CARL ZIMMER

Science Writer – Carl Zimmer s a popular science writer and blogger, especially regarding the study of evolution and parasites. He has written several books and contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times and Discover. He is a Fellow at Yale University’s Morse College. He lives in Guilford, Connecticut, with his wife and their two children.

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DAVID SCHWARTZ

Chief Curator, Museum of Moving Image – David Schwartz joined the Museum of the Moving Image in 1985. He is responsible for curating, organizing, and overseeing the Museum’s wide-ranging film and video programs, which include independent and Hollywood films from the silent era to the present, experimental films, documentaries, animation, and other forms of the moving image. He is Editor-at-Large of Moving Image Source (www.movingimagesource.us), the Museum’s online publication.  Schwartz is also a Visiting Assistant Professor in Cinema Studies at Purchase College, and the host of the Westchester Cinema Club.

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SIDNEY PERKOWITZ, Ph.D

Professor, Writer – Sidney Perkowitz is the Candler Professor of Physics at Emory University. He writes and lectures about the intersections of science, technology, and culture. He recently wrote Hollywood Science, a journey through the best and worst science-based movies of all time. His other pop-science writing includes the books Empire of Light and Universal Foam, stage plays and screenplays.

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PAUL MILLER

Musician, Artist, Author – Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid) is an electronic and experimental hip hop musician known for his work called “illbient” or “trip hop”. He is a Professor of Music Mediated Art at the European Graduate School, and founder of the Vanuatu Pacifica Foundation, which is currently developing an Artist in Residence program for scientists and artists in the South Pacific. He has created dozens of albums and collaborated with the world’s pre-eminent composers and musicians, including Yoko Ono, Butch Morris, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Iannis Xenakis, Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth, Killa Priest of Wu-Tang Clan, Kool Keith a.k.a. Doctor Octagon, and many others.

His new book, The Book of Ice, was recently released as part of a multi-media project documenting the changing face of Antarctica in the wake of global climate change.

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DARCY KELLEY, Ph.D

Research Professor – Dr. Kelley is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Darcy Kelley’s research uses the South African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, to study the neurobiology of social communication. She is also scientific adviser for the Tribeca Film Institute-Sloan Screenplay Development Program.

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RANDY OLSON, Ph.D

Scientist, Filmmaker – Randy Olson has written and directed a number of short films and feature documentaries, which have premiered at film festivals such as Tribeca Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival. Most of his films draw on his science background, involve humor, and address major science issues such as the decline of the world’s oceans, the controversy around the teaching of evolution versus intelligent design, and the attacks on global warming science. His company, Prairie Starfish Productions, is based at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California. He is currently the Director of the Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project.

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SCOTT BARRY KAUFMAN, Ph.D

Cognitive Scientist, Personality Psychologist – Scott Barry Kaufman
is interested in the development of talent, intelligence, creativity, imagination, and personality. He applies a variety of perspectives to come to a richer understanding and appreciation of all kinds of minds and ways of achieving greatness. He is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology at New York University and Senior Pedagogical Advisor of The Future Project. He is a writer for Psychology Today and The Huffington Post, Associate Editor of the International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, and co-editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence.

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ALEX RIVERA

Screenwriter, Director – Alex Rivera is a New York based digital media artist and filmmaker. His first feature film, SLEEP DEALER premiered at Sundance 2008 and won two awards, including the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Rivera is a Sundance Fellow and a Rockefeller Fellow. His work, which addresses concerns of the Latino community through a language of humor, satire, and metaphor, has also been screened at The Berlin International Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, The Guggenheim Museum, PBS, Telluride, and other international venues.

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MARCO URSINO

Filmmaker, Founder and Executive Director, Brooklyn Film Festival – Marco Ursino served as the executive director of the ninth annual Brooklyn International Film Festival (BIFF). Formerly known as Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival (WBFF), BIFF was established in 1998 as the first international, competitive festival for and by independent film makers. BIFF’s mission is to discover, expose, and promote independent film makers while drawing worldwide attention to Brooklyn as a center for cinema.

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JONAH LEHRER

Science Writer, Contributing Editor – Author of How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist. Jonah Lehrer graduated from Columbia University and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He has written for The New Yorker, Nature, Seed, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He is also a Contributing Editor at Scientific American Mind, WIRED and National Public Radio’s Radio Lab.

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DAVID EDWARDS

ArtScientist -  David Edwards, the Gordon McKay professor of biomedical engineering at Harvard and the founder of the Le Laboratoire experimental art and science lab in Paris, David A. Edwards is Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering at Harvard University,^[1] a writer of fiction and non-fiction, and the founder of Le Laboratoire, an experimental art and design center where artists and scientists collaborate in central Paris.

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JOSEPH LEDOUX

Neuroscientist, Musician – Joseph E. LeDouxis the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science, and Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at New York University. He is also the director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Fear and Anxiety, multi-university Center in New York City devoted to using animal research to understand pathological fear and anxiety in humans. LeDoux’s research interests are mainly focused on the biological underpinnings of memory and emotion, especially the mechanisms of fear. LeDoux is also a singer and guitarist in the science-themed rock band The Amygdaloids.

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CHRIS CLAREMONT

Writer – Chris has encountered more success than most writers ever dream of. His stories have achieved best-seller status, won numerous awards, and are trend-setters for the industry. Although best known for his work on Marvel Comic’s X-Men series, he has written other seminal characters such as Batman and Superman; originated several creator-owned series; is published throughout the world in many different languages; authored nine novels; and even has his first video game premiering in Spring 2006. His work has touched millions.

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MATTHEW PUTMAN

Matthew Putman is an independent musician, scientist, producer and author currently living in Brooklyn NY with his wife Marine and daughter Juliette. He is a Researcher and Professor at Columbia University. As a musician he has received acclaim from Downbeat magazine and All About Jazz for his first album “Perennial” which was released in August 2008, and the quintet called “The Gowanus Recordings.”. Matthew is an inventor who holds patents in several areas including a new microscope with extremely high resolution. He has co-authored technical papers, and received the American Chemical Society Best Paper Award. He was an owner of the technology company Tech Pro, and now works as a senior consultant for Dynisco, who purchased Tech Pro in March 2008. Matthew is also the founder of a new high resolution microscope company called Nanotronics Imaging. Matthew is a published poet, and is publishing his first book of poetry in late 2010. He is also co-authoring a Physics text book in the field of Rheology. Matthew was a producer of the off-Broadway play “Perdita”, by Pierre-Marc Diennet, with his wife Marine which played at the Lion Theatre on Theatre Row. Perdita will be touring this fall. Matthew and Marine have also worked together as Associate Producers of the award winning film “Definition of Insanity” Matthew is an Executive Board Member of The Montauk Observatory and a founding Benefactor of The World Science Festival.