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Alan Kotok lived from November 9, 1941 to May 26, 2006. He was an American computer scientist known for his work at Digital Equipment Corporation and at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Steven Levy, in his book *Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution*, describes Kotok and his fellow classmates at MIT as the first true hackers. Alan Kotok was W3C Associate Chair, MIT site manager and head of the W3C Systems Team. A member of the MIT Tech Model Railroad Club, he helped to build the legendary computer game Spacewar. He helped create in the Origins of Computer Chess and in Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.

Jean-Francois Abramatic is the chairman of W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium. Formerly Associate Director of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (1997-1998) and Director of Development and Industrial Relations at INRIA (1992-1999), he was responsible for establishing the European branch of W3C in partnership with MIT LCS in 1995. He was the general chairman of the Fifth International World Wide Web Conference that was held in Paris in May 1996. Jean-Francois was asked by the French government to prepare a report entitled "Le Developpement Technique de l'Internet". The report was published in June 1999. His areas of expertise include networking, image processing and graphics. Jean-Francois received his Master's degree from Ecole des Mines in Nancy and his PhD from the University of Paris VI. He was selected for the ICANN Board by the Protocol Supporting Organization. He served on the ICANN Board from October 1999 until September 2000.

Charles M. Vest is President Emeritus and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Vest earned his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University in 1963 and both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan in 1964 and 1967, respectively. He is also the recipient of ten honorary doctoral degrees. Dr. Vest served as President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1990 through 2004. During this time, he placed special emphasis on enhancing undergraduate education, exploring new organizational forms to meet emerging directions in research and education, building a stronger international dimension into education and research programs, developing stronger relations with industry, and enhancing racial and cultural diversity at MIT. Dr. Vest has worked to bring issues concerning education and research to broader public attention and to strengthen national policy on science, engineering and education. Vest is the author of two books on higher education and research policy: *Pursuing the Endless Frontier: Essays on MIT and the Role of the Research University *(2004), and *The American Research University from World War II to World Wide Web* (2007).

Dr. Leaning's research and policy interests include issues of public health, medical ethics, and early warning in response to war and disaster, human rights and international humanitarian law in crisis settings, and problems of human security in the context of forced migration and conflict. She has field experience in problems of public health assessment and human rights in a range of crisis situations (including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Kosovo, the Middle East, former Soviet Union, Somalia, the Chad-Darfur border, and the African Great Lakes area) and has written widely on these issues. Dr. Leaning serves on the boards of Physicians for Human Rights (an organization she co-founded), Amnesty International, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Oxfam America, International Rescue Committee, The Humane Society of the United States, and the Massachusetts Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross. She is visiting editor of the British Medical Journal, serves on the editorial board of Health and Human Rights, and is a member of the Board of Syndics at Harvard University Press. From 1999 to 2005, Dr. Leaning directed the Program on Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights at the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health, during which time Dr. Leaning also served as editor-in-chief of Medicine & Global Survival, an international quarterly.

In July 2005, Mark Roosevelt was appointed superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools, a district with over 32,000 students and 80 schools. Roosevelt began his career in government as a member of President Jimmy Carter's domestic policy staff. He subsequently became the executive director of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in Boston before being elected to the Massachusetts State Legislature. During his eight years as a state representative, Roosevelt served as the house chairman of the legislature's committee on education, and co-authored and steered to passage the landmark $40 billion Education Reform Act of 1993, which restructured the way Massachusetts funds and manages its public schools. In 1994, Roosevelt was the Democratic nominee for governor of Massachusetts. He most recently served as managing director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education. Prior to that role he served as president and chief executive officer of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, a nonprofit economic development corporation that works with government, academic and private institutions to start and attract medical companies in the state. Roosevelt received his Bachelor of Arts in American history from Harvard College and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

Trahan's poems have appeared in *Word Riot*, *Redivider*, *Coe Review* and *The TMP Irregular*. She is also a freelance writer and editor with a focus on independent film.