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A highly-respected historian of the African-American experience, Dr. Spencer R. Crew's innovative museum exhibits have brought new life to American history. He is perhaps best known for his study of the Great Migration the massive movement of Southern African-Americans to Northern cities in the early twentieth century. Crew was both the first African-American director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History (NMAH) and the youngest. In 2001 he became executive director and CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Frank Wilczek has received many prizes for his work in physics, including the Nobel Prize of 2004 for work he did as a graduate student at Princeton University, when he was only 21 years old. He is known, among other things, for the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the development of quantum chromodynamics, the invention of axions, and the exploration of new kinds of quantum statistics (anyons). Much in demand for public lectures to a wide range of audiences, Frank has been anthologized in *the Norton Anthology of Light Verse* and twice in *Best American Science Writing* (2003, 2005). His television appearances include "ghostbusting" for Penn and Teller (2005). Frank grew up in Queens, NY and attended the University of Chicago. After getting his Ph.D. from Princeton, he spent time on the faculty there and at the Institute for Advanced Study, as well as at UCSB's Institute for Theoretical Physics, now the KITP. Frank is currently the Herman Feshbach professor of physics at MIT.

Fred Spier is Senior Lecturer in Big History. As of 1994, he has organized the annual big history course at the University of Amsterdam, while since 2003 he has also taught the annual big history university lecture series at the Eindhoven University of Technology. First trained as a biochemist with research experience in plant genetic engineering and the synthesis of oligonucleotides, Spier subsequently became a cultural anthropologist and social historian. In this quality he performed a ten year study on religion, politics and ecology in Peru, which led to the publication of two books. Developing an overarching explanatory paradigm for Big History. In his article "How Big History Works: Energy flows and the rise and demise of complexity" (published in 2005 by the journal *Social Evolution & History*), the outline of an historical theory of everything is proposed, which should help to explain history at all levels as well as guide further research. An elaborated version of this argument will be presented in his upcoming book tentatively titled *Big History and the Future*.

Nancy Kranich served as President of the American Library Association in 2000-2001, focusing on the role of libraries in democracies. A tireless champion of the public's information rights, Nancy has led the library community's efforts to promote civic engagement, open access, and free expression. Prior to her presidency, she spearheaded ALA's telecommunications advocacy, formed the Coalition on Government Information, and established the James Madison Awards honoring champions of the public's right to know. Since leading ALA, Nancy has continued to promote democratic participation, launching ALA's civic engagement membership initiative, moderating public forums, participating in Kettering's US/Russia dialogue, and teaching about civic engagement. In 2004, she moved to State College, PA where she now chairs of one of the oldest National Issues Forum groups in the country.

Rob Jackson is a Professor at Duke University and is currently Director of Duke's Center on Global Change and Duke's Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. His research examines feedback between people and the biosphere, including studies of the global carbon and water cycles, biosphere/ atmosphere interactions, and global change. He also directs the new Department of Energy-funded National Institute for Climatic Change Research for the southeastern US and co-directs the Climate Change Policy Partnership, working with energy and utility corporations to find practical strategies to combat climate change.

Product designer Duane Smith received a bachelor of industrial design in 1996 from Carleton University in Ottawa and studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany. A native of Newfoundland, he worked as a design consultant at various North American firms before beginning his own venture with partner Stfane Barbeau. In 1999, they co-founded Vessel, a housewares design and distribution company. Smith is also a founding member of Release1, a collaborative that explores design as a cultural activity independent of commercial forces. His firm's work has earned Industrial Excellence Awards, Medical Design Excellence Awards, and Virtu Awards, and has been featured in* I.D.*, *The New York Times*, *Adbusters*, *Real Simple*, and *Wired*.