Elias Zafris holds an M.Sc. (Distinction) in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces from Imperial College, University of London, and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Imperial College. He has published research papers on the following areas: Generalized spacetime quantum theory and the decoherent histories approach to quantum theory, symmetries and exact solutions in general relativity, covariant kinematics of relativistic strings and branes, foundations of quantum physics, quantum event and quantum observable structures, category-theoretic methods in quantum physics and complex systems theories, topological localization and modern differential geometry in quantum field theory and quantum gravity. His current research focus is on the development of a functorial sheaf-theoretic approach to quantum mechanics, quantum logic and quantum gravity using concepts and techniques of mathematical category theory and algebraic differential geometry, as well as on the study of its conceptual and interpretational implications.

Stuart A. Kauffman

Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Mathematics & Senior Researcher, Complex Systems Center, University of Vermont;
External Professor, The Santa Fe Institute

Karim Bschir studied biochemistry and philosophy at the University of Zurich and in 2010 received a PhD in philosophy of science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, where he has served as a research fellow since 2007. From 2009 to 2010, Karim was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science at the London School of Economics (funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation), and in 2012 was awarded the prestigious Branco Weiss Fellowship from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (www.society-in-science.org/karim-bschir.html). He is an affiliated researcher at the Collegium Helveticum and a co-investigator for the research project, ‘Foundations of Relational Realism’ at the Center for Philosophy and the Natural Sciences at California State University, Sacramento, where he is also a research fellow. Karim’s philosophical work focuses on scientific realism and the question of to what extent the concept of “potentiality” might be used to address certain interpretational problems in science and natural philosophy. Besides his expertise in philosophy of science, he has strong interests in history of philosophy and history of science, epistemology and metaphysics, as well as in philosophy of biology.

Timothy E. Eastman

Sciences and Exploration Directorate - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center &
Director, Space Physics and Plasma Sciences - Plasmas International

Dr. Timothy E. Eastman of Plasmas International is a consultant and concurrently Perot Systems Group Manager for science support at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Eastman discovered the Low-Latitude Boundary Layer (LLBL) of the Earth’s magnetosphere (1976), and discovered gyro-phase bunched ions in space plasmas by analyzing energetic ion distribution functions near Earth’s bow shock (1981).  He has published 100 research papers in space physics and related fields and has provided key leadership of the nation’s research programs in space plasma physics while program manager at NASA Headquarters (1985-1988) and NSF (1991-1994).   

David Ritz Finkelstein

Professor Emeritus - Department of Physics
Georgia Tech

Henry P. Stapp

Senior Staff - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Physicist - University of California Berkeley

Henry Stapp did his doctorial work under the direction of Nobel Laureates Emilio Segre and Owen Chamberlain. He created the theoretical framework for the analysis of the scattering of polarized protons, and then analyzed the data obtained from the experiments at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University California in Berkeley, obtaining the phase shifts first at 360 Mev at later at higher energies. His work was the first large-scale computer analysis in high-energy physics. Subsequently he worked closely with Wolfgang Pauli in Zurich on parity violations, and on fundamental problems in quantum theory.

William Kallfelz

Departments of Philosophy and Mathematics
Mississippi State University

Jorge Luis Nobo

Department of Philosophy
Washburn University

George W. Shields is the 2000-2001 University Distinguished Professor, Professor of Philosophy, and Chairperson of the Division of Literature, Languages, and Philosophy at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky. He also serves as Professorial Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Louisville, where he has taught graduate level health care ethics and law at the Health Sciences campus. He holds the PhD from The University of Chicago, where he wrote a doctoral dissertation on the philosophy of Charles Hartshorne. He has done further study at Oxford University, England.   

Mohsen Shiri-Garakani finished his doctoral work in physics under the direction of Prof. David Finkelstein at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In that work, Mohsen modified the quantum theory of the harmonic oscillator based on Segals’ Principle of Simplicity, which states: group of a physical theory must be a simple (Lie) group. This principle is based on an interesting observation that major changes in physical theories exhibit a distinct family resemblance: the non-semi-simple group of the old theory simplifies to the group of the new theory, while the latter reproduce the former in some appropriate limit, where (in the reverse order) a physical parameter (e.g. the speed of light) previously thought to be infinite in the old theory (e.g., Galileo relativity), becomes finite in the new theory (e.g., Einstein’s relativity).   

Ronny Desmet received his M.S. in mathematics in 1983 from the University of Antwerp, specializing in the mathematics and philosophy of quantum mechanics. He received his M.A. in philosophy in 2005, and is currently preparing his Ph.D. dissertation on Whitehead's theory of relativity, supervised by Prof. Jean Paul Van Bendegem. After a career in the private sector, he left a position at Sun Microsystems in 2002 to study philosophy, and currently he is a research fellow at the Centre of Logic and Philosophy of Science, Vrije Universiteit, Brussels and is a founding member of the Center for Philosophy and the Natural Sciences at California State University, Sacramento.