October 9-11, 2009
Crowne Plaza Hotel Detroit Metro Airport Romulus, Michigan USA
Guests of Honor
Literary GoH: Travis S. Taylor
Science GoH: Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, S.J.
Fan GoH: Barry Gehm
Literary Guest Of Honor
Dr. Travis S. Taylor
Travis
Shane Taylor is a born and bred southerner and resides just outside Huntsville,
Alabama. He has a Doctorate in Optical Science and Engineering, a Master’s
degree in Physics, a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, all from the
University of Alabama in Huntsville; a Master’s degree in Astronomy from the
Univ. of Western Sydney, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering
from Auburn University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of
Alabama.
Dr. Taylor has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past sixteen years. He is currently working on several advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space based beamed energy systems, future combat technologies and systems, and next generation space launch concepts. He is also involved with multiple MASINT, SIGINT, IMINT, and HUMINT concept studies.
For more information on this guest, you can visit his website at http://www.doctravis.com
Science Guest of Honor
Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, S.J.
Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ (born September 19, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan), is an American research astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory
He obtained his B.A. (1974), M.A. (1975) degrees at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. (1978) at the University of Arizona, all in Planetary Sciences. After postdoctoral research and teaching at Harvard College Observatory and MIT, in 1983 he joined the US Peace Corps to serve in Kenya for two years, teaching astronomy and physics. After his return he took a position as Assistant Professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania].
In 1989 he entered the Jesuit order, and took vows as a brother in 1991. On
entry into the order, he was assigned as an astronomer to the Vatican
Observatory, where he also serves as curator of the Vatican Meteorite
collection, positions he has held since then. In addition to his continuing
professional work in planetary science, he has also studied philosophy and
theology. Now Brother Guy spends his time taking pride in the subtle, but
arguably intentional, similarities between the style of his own beard, and that
of Galileo. Many dispute the controversy surrounding his aboriginal facial
growth; Brother Guy himself claims any similarities are purely coincidental.
His research is centered on the connections
between meteorites and asteroids, and the origin and evolution of small bodies
in the solar system. In addition to over 40 refereed scientific papers, he has
co-authored several books on astronomy for the popular market, which have been
translated into multiple languages. During 1996, he took part in the Antarctic
Search for Meteorites, ANSMET, where he discovered a number of meteorites on the
ice fields of Antarctica.
He believes in the need for science and religion to work alongside one another
rather than as competing ideologies. In 2006, he said, "Religion needs
science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality, to
protect it from creationism, which at the end of the day is a kind of paganism -
it's turning God into a nature god."[2]. Guy Consolmagno was recently the
Chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical
Society [3], serving from October 2006 to October 2007.
For more information on this guest, you can check him out on the web http://clavius.as.arizona.edu/vo/R1024/GConsolmagno.html
Fan Guest of Honor
Dr. Barry Gehm
Ph.D. Michigan State University
B.S. University of Illinois
Dr. Gehm joined the Lyon faculty in 2003. Born in Paducah, Kentucky, Dr. Gehm came to Lyon from Chicago, where he was a research assistant professor at Northwestern University Medical School. At Lyon College, he continues his research into estrogen and its relationship with cancer.
Many fen know him best as one half of the (infamous "Bill and Barry" Show. While Bill has been doing an admirable job of upholding his end of the show without Barry, we decided that the only way we were going to get the ultimate duo back together in our neck of the woods was to invite Barry, and twist his arm.Boy were we surprised when it worked!
Dr. Gehm's recent professional achievements include:
Articles
• “Estrogenic Effects of Resveratrol in Breast Cancer Cells Expressing Mutant and Wild-type Estrogen Receptors: role of AF-1 and AF-2,a” B.D. Gehm, A.S. Levenson, H. Liu, E.J. Lee, B. M. Amundsen, M. Cushman, V. C. Jordan and Biology 88:223-234 (March 2004).
• “Adenovirus-directed expression of dominant negative estrogen receptor induces apoptosis in breast cancer cells and induces regression of tumors in nude mice,” with E.J. Lee, M. Jakacka, W.R. Duan, P.Y. Chien, F. Martinson, J.L. Jameson. Molec. Med., 7: 773-782 (2001).
• “Dominant negative ER induces apoptosis in GH4 pituitary lactotrope cells and inhibits tumor growth in nude mice,” with E.J. Lee, M. Jakacka, W.R. Duan, P.Y. Chien, F. Martinson, J.L. Jameson. Endocrinology, 142: 3756-3763 (2001).
• “Estrogen receptor binding to DNA is not required for its activity through the non-classical AP1 pathway,” with M. Jakacka, M. Ito, J. Weiss, P.Y. Chien, J.L. Jameson. of Biological Chemistry,
Professional Papers
• “Developing a C. elegans-based bioassay for estrogenic activity.” Barry Gehm, Katie McLean ’06, Justin Holt ’05, Ashley Turensky ’06 & Tim Lindblom. Poster presentation at Arkansas Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (AR BRIN) Research Day symposium, 22 (July 2005) at UAMS.
• “Development of an Estrogenicity Bioassay Based on Transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans,” Arkansas Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network Research Day Symposium (July 2004).
Awards and Honors
• AR BRIN / NIH "Bridge" Funding (2004–2005) “Signaling by non-classical ligands of estrogen receptor: novel approaches to detection and mechanism.”
• NIH/INBRE Award (2005-2010) (annually renewable for up to 5 years) “Signaling by non-classical ligands of estrogen receptor: novel approaches to detection mechanism.”
• National Institutes of Health’s IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence bridge funding, “Signaling by Non-Classical Ligands of Estrogen Receptor: Novel Approaches to Detection and Mechanism.” (2004-2005).
• Avon Foundation Pilot Project Grant (2002-2003). “Estrogen Receptor Action at AP-1 Sites: Use of Selective Dominant Negative Mutants to Assess Role in Breast Cancer.”
• Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, Idea Award (1999-2002). “Resveratrol as an Estrogen: Mechanisms and Implications for Breast Cancer.”