Lars Bildsten is a Permanent Member at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and a Professor in the Department of Physics at UC Santa Barbara. He received his PhD in Theoretical Physics from Cornell University in 1991, where he held a Fannie and John Hertz Fellowship. Dr. Bildsten was at Caltech for three years as the Lee A. DuBridge Fellow and received a Compton Fellowship from NASA in Spring 1994. He was an assistant and associate professor in the Physics and Astronomy Departments at UC Berkeley from January 1995 to July 1999. Among his awards are the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Cottrell Scholarship of the Research Corporation, and the Helen B. Warner Prize from the American Astronomical Society. Dr. Bildsten was the Salpeter Lecturer at Cornell University and the Biermann Lecturer at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. He has served on many international scientific advisory boards, including the "Decadal Survey" prioritization process for Federal investments in astrophysics for 2010-2020. His efforts in outreach have been focused on the expansion of the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy.

Wayne Rosing has been involved as a key player in several landmark projects in the computing industry since the late 1970s, then as director of engineering at Apple Computer in the early 1980s where he led the Apple Lisa project, forerunner to the Macintosh. He went on to work at Sun Microsystems, headed the spin-off First Person, and developed Java with his team at Sun Labs. Mr. Rosing subsequently served as Vice President of Engineering at Google until 2005 and continues to serve as an advisor there. He is a Senior Fellow in Mathematical and Physical Sciences at UC Davis and a Senior Fellow at UC Santa Barbara. His passion for astronomy led to his founding Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGTN), a private operating foundation in Goleta building a global network of robotic telescopes for scientific research and research-based science education. LCOGTN is affiliated with the Department of Physics at UC Santa Barbara and will be the first of its kind to make long-term observations of extrasolar planets, supernovae, variable stars, and other transients. Simon Raab is Chairman and founder of Faro Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO), Chairman of Novim holds a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, a Masters of Engineering Physics from Cornell University, and holds over 80 patents in medical and industrial applications. FARO Technologies specialized in 3D orthopedic diagnostics and computer-aided surgery, products subsequently licensed to Medtronics and others. Faro then transitioned into industrial measurement and is now a worldwide leader in high precision portable 3D measurement. Since moving to Santa Barbara Mr. Raab has returned to his early passion for art and exhibits his innovative art form, called Parleau, in galleries in Europe. Diana M. Raab is a celebrated author and leader in Santa Barbara's literary community. She serves on the boards of Poets & Writers and The Health and Wellness Writing Connections, teaches in UCLA Extension Writers' Program, facilitates national writing workshops, and is a frequent moderator for literary panels. She received her B.A. in Health Administration and Journalism, followed by an RN degree, and an MFA in Writing from Spalding University. Her work includes the award-winning book Your High Risk Pregnancy: A Practical and Supportive Guide, and her memoir, Regina's Closet: Finding My Grandmother's Secret Journal, the recipient of the 2009 National Indie Award for Excellence in Memoir. Her most recent release is an anthology she edited, Writers and Their Notebooks, featuring essays by distinguished writers, including Sue Grafton, Kim Stafford, John DuFresne and Dorianne Laux. Her website is www.dianaraab.com and her weekly blog is dianaraab.wordpress.com.