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Jefferey Pokorak is Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Programs at Suffolk University Law School.

Paul Fussell is a cultural and literary historian, and professor emeritus of English literature at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of books on eighteenth century English literature, the world wars, and social class, among others.

Jim Webb grew up on the move, attending more than a dozen different schools across the U.S. and in England. First attending the University of Southern California on an NROTC academic scholarship, he left for the Naval Academy after one year. Graduating in 1968 he chose a commission in the Marine Corps, and was one of 18 in his class of 841 to receive the Superintendent's Commendation for outstanding leadership contributions while a midshipman. First in his class of 243 at the Marine Corps Officer's Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, he then served with the Fifth Marine Regiment in Vietnam, where as a rifle platoon and company commander in the infamous An Hoa Basin west of Danang he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts. Mr. Webb has written six best-selling novels: *Fields of Fire* (1978), considered by many to be the classic novel of the Vietnam war, *A Sense of Honor* (1981), *A Country Such As This* (1983), *Something To Die For* (1991), *The Emperor's General* (1999) and *Lost Soldiers* (2001). He taught literature at the Naval Academy as their first visiting writer, has traveled worldwide as a journalist, and his PBS coverage of the U.S. Marines in Beirut earned him an Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In government, Mr. Webb served in the U.S. Congress as counsel to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs from 1977 to 1981, becoming the first Vietnam veteran to serve as a full committee counsel in the Congress. During the Reagan Administration he was the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs from 1984 to 1987, where he directed considerable research and analysis of the U.S. military's mobilization capabilities and spent much time with our NATO allies. In 1987 he became the first Naval Academy graduate in history to serve in the military and then become Secretary of the Navy. Mr. Webb is currently the Senior U.S. Senator from Virginia, and during his first term in office his legislative priorities have been guided by three themes: reorienting America's national security posture, promoting economic fairness, and increasing government accountability.

Mameve Medwed is the author of five novels, Mail, Host Family, The End of an Error, How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life (2007 Massachusetts Book Award Honors in Fiction), and Of Men and Their Mothers (pub date April 22, 2008). Her short stories, essays, and book reviews have appeared in, among others, Yankee, Redbook, Playgirl, The Boston Globe, Ascent, The Missouri Review, Confrontation, The Readerville Journal, Newsday and The Washington Post. She has taught fiction writing for many years at The Cambridge Center for Adult Education, has been a mentor in the writing program at Lesley University, read papers for the English Department at Simmons College and has taken part in writing festivals across the country, serving on panels and teaching seminars. She has been interviewed on Maine Public Radio, The Voice of America and other radio and TV programs and has been profiled in many newspapers.

Owen Gingerich is Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and of the History of Science at Harvard University and a senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. In 1992 and 1993 he chaired Harvard's History of Science Department. Professor Gingerich's research interests have ranged from the recomputation of an ancient Babylonian mathematical table to the interpretation of stellar spectra. He is co-author of two successive standard models for the solar atmosphere, the first to take into account rocket and satellite observations of the sun; the second of these papers has received over 500 literature citations. Professor Gingerich has been vice president of the American Philosophical Society (America's oldest scientific academy) and he has served as chairman of the US National Committee of the International Astronomical Union. He has been a councilor of the American Astronomical Society, and he helped organize its Historical Astronomy Division. In 2000 he won the Divisions Doggett Prize for his contributions to the history of astronomy. The AAS awarded him their Education Prize for 2004.

A naturalist, astronomer, author, and artist, David's expertise is in communicating the wonderment of science. He is the past Director of the Fiske Planetarium & Science Center and the originator of the Science Discovery Program at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Marketing Communications Director at Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, and Marketing Director for PBS's Emmy-winning NOVA series, *Evolution*. He is also a recognized writer and space artist with work appearing in the new 2008 BBC television series *UNIVERSE*, *Time magazine*, *US News & World Report*, *ABC Nightly News*, CNN, *NY Times*, *USA Today*, *National Geographic*, *Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, and Scientific American*. He is the author and illustrator of *Planets, Stars & Galaxies and The New Solar System*, published by *National Geographic*, as well as a scholar lecturer on Smithsonian World Tours and Smithsonian Journeys, and popular host of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics programs *Observatory Nights* and the Harvard Lecture Series, *Everything I Learned About Science I Learned At The Movies*. He is also an avid telescope maker and an astronomical and underwater photographer.