of the Office of Sustainable Fisheries, Dunnigan also served as director of the NOAA Ecosystem Goal Team, one of the four mission goals in the agency. He has led efforts to develop long-term, multi-year policy direction as NOAA works to implement an ecosystem approach to its management of the nation's marine resources. He joined NOS as the Assistant Administrator in January 2006. |
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Dr. Inez Fung Inez Fung has been studying climate change for the last 20 years. She has worked extensively on large-scale mathematical modeling approaches to represent the geographic and temporal changes in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide, dust and other trace substances around the globe. Her recent work in climate modeling concludes that the diminishing capacities of the land and oceans to store carbon act to accelerate global warming. |
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Dr. Paul Hertz Paul Hertz is Chief Scientist for the Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Dr. Hertz manages Directorate level science activities including the solicitation, evaluation, and selection process for SMD, the SMD Science Management Council, and SMD's research policies and procedures. He is the Directorate lead for Agency-wide science activities including grants activities, peer review services, and postdoctoral and graduate student fellowship programs. In 2004-2007 he served as Chief Scientist for SMD, serving three Associate Administrators. |
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Dr. Marc L. Imhoff Working in the Earth Sciences Division at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Dr. Marc Imhoff serves as Project Scientist for the Terra Mission - one of NASA's Flagship Earth Observing System Missions dedicated to studying Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and land surface. Dr. Imhoff has had an extensive career specializing in the use of remote sensing and computer modeling to study human interactions with the biosphere and climate through the alteration of bio-geochemical cycles. He pioneered methods for using satellite data to measure the effects of urbanization on biodiversity, food security, and climate. |
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Dr. Sally K. Ride Sally K. Ride, Ph.D., a former NASA Astronaut and the first American woman in space, is the President and CEO of Sally Ride Science, and a Professor of Physics at the University of California, San Diego (currently on leave). Sally Ride Science is a company dedicated to supporting girls’ interests in math, science and technology. The company creates programs and publications for girls that engage them and encourage their interests. |
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Dr. Dian J. Seidel Dian Seidel is a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Air Resources Laboratory in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her research addresses climate variability and change, with a focus on observational studies. Her work on long-term global temperature and humidity changes, upper-air observations and data quality issues, heat waves, and the tropopause has been published in over fifty peer-reviewed journal articles and has been awarded several NOAA Outstanding Scientific Paper awards. |
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Dr. Allen M. Solomon Allen M Solomon is currently the U.S. Forest Service National Program Leader for Global Change Research. He is a plant ecologist and paleoecologist who has studied the terrestrial ecology of the global carbon cycle for the past 30 years. Dr. Solomon is one of thirteen U.S. Forest Service researchers who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their research contributions to the IPCC Report. He has authored approximately 80 research papers in peer reviewed journals, or as published reports, book chapters or as edited books. He edited the |
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Dr. Susan Solomon Susan Solomon is widely recognized as one of the leaders in the field of atmospheric science. Since receiving her PhD degree in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1981, she has been employed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a research scientist. Her scientific papers have provided not only key measurements but also theoretical understanding regarding ozone destruction, especially the role of surface chemistry. In 1986 and 1987, she served as the Head Project Scientist of the National Ozone Expedition at McMurdo Stationa, Antarctica and made some of the first measurements there that pointed towards chlorofluorocarbons as the cause of the ozone hole. In l994, an Antarctic glacier was named in her honor in recognition of that work. In March of 2000, she received the National Medal of Science, the United States' highest scientific honor, for "key insights in explaining the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole." |
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Dr. Richard C.J. Somerville Richard C. J. Somerville is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. He is a theoretical meteorologist and an expert on computer simulations of the atmosphere. He received the Ph. D. in meteorology from New York University in 1966 and has been a professor at Scripps since 1979. Richard Somerville's research is on the physics of clouds and their role in the climate system. His interests include all aspects of climate, including climate science outreach and the interface between science and public policy. He comments frequently on climate and environmental issues for the media. |
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Dr. Kathy Sullivan Dr. Kathy Sullivan is the first of only seven American women to walk in space. One of the first six women selected as a NASA astronaut in 1978, she logged over 530 hours in space during her three space flights. Her historic space walk took place during her very first mission aboard Challenger in 1984. Subsequently, she was on the Discovery crew that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 and led the scientific team for a 10-day Spacelab mission aboard Atlantis in 1992. |
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Bill Valdez Bill Valdez is the Director of the Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists within the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. His responsibilities include developing workforce strategies for the Department’s scientific and technical workforce, and creating opportunities for students and educators to participate in the Nation’s research enterprise as a means to improving the competitiveness of U.S. industry and overall scientific literacy. |
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Dr. Joyce Leavitt Winterton Joyce Leavitt Winterton, NASA's Assistant Administrator for Education, directs the development and implementation of the agency's education programs that strengthen student involvement and public awareness of its scientific goals and missions. In this role, she leads the agency in inspiring interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as few other organizations can through its unique mission, workforce, facilities, research and innovations. |
