MARK HARRISON

Director, UCLA Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) and Distinguished Professor of Geochemistry,, UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences. Harrison graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.Sc. in 1977 and earned his doctoral degree in 1981 from the Australian National University. His research interests include application of isotope geochemistry to the study of lithosphere dynamics, the origin and evolution of the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau, and establishing when conditions suitable for the emergence of life occurred on Earth. He is a Fellow of the American Geophyscial Union and the Australian Academy of Sciences.  Prof. Harrison’s web page is located at: http://www.ess.ucla.edu/faculty/harrison/index.asp.

SIMON HOOK

Serves as the Discipline Program Manager, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Earth Science and Technology Program Directorate (JPL).  His research is focused on improving our understanding of geologic and hydrodynamic processes. He received his Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Durham, England in 1989. In 2006, Hook was selected by NASA to lead an international team of interdisciplinary scientists to relate recent observations of Mars to terrestrial environments and their relationship to water and life. Simon is an expert on optical radiometry, in particular thermal infrared spectroscopy. Dr. Hook’s web page is located at: http://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Hook/.

JASON HYON

Directorate Chief Technologist, Earth Science and Technology Program Directorate. He received his B.A. in Mathematics and Physics at Occidental College in 1986 and his S.E.E. at the University of Southern California in 1988.  Hyon’s research interests are in information technology. He has led NASA’s Data Distribution Laboratory for archiving and distribution technology for multimedia data, developed archive and distribution systems for NASA flight projects and researched optical media, and their volume and file structure.

JAMES MARGITAN

Serves as Manager in the Earth Sciences Section, Science Division (JPL) as well as in the Earth Science Research and Analysis Program and Atmospheric Chemistry Program in the Earth Science and Technology Directorate (JPL).  He received his B.S. and Ph. D. in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.  His research focuses on in situ measurements of ozone aboard high altitude research balloons for studying the chemical and dynamical processes that affect stratospheric ozone and also for validation of satellite instruments.  Dr. Margitan's web page is located at: http://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Margitan.

JAMES McWILLIAMS

UCLA Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and UCLA Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. McWilliams received his college degrees in Applied Mathematics: a B.S. in 1968 from Caltech and a M.S. in 1969 and Ph.D. in 1971 from Harvard. In 1994 he became the Louis B. Slichter Professor of Earth Sciences at UCLA. In 2002, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. His primary areas of scientific research are the fluid dynamics of Earth's oceans and atmosphere, both their theory and computational modeling. Dr. McWilliams’ web page is located at: http://www.atmos.ucla.edu/~jcm/.

GREGORY POTTIE

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Associate Dean, UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Pottie received the B.Sc. in engineering physics from Queen's Univ., Canada in 1984, and the M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from McMaster University in 1985 and 1988, respectively. He has been on the UCLA faculty since 1991. Pottie's research focuses on communication systems and information theory, with applications to wireless sensor networks and other autonomous systems. Dr. Pottie’s web page is located at: http://www.ee.ucla.edu/faculty/bios/pottie.htm.

WILLIAM YEH

Distinguished Professor and Chair, UCLA Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Yeh received a B.S. from the National Chen-Kung University in Taiwan in 1961, a M.S. from New Mexico State University in 1964, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1967. He has been with UCLA since 1967. His research interests include groundwater modeling, inverse problems of parameter structure identification, and the development of methodologies and models for optimizing large-scale water resources systems. Dr. Yeh’s web page is located at: http://cee.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/peop_faculty.php?fpg=0&uid=4.

VICTOR ZLOTNICKI

Is Group Supervisor for JPL’s Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction Group.  He  received a  Ph.D. degree in Oceanography (Marine Geophysics) from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1983).  He is the recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1999) and the JPL Award of Excellence (1998).  His research interests include Separation of geophysical from ocean circulation signals in satellite altimetry, GRACE gravimetry Processing, management and effective delivery of large satellite data streams. Dr. Zlotnicki’s web page is located at: http://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Zlotnicki/.