IHMC Evening Lectures

Plaques and tangles are known to be hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, but another important aspect of Alzheimer's is that it may be a type of diabetes of the brain or "type 3 diabetes," and is associated with decreased glucose uptake in the brain. Diabetes of the brain develops gradually over at least one to two decades before symptoms become obvious. Other neurodegenerative diseases share the problem of decreased glucose uptake in the brain. Fortunately, the brain can use ketone bodies as an alternative fuel to glucose during starvation. Ketogenic diets have been successfully used for nearly a century to treat drug resistant epilepsy in children. Medium chain fatty acids are partly converted in the liver to ketones bodies, which readily cross the blood brain barrier and are used by the brain. Mild ketosis from consuming MCT oil has been shown to produce cognitive improvement in nearly half of people with Alzheimer's. Ketone esters that will produce higher levels of ketosis and potentially greater improvement are on the horizon. Mary T. Newport, M.D. grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, received an Honors Bachelor of Arts degree from Xavier University and graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1978. She trained in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, and in Neonatology, the care of sick and premature newborns, at the Medical University Hospital in Charleston, SC. She has provided care to newborns in Florida since 1983 and is the founding medical director of the newborn intensive care unit at Spring Hill Regional Hospital, practicing there as a member of the All Children's/John Hopkins Specialty Physicians group. She previously served as medical director at Mease Hospital Dunedin, after founding the NICU there in 1987. Dr. Newport has been married to Steve Newport since 1972 and they have two daughters and a grandson. She is also caregiver for Steve, who suffers from early onset Alzheimer's disease. In July 2008, she wrote an article that has become disseminated world-wide on the internet, "What If There Was a Cure for Alzheimer's Disease and No One Knew?" and is author of a book released in October 2011, (Alzheimer's Disease: What If There Was a Cure?). Her book conveys the story of a dietary intervention that helped her husband and, now, many other people with Alzheimer's and certain neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the science of ketones and how to incorporate medium chain fatty acids into the diet. Dr. Newport has given numerous radio interviews and lectures on this subject.

Adequate vitamin D nutrition is associated with the prevention of rickets in children and therefore, little thought is given about the consequences of vitamin D deficiency in adults. However, it is now becoming clear that vitamin D plays an important role in maintaining bone health from birth until death. Of equal importance is that vitamin D has a multitude of other biologic functions in the body that may be important for the prevention of common cancers, hypertension, type-1 diabetes, as well as a host of other common maladies that afflict elders. Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., M.D. is a Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics; Director of the General Clinical Research Unit; Director of the Bone Health Care Clinic and the Director of the Vitamin D, Skin and Bone Research Laboratory at Boston University Medical Center. Dr. Holick has made numerous contributions to the field of the biochemistry, physiology, metabolism, and photobiology of vitamin D for human nutrition. Dr. Holick has established global recommendations advising sunlight exposure as an integral source of vitamin D. He has helped increase awareness in the pediatric and medical communities regarding vitamin D deficiency pandemic, and its role in causing not only metabolic bone disease, and osteoporosis in adults, but increasing risk of children and adults developing preeclampsia, common deadly cancers, schizophrenia, infectious diseases including TB and influenza, autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease. Dr. Holick is a Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine, a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, and a member of the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Association of Physicians. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors and serves on a number of national committees and editorial boards and has organized and/or co-chaired several international symposia. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, and written more than 200 review articles, as well as numerous book chapters. He has acted as editor and/or co-editor on 10 books, and has written The UV Advantage, and The Vitamin D Solution.

The 2012 presidential election was filled with drama from beginning to end. The race in Florida was the most competitive in the nation, with President Obama defeating Gov. Romney by just 74,309 votes (less than 1%) of the over 8 million votes cast. The Sunshine State was often at the center of controversies surrounding the GOP presidential debates, the national party conventions, the presidential debates, early voting, and last minute Get-Out-The-Vote efforts by both parties. Florida’s experiences in 2012 have sparked national debates over the pragmatism of televised presidential primary debates, the timing and location of national party conventions, presidential debate formats and moderator selection, the over-saturation and negative tone of TV ads, voter databases (privacy and cost issues) and the emerging generational divide in American politics. Dr. Susan A. MacManus, who received her M.A. from the University of Michigan and Ph.D. from Florida State University, is Distinguished Professor of Public Administration and Political Science in the Department of Government and International Affairs at the University of South Florida (USF). For the last five election cycles, she has served as political analyst for WFLA-TV (Tampa NBC affiliate) and the state’s leading station. She was a blogger for TBO.com during the 2004 and 2006 election campaigns. She served as Chair of the Florida Elections Commission from 1999 to 2003 and helped the Collins Center For Public Policy, Inc., draft Florida’s Help America Vote Act state plan (voter, election official, and poll worker education section) required by Congress to qualify for federal funding under the Help America Vote Act. She also served as an advisor to the Florida Division of Elections on the development of its statewide poll-worker training manual. In 2008, MacManus was appointed by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to two working groups: the Election Management Guidelines Development Working Group on Elderly and Disabled Voters in Long-Term Care Facilities and the Working Group on Media and Public Relations. MacManus was a Fulbright Research Scholar at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, in 1989, received USF’s Distinguished Research Scholar Award in 1991, was honored as the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society’s USF Artist/Scholar in 1997 and was designated as a Distinguished University Professor in 1999. She received the first biennial Diane Blair award for “Outstanding Achievement in Politics and Government” from the Southern Political Science Association in 2001. In March, 2002, the Florida Political Science Association gave her its Manning Dauer Distinguished Florida Political Science Award. She has been a Reubin O’D. Askew Fellow of the Florida Institute of Government since 1995. Susan is the author and co-author of many books on politics and Florida history. She is a member of a citrus-growing family in Pasco County and is unaffiliated with any political party.

The threat of another serious terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland has brought into focus the nation’s need to prepare for some of the worst cases imaginable—namely, the threats posed by nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, or in the common shorthand of the government and press, WMD (weapons of mass destruction). Each of these three modes of WMD poses different and distinct challenges, but as a set, they can be addressed from a common framework from which technical and operational commonalities can be exploited and priorities unique to each established. Dr. Miriam John is serving in various consulting and board roles since her retirement as Vice President of Sandia’s California Laboratory in Livermore. During her Sandia career, she worked on a wide variety of programs, including nuclear weapons, chemical and biological defense, missile defense, and solar energy, and provided leadership for a number of the laboratory’s energy, national security and homeland security programs. Mim is a Senior Fellow of the DoD’s Defense Science Board and a member of its Threat Reduction Advisory Committee. Mim is also Chair of the National Research Council’s Naval Studies Board and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Institute for Hometown Security. Mim is a past member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, the Board on Army Science and Technology, and DOE’s National Commission on Science and Security. Mim was appointed a National Associate of the National Academies of Science and Engineering. Mim chairs the California Council on Science and Technology and is a member of the Board of Advisors for MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Board of Directors for Draper Laboratory, the External Advisory Board of Savannah River National Laboratory, the Board of Directors of SAIC, and the Strategic Advisory Board for RedX Defense Systems. Dr. John received her PH.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University, her M.S. in chemical engineering from Tulane University, and her B.S. in chemistry from Rice University.

Research and development related to marine renewable energy has a long history at Florida Atlantic University, and it took a quantum jump forward in 2010 when a University research program was designated as the Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) by U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind and Water Power Program, part of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. SNMREC uses a systems approach to address research and development in ocean energy, specifically ocean current hydrokinetic and ocean thermal energy conversion. This systems level approach involves understanding and assessing the interdependencies of the environment, the ecology, the resource and the demonstration and evaluation of energy conversion technologies. Sue Skemp is the Executive Director for the SNMREC at Florida Atlantic University FAU). She has developed a multi-disciplinary program to investigate, test and evaluate the potential of harnessing power to generate base-load electricity from the ocean currents specifically ocean current hydrokinetic and ocean thermal energy conversion. Led by Ms. Skemp, the SNMREC and FAU’s engineers and scientists are making a unique contribution to a broadly diversified portfolio of renewable energy for the nation’s future. Ms. Skemp has a broad background in industry, Federal policy and professional engineering associations. During her 31-year career at Pratt & Whitney, she was instrumental in leading a number of research and technical programs and organizations, including programs totaling more than $110 million with the DoD and NASA. Sue was also a Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President. She acted as a policy lead for industrial technology matters, including manufacturing, and on matters related to K-12 STEM education, engineering education, and aerospace. Skemp sits on a number of boards and committees and served as the 121st President (2002- 03) of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and is currently the Vice Chair of the ASME Foundation Board of Directors. She is a Fellow of ASME as well as an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Ms. Skemp is a member of Engineering Advisory Boards to the United States Military Academy and the University of Maryland College Park, and a former member of the FAU National Alumni Association Board of Directors. A native of Boca Raton, Florida, Ms. Skemp received her degree in Mechanical Engineering from FAU. She is a mother of two and a grandmother of three.

One of the most profound questions humans ask is if they are alone in the universe. Does life also exist on planets far, far away? Pursuit of the answer to this question has been one of the driving forces behind our scientific exploration of the Solar System since the dawn of the Space Age. NASA has sent multiple spacecraft to many far- flung destinations looking for signs of life in such places as Mars, Europa, Titan and Enceladus. We’ll marvel at how NASA does this and what they have found so far. Dr. Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., is currently Chair of NASA’s Science Advisory Committee and director Emeritus at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, a privately endowed scientific research institution. After receiving his bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from brown University in 1964 and his Ph.d. in Chemical Physics from Stanford University in 1968, dr. Huntress began his career at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as an astro-chemist specializing in chemical processes in the interstellar medium, comets and planetary atmospheres. In 1988 dr. Huntress moved to NASA Headquarters in Washington, dC, first as Assistant to the director of the Earth Science and Applications division, then in 1990 became director of the Solar System Exploration division. In 1993 he became Associate Administrator for Space Science where he was responsible for NASA’s robotic science missions to observe the universe and to explore the solar system. In 1998 dr. Huntress moved to the Geophysical Laboratory where he was director until July 2007, finally retiring in October 2008. He continues today as a spokesman and strategist for the scientific exploration of space.

Nations are making little progress in the diplomacy to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, with the result that concentrations of these gases are trending far off the path needed to avoid dangerous interference in the climate system. Reducing Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels is the only course of action that stabilizes the climate beyond 2100; however, it is clear that it will be difficult to put the planet on the path to stabilization before 2050. While there is cause for optimism that CO2 emission controls can have a large effect after 2050, in the interim policy makers must prepare for twice as much additional warming in 2050 as we have seen thus far. Charles F. Kennel was educated in astronomy and astrophysics at Harvard and Princeton. After a post-doctoral year at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, he joined the UCLA Department of Physics and its Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics. There he pursued research and teaching in theoretical space plasma physics and astrophysics, eventually chairing the Physics Department. In 1988, he was on leave as a Fairchild Scholar at CalTech and a visiting professor at Princeton. He served as UCLA’s Executive Vice Chancellor, its chief academic officer, from 1996 to 1998. From 1994 to 1996, Kennel was Associate Administrator at NASA and Director of Mission to Planet Earth, the world’s largest Earth science research program. He became the ninth Director and Dean of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Vice Chancellor of Marine Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, serving from 1998 to 2006. The founding director of the UCSD Environment and Sustainability Initiative, Kennel is Distinguished Professor, emeritus, of Atmospheric Sciences at Scripps, and senior strategist for the UCSD Sustainability Solutions Institute. Kennel has chaired the US National Academy’s Board on Physics and Astronomy and its Committee on Global Change Research. He has served a total of 11 years on the NASA Advisory Council, chairing it from 2000-2005, and was a member of the Presidential (“Augustine”) Commission on human space flight in 2009. Kennel remains on the NASA Advisory Council and chairs the Space Studies Board of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Ours is the first culture with no chores for children, cheap energy, heavy mechanization, computers, supermarkets, TV dinners and unpronounceable food. Although he doesn't believe that we will return to horses and buggies, wash boards, and hoop skirts, Salatin believes we will go back in order to go forward, using technology to re-establish historical normalcy. That normalcy will include edible landscapes, domestic larders, pastured livestock, solar driven carbon cycling for fertility, and a visceral relationship with life's fundamentals: food, energy, water, air, soil, fabric, shelter. Historical contexts create jump-off points for the future--a future as bright as our imagination and as sure as the past. Joel Salatin is a third generation beyond organic farmer, lecturer and author whose family owns and operates Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Salatin's 550-acre farm is featured prominently in Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma and the documentary films, Food, Inc. and Fresh. His unconventional farming practices have drawn attention from the alternative agriculture community especially those interested in sustainable livestock management. A prolific author, Salatin's seven books to date include both how-to and big picture themes. His recent widely acclaimed book, Folks, This Ain't Normal, takes a common sense look at our food: where it comes from, it's current state of abnormality—and why we shouldn't eat most of it.

The wheat of today is not the wheat of our mothers or grandmothers. Modern wheat is the product of genetic manipulations that have transformed its properties. Modern wheat is now a 2-foot tall, high-yield semi-dwarf strain, different in both appearance and multiple biochemical features from traditional wheat. Introduction of this new strain of wheat was associated with the appearance of a long list of health problems, along with weight gain and diabetes. According to Dr. Davis, saying goodbye to all things wheat provides outsized and unexpected health benefits, from weight loss, to relief from acid reflux and bowel urgency, to reversal of diabetes, migraine headaches, and learning disabilities in children. Dr. William Davis is author of the #1 New york Times bestselling book, Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health (Rodale, 2011), now debuting internationally in over ten foreign languages. Wheat belly has helped spark a nationwide reconsideration of the conventional advice to “eat more healthy whole grains.” Formerly an interventional cardiologist, he now confines his practice to prevention and reversal of coronary disease in his practice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dr. Davis is a graduate of the St. Louis University School of Medicine, followed by training in internal medicine and cardiology at the Ohio State University Hospitals, and training in interventional cardiology at the Case–Western Reserve Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio. He is also founder of the online heart disease prevention educational program, Track your Plaque.

A new understanding of how people control themselves has emerged from the past decade of research studies. Self-control depends on a limited energy supply, and each person’s willpower fluctuates during the day as various events deplete and then replenish it. Decision-making and creative initiative also deplete the same willpower supply, while eating and sleeping can restore it. Some circumstances propel people to perform well despite depleted willpower, including power and leadership roles, local incentives, and personal beliefs. Dr. Roy Baumeister is the Eppes Professor of Psychology and Head of Social Psychology Graduate Training Program. He grew up in Cleveland, the oldest child of a schoolteacher and an immigrant businessman. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Princeton in 1978. At Case Western Reserve University, he was the first to hold the Elsie Smith professorship. He has also worked at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Texas, the University of Virginia, the Max-Planck-Institute, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Baumeister’s research spans multiple topics, including self and identity, self-regulation, interpersonal rejection and the need to belong, sexuality and gender, aggression, self-esteem, meaning, and self-presentation. He has received research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and from the Templeton Foundation. He has over 400 publications, including 22 books. The Institute for Scientific Information lists Dr. Baumeister among the handful of most cited (most influential) psychologists in the world. He lives by a small lake in Florida with his beloved family. In his rare spare time, he enjoys windsurfing, skiing, and jazz guitar.

In January of 2004, twin robotic explorers named Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars. Expected to last for 90 days, their mission has now gone on for more than eight years. Its objective is to search for evidence of past water on Mars, and to determine if Mars ever had conditions that would have been suitable for life. To develop Spirit and Opportunity, a team of more than 4,000 highly motivated engineers and scientists overcame a host of technical challenges. These challenges were multiplied by an extraordinarily tight schedule that was driven by the motions of the planets. This talk will provide an up-to-date summary of the missions of Spirit and Opportunity, from their initial conception through their development, launch, landing, and operations on the surface of Mars. Steve W. Squyres is the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. His research area is in planetary sciences, with a focus on large solid bodies in the solar system such as the terrestrial planets and the moons of the Jovian planets. Squyres is principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER). He is the recipient of the 2004 Carl Sagan Memorial Award and the 2009 Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Communication in Planetary Science. On October 28, 2010, Dr. Squyres received the 2010 Mines Medal for his achievements as a researcher and professor. Squyres has participated in a number of planetary spaceflight missions. From 1978 to 1981 he was an associate of the Voyager imaging science team, participating in analysis of imaging data from the encounters with Jupiter and Saturn. He was a radar investigator on the Magellan mission to Venus, a member of the Mars Observer gamma-ray spectrometer flight investigation team, and a co-investigator on the Russian Mars ‘96 mission. He is a member of the imaging science team on the Cassini mission to Saturn and was a member of the gamma- ray X-ray spectrometer team on NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission. Dr. Squyres’ research focuses on the robotic exploration of planetary surfaces, the history of water on Mars, geophysics and tectonics of icy satellites, tectonics of Venus, planetary gamma- ray and x-ray spectroscopy. Research for which he is best known includes study of the history and distribution of water on Mars and of the possible existence and habitability of a liquid water ocean on Europa. He received his B.A. in Geological Sciences and his Ph.D. in Astronomy (Planetary Studies) from Cornell University. The IMAX documentary film Roving Mars was based on Squyres’ book Roving Mars : Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet.

Inclusionary policies must become the centerpiece of regional planning embracing the connection of housing, jobs, schools and transportation. Successful communities look at how all these components become interconnected and believe this is essential to achieving equitable growth and sustainability. Hattie B. Dorsey is a leading advocate on inclusionary strategies to address issues of economic disparities. Under her company, HBDorsey & Associates, formed upon retiring from the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership in 2006, she continues to carry out her personal mission by working with non-profit organizations and municipalities to facilitate housing development and inclusionary strategies. As the Founder and former Chief Executive Officer of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Alliance (ADNP), a non-profit corporation organized in 1991 to formulate and implement community development strategies, she insured that housing issues were always on the agenda. Dorsey’s passion and “doer” attitude compelled her to confront the blight and urban decay in Atlanta’s neighborhoods. ADNP promotes sustainable mixed income communities and on-going revitalization and has strengthened Metro Atlanta neighborhoods and community development corporations (CDCs) that work in specific communities through a variety of services and activities. A large part of Dorsey’s expertise lies in an innate ability to develop financial resources from all sectors - private, public and philanthropic. Through her public service on numerous Boards and task forces, Dorsey continues to impact local and national dialogues, including community development, race relations, economic development, regional equity and public policy. Her consultant company, HBDorsey & Associates, provides organizational development, strategic development and fund raising support to community based organizations, foundations and local government agencies. Dorsey was the First Vice Chair for the State of Georgia’s Democratic Party for eight years, the former National President of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and served as a member of the Emory University Board of Visitors, the Atlanta Women’s Foundation Board, and the Spelman College Corporate Roundtable. She currently serves on the boards of Smart Growth America and the Atlanta Medical Center as Vice Chair.

Astronomy is more than just observing; it’s making sense of those observations. A good theorist needs a good imagination...and no fear of being wrong. Aryabaha in ancient India and Ptolemy in ancient Rome, the medieval bishops Oresme and Cusa, the 19 th century astronomers Schiaparelli and Pickering, all rose to the challenge; and they were all almost correct. Which is to say, they were wrong... sometimes hilariously, sometimes heartbreakingly so. What lessons can we take from these discarded images? Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ was born in Detroit, Michigan. He earned undergraduate and masters’ degrees from MIT, and a Ph. D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona, was a researcher at Harvard and MIT, served in the US Peace Corps, and taught university physics at Lafayette College before entering the Jesuits in 1989. At the Vatican Observatory since 1993, his research explores connections between meteorites, asteroids, and the evolution of small solar system bodies, observing Kuiper Belt comets with the Vatican’s 1.8 meter telescope in Arizona, and curating the Vatican meteorite collection. Along with more than 100 scientific publications, he is the author of a number of popular books including his latest, the new edition of Turn Left at Orion, written with Dan M. Davis. Dr. Consolmagno has served on the governing boards of the Meteoritic Society; is the past president of the International Astronomical Union, Commission 16 (Planets and Satellites) and secretary of Division III (Planetary Systems Sciences); past chair of the Division of Planetary Sciences Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. This year he holds the Loyola Chair for visiting Jesuit scholars at Fordham University.

The sprawling way the US has built since WWII has finally been exposed as being completely unsustainable. Since the meltdown, half-finished subdivisions and incomplete streets have cast a pall on real estate values in the outer rings. From WWII until now, there have been more buyers than sellers in the US market, but that is now tipping due to demographic waves, promising a downward pressure on real estate values likely to last for decades. Sprawl will be hardest hit, especially as transportation costs rise, but we can’t simply walk away from it because far too many people have their lives’ biggest investments there. This talk describes a strategy of recovering from our sprawl addiction by transforming it into compact, mixed-use, walkable, and sustainable places. Steve has led or contributed to many advances in sustainable place-making and building design. He runs a veritable “skunk works” of sustainability, place-making, and building-making ideas and tools from his office in Miami Beach. He founded the New Urban Guild, which is a group of architects, designers, and other New Urbanists dedicated to sustainable buildings and places native to and inspired by the regions in which they are built. The Guild was instrumental in the creation of the Katrina Cottages concept. Steve’s Katrina Cottage VIII, which opened the second generation of Katrina Cottages, was awarded a Charter Award by the Congress for the New Urbanism. The Guild’s Project: SmartDwelling initiative sets out to redefine the American home much smaller, smarter, and more sustainable. Steve’s SmartDwelling I was featured in the Wall Street Journal’s Green House of the Future story alongside designs by three other notable green architects, including William McDonough. The Guild Foundation is the non-profit educational arm of the Guild; it sponsors the Original Green initiative, plus a number of workshops, tours, and seminars that fill several of the gaps that previously existed between theory and practice. Steve is also a principal of Mouzon Design, which produces a number of town-building tools and services. His house plans have been featured repeatedly as Home of the Month in Southern Living and Coastal Living. Steve is Town Architect at several new hamlets, villages and neighborhoods around the country, using a unique face-to-face method of design review he developed that many agree is the most effective in use today. Several of his projects are award-winners. Steve’s new book, the Original Green, frames sustainability in common-sense, plain-spoken terms. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. wrote the Foreword. Years ago, Bobby’s wife Mary attended the very first Original Green Workshop in New York. Since then, Bobby and Mary have rebuilt their flood-damaged house according to Original Green principles. They have also engaged Steve to design a Katrina Cottage to replace their guest cottage that was destroyed by a falling tree. Steve has also collaborated repeatedly with other notables, including Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of DPZ and the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, which is Prince Charles’ organization.

Previous technology systems such as the railroad and electrification have dramatically changed human, natural, and built systems at a regional and global scale. Today, however, we are experiencing rapid — and accelerating — evolution in at least five foundational technologies: nanotechnology, biotechnology, information and communication technology, robotics, and applied cognitive science. The result is a future that is unpredictable and radically contingent, as both our planet, and the human itself, become design spaces subject to human intervention and deliberate change in ways never before possible. Braden R. Allenby is the Lincoln Professor of Engineering and Ethics, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and of Law, at Arizona State University. He previously served as the Environment, Health and Safety Vice President for AT&T. Dr. Allenby received his BA from Yale University, JD and MA (economics) from the University of Virginia, and his MS and Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers University. His areas of expertise include Design for Environment, industrial ecology, telework and net centric organizations, and earth systems engineering and management.