Speaker Information

The New River. Photo by Bill Kovarik.

Here are biographies of speakers for SEJ's 18th Annual Conference, October 15-19, 2008, in Roanoke, Virginia.
DRAFT: All Information Subject to Change
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Alphabetical Speaker List
(a work-in-progress)
A | B | C | D | E
F | G | H | I | J | K
L | M | N | O | P | Q | R
S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Nick Akins
Event: Friday, Opening Plenary, Old King Coal: What's His Role in America's Energy Future? 9:15 a.m.

Nick Akins is executive vice president for generation for American Electric Power. AEP is one of the largest electric utilities and generators of electricity in the U.S. He is responsible for all generation activities of AEP's 38,000 MW fleet, including fossil and hydro generation; nuclear generation; engineering, project and field services; fuel, emissions and logistics, and business services. Previously, he was president and chief operating officer for Southwestern Electric Power Company, serving approximately 439,000 customers in Louisiana, Arkansas and northeast Texas. Named to this position in 2004, he had authority for distribution operations and a wide range of customer and regulatory relationships.

Peter Aldhous
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, THE CRAFT: The Freelance Pitch-Slam, 2:45 p.m.

Peter Aldhous is San Francisco bureau chief for New Scientist magazine. He got his start in journalism in 1989 as a reporter for Nature in London, after earning a Ph.D. in animal behavior from the University of Nottingham. He has been European correspondent for Science and news editor with New Scientist. He also was chief news and features editor with Nature. He has reported worldwide and won awards for his articles on issues ranging from stem cells to conservation biology and the psychology of addiction and crime. He is a part-time lecturer in the University of California at Santa Cruz science writing program.

Crawford Allan
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, THE LAND: Animal Business: Wildlife Trafficking and International Law, 10:45 a.m.

Crawford Allan, director of TRAFFIC North America, works to combat the illegal trade in wildlife and minimize negative impacts from legal trade. TRAFFIC North America is the regional office of the world's largest international wildlife trade-monitoring program (run jointly by WWF and the World Conservation Union). He lobbies governments to strengthen their commitments to international wildlife treaties, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. With more than fifteen years' experience, his largest project to date is supporting the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Wildlife Enforcement Network.

Stan Allen
Event: Sunday, Post-Conference Tour: From the Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay

Standish K. Allen Jr. is a professor of marine science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary. His research interests include the applications of biotechnology to fisheries management and aquaculture. He has worked in the following areas: chromosome set manipulation in fish and shellfish; collaborative studies in molecular genetics; cytogenetics and gametogenesis in polyploid shellfish; selection and breeding in aquaculture; genetic conservation in fisheries; and shellfish culture techniques.

Sal Amato
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, THE LAND: Animal Business: Wildlife Trafficking and International Law, 10:45 a.m.

Sal Amato oversees wildlife inspectors who inspect shipments of protected wildlife and wildlife products at ports of entry, and law enforcement special agents who enforce federal wildlife laws in 13 states for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Amato previously oversaw investigations from the Special Operations Branch into large-scale trafficking in sea-turtle leather products, among other items. He also was the lead case agent in a multi-agency investigation exposing illegal trafficking in Russian and U.S. caviar, resulting in a $10.4 million fine, the largest in the country for a wildlife prosecution. He previously worked for the California Department of Fish and Game.

Paul Angermeier
Events:
Thursday, Tour 5, Old River, New Challenge
Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, THE LAND: Biodiversity, People, and the Planet: An Appalachian Lesson, 2:45 p.m.

Paul Angermeier is a professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences at Virginia Tech. He is assistant leader-fisheries of the Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. His research interests include ecology of freshwater fishes, conservation of aquatic ecosystems, use of biotic communities to assess environmental quality, fish-habitat associations and societal benefits of intact ecosystems. He has conducted research on a wide range of ecosystems in Virginia, including several studies on American eel and the endangered Roanoke logperch. He works with some resource management agencies to ensure that management actions are informed by the best available science.

Peter Annin
Event: Sunday, Book Publisher Pitch-Slam, 11:00 a.m.

A veteran conflict and environmental journalist, Peter Annin spent more than a decade reporting on a wide variety of issues for Newsweek. For many years he specialized in coverage of domestic terrorism. He also covered droughts in the Southwest, hurricanes in the Southeast, wind power on the Great Plains, forest fires in the mountain West, as well as the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. Since January 2000 he has worked as associate director of the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources, a nonpartisan national nonprofit that organizes educational fellowships for mid-career environmental journalists.

Joseph Aylor
Event: Thursday, Tour 8, Nuclear Power — from Ore to Volts

Joseph Aylor, chief geologist of Virginia Uranium, Inc., is a native of Gretna, Va., and has more than 30 years' experience as a geologist and environmental engineer. He previously was the environmental services manager with ECS Mid-Atlantic LLC, which provides geotechnical consulting services. He has held various research and teaching positions and has authored numerous articles for industry publications.

B

Katherine Baer
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, THE NATION: Broken Bridges, Straight Pipes: The Environmental Impacts of an Aging Infrastructure, 10:45 a.m.

Katherine Baer is senior director for the clean water program of American Rivers. She previously worked for the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, the Center for Progressive Reform and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Originally from Georgia, Katherine has an undergraduate degree from Stanford University, a master's degree in conservation ecology from the University of Georgia and a law degree from the University of Maryland.

Charles and Marilyn Barnes
Event: Thursday, Tour 2, What Are Forests Worth? What Are They For? Can We Sustain Them?

Charles and Marilyn Barnes have been stewards of Cove Branch Farm since 1961. It has been a challenging and enjoyable trip. They have worked off-farm and managed 500 acres woodland and 200 acres farmland part-time with occasional hired help. About ten years ago they retired to the full-time endeavor. The property has been in The American Tree Farm System for most of this time. The forest is managed for sustainability with periodic cutting, planting and natural regeneration. A one-hundred-plus herd of cattle grazes the all-forage-based open land. Their son lives and works on the farm, aiming to make the operation sustainable without off-farm income.

James Barrett
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, ENERGY: Must We Grow? The Tensions Between Consumerism and Saving the Planet, 10:45 a.m.

James Barrett is executive director of Redefining Progress, the nation's leading public-policy think tank dedicated to promoting a healthy environment, a strong economy and social justice. Before joining Redefining Progress, he was an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, senior economist on the Democratic staff of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, and staff economist at the Center for the Advancement of Genomics and the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives.

Sandy Bauers
Event: Friday, Breakfast Breakout 1, Making the Science Sing: A Multimedia Workshop for Journalists, Communicators and Researchers, 7:30 a.m.

Sandy Bauers has worked as an editor and a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer for more than two decades. She has covered features and news, and in 2006 was named the environment reporter. She lives on three acres in northern Chester County with her husband, two cats, a large vegetable garden and a flock of pet chickens. GreenSpace — her column and blog — looks at how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life. The column appears every other Monday.

Jim Beard
Event: Thursday, Tour 8, Nuclear Power — from Ore to Volts

Jim Beard is curator of earth sciences at the Virginia Museum of Natural History and an adjunct professor of geology at Virginia Tech. He helped supervise a doctoral thesis on the chemistry of the rock deposit at the Virginia uranium site. He is collaborating with geoscientists and graduate students who are taking a closer look at the Coles Hill uranium deposit in Virginia.

Perry Beeman
Events:
Friday, Network Lunch 17, Global Farm Feud: So Much Grain, So Little Food, 1:15 p.m.
Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, ENERGY: Beyond Corn: Making Biofuels from Grass, Trash and Algae, 9:00 a.m.

Perry Beeman is a past president of the SEJ board, and a long-time reporter for The Des Moines Register, beginning his environmental coverage there full-time in 1991. In 2003, he won first place for outstanding beat reporting in the independently judged SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment, and in 2004, he studied tropical ecology in Belize with a team from Loyola University in New Orleans and the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.

Eric Bendfeldt
Event: Thursday, Tour 3, Healthy Food Shed

Eric Bendfeldt is an area specialist for community viability in the Shenandoah Valley region for the Virginia Cooperative Extension. He focuses on community food systems, community planning, leadership development and entrepreneurship. Bendfeldt worked to facilitate the development and organization of the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction. He previously served as co-chair for the Waste Solutions Forum. Bendfeldt is working with several groups to strengthen community food systems, increase farm-to-table options and launch a Shenandoah Valley Buy Fresh Buy Local Chapter.

Wendell Berry
Event: Sunday, Bestsellers Breakfast, 8:00 a.m.

Wendell Berry is a southerner of varied interests, including farming, conservation and creative writing. He has written more than 30 novels and books of poetry and essays. He has won numerous honors, including fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. He lives on a farm in Kentucky and has been called the "prophet of rural America" by The New York Times.

Robert Bindschadler
Events:
Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, THE WATER: What's Hot at the Poles: Polar Science and the International Polar Year, 10:45 a.m.

Robert Bindschadler is an award-winning Antarctic field researcher who has advised the U.S. government and scientific organizations, and has appeared in the news media, on the topics of glaciology and remote sensing of ice. He is interested in the dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets, primarily on Earth, investigating how remote sensing can be used to improve our understanding of the role of ice in the Earth's climate. Applications developed by Bindschadler include measuring ice velocity and elevation using both visible and radar imagery. He is involved with several related groups and publications, including the U.S. and International Planning Groups for the International Polar Year.

Steven Bingler
Events:
Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, THE CLIMATE: Rough Road Ahead: Preparing for Climate Change, 9:00 a.m.
Saturday, Mini-Tour 7, It's Jail for You! Building Green in the Blue Ridge 2:30 p.m.

Steven Bingler founded Concordia LLC, a community planning and architectural firm in New Orleans. Since Hurricane Katrina, the majority of the firm's work has focused on rebuilding New Orleans. Concordia served as the coordinator for the Unified New Orleans plan, a comprehensive strategy for the redevelopment of the city after Hurricane Katrina. Bingler has published in books and journals covering the fields of urban planning, architectural design, education, public health and smart growth. He has also served as a special consultant to the Office of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education for policy related to the design of schools as centers of the community.

Elizabeth Bluemink
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, THE WATER: Hydropower: Past, Present & Future, 2:45 p.m.

Elizabeth Bluemink has been a journalist for 10 years, focusing on the environment for half that time. She is a business reporter at the Anchorage Daily News, where she covers Native corporations, mining, tourism and other businesses in Alaska. She also is developing a multimedia project there. She formerly reported on natural resources for the Juneau (AK) Empire and on the environment at the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal. She received a 2002-03 Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism.

Judy Bonds
Event: Thursday, Tour 1, Almost Level 1: Cutting Down Mountains for Coal

Julia "Judy" Bonds, co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch, is a coal miner's daughter and a coal miner's granddaughter whose family has lived in West Virginia's Coal River Valley for 10 generations. Working on social and environmental justice issues in Appalachian coalfields since 1998, Bonds won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2003. Since then, she and others at Coal River Mountain Watch have put on a road show to educate Americans about where their electricity comes from, who pays the price for cheap energy and to dispel the "ignorant hillbilly" stereotype along the way.

Jason Bostic
Event: Thursday, Tour 1, Almost Level 1: Cutting Down Mountains for Coal

Jason Bostic is vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association. Bostic's area of expertise is permitting and environmental compliance. He serves as a resource for member companies.

Rick Boucher
Events:
Friday, Breakfast Breakout 4, Newsmaker Breakfast: 2009 Energy Policy Legislation, 7:30 a.m.
Friday, Welcoming Remarks, 9:00 a.m.

Congressman Rick Boucher is serving his thirteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Virginia's Ninth Congressional District. He is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, serving on three subcommittees — Energy and Air Quality, Telecommunications and the Internet, and Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. As Chairman of the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, he is uniquely positioned to influence federal legislation relating to a broad range of energy related issues including electricity generation and markets, coal use, pipeline safety, refineries and the Clean Air Act.

Chris Bowman
Events:
Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: "Where There's Smoke..." : Job Hazards as Forerunners of Public Hazards, 2:45 p.m.
Saturday, Mini-Tour 2, Air and Water Pollution You Don't Think About 2:30 p.m.

Chris Bowman, environment and energy reporter at The Sacramento Bee in California and an SEJ board member, tries to compensate for his two-finger typing with stories that punch hard and deep: Developers unearthing naturally occurring asbestos; flavoring factories destroying workers' lungs; the world's largest cheese plant polluting with impunity; and the abuse of Mexican reforestation workers. His career began as a courthouse reporter for The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) Later, at The Hartford Courant, he uncovered fraud in bridge inspections after a deadly collapse on the Connecticut Turnpike. A Nieman Fellowship at Harvard ('95) inspired Chris to take up crew rowing at home and journalism mentoring abroad, including a three-month stint in Zimbabwe.

Brenda Box
Event: Saturday, Breakfast Plenary, Environmental Justice and the Poor, 7:30 a.m.

Brenda Box is an award-winning radio journalist. She is an associate editor at National Public Radio, in Washington, DC. Previously she was a bureau chief for West Virginia Public Broadcasting and worked at Huntingtonnews.net, where, among other issues, she reported on mountain-top removal, Ohio River pollution and the class action lawsuit filed against Dupont and its Teflon plant outside of Parkersburg, West Virginia. Brenda has also worked as an anchor/reporter for NBC/Mutual Radio, United Press International Radio, CBS Radio Station News Services and USA Today/Gannett Radio News Service. Brenda has served as a Board Member of SEJ. While she is a proud graduate of Colorado State University, she is currently a student at American University, pursuing a Masters degree in Interactive Journalism.

Gary Braasch
Events:
Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, THE WATER: What's Hot at the Poles: Polar Science and the International Polar Year, 10:45 a.m.
Sunday, Breakout Author Session 3, Writing About Science and the Environment, 9:45 a.m.

Gary Braasch is a conservation photographer and journalist, known for his coverage of environmental issues and field science, including volcano, forest canopy and ecological studies. He was awarded the Ansel Adams Award for conservation photography by the Sierra Club in 2006, and named Outstanding Nature Photographer in 2003 by the North American Nature Photography Association. He is a founding fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He wrote a book on climate change, Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World, also co-wrote a children's book on global warming science, and others on forest ecology and natural design.

Bruce Braine
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, COAL: Carbon Sequestration: Silver Bullet or Black Hole? 2:45 p.m.

Bruce H. Braine is vice president for strategic policy analysis for American Electric Power Service Corp. He focuses on analysis of federal and state energy and environmental policy, as well as analysis and development of long-term environmental and energy strategy for AEP. Before joining AEP in 1997 as a senior vice president for analysis, Braine was a principal in the Washington, D.C.-based economic and management consulting firm Putnam, Hayes and Bartlett. Braine also served as a senior vice president at ICF-Kaiser International, where he directed ICF's $6 million electric utility business consulting unit. Braine holds a number of leadership roles at various organizations, nationally and in Ohio.

Eliot Brenner
Event: Thursday, Tour 8, Nuclear Power — from Ore to Volts

Eliot Brenner was named director of public affairs at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2004. He is a former journalist whose government career includes stints as a speechwriter to three Cabinet secretaries in two administrations and spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration during a period of high-profile plane crashes. His private-sector experience includes managing public affairs for Boeing's post-Sept. 11 airport-security project for the Transportation Security Administration. He attended Oxford College of Emory University and graduated from Georgia State University with a degree in journalism. Brenner is a private pilot and co-author of Desert Storm: The Weapons of War.

Gregory Brown
Event: Thursday, Tour 4, A National Treasure at Peril — the Blue Ridge Parkway

Gregory Brown retired as dean, College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech University in October 2004, and subsequently moved with his wife to Asheville, NC, near the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) Headquarters. Greg has degrees from Iowa State University, Yale University and Duke University in forestry and plant physiology. His career following graduate school spanned 41 years, beginning at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, and included five universities in teaching, research and academic administration. As vice president of the FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway's Board, he utilizes his experience in natural resource science and management to assist the BRP in achieving its goals.

James Bruggers
Events:
Wednesday, Covering Climate Change and Our Energy Future in Rural America, Reporters and Editors Roundtable, 3:40 p.m.
Thursday, Tour 1, Almost Level 1: Cutting Down Mountains for Coal
Friday, Network Lunch 24, SEJ 2010 — Missoula, Montana, 1:15 p.m.

James Bruggers, an SEJ board member, covers environmental topics for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal in Kentucky and served as SEJ president from October 2000 through October 2002. He's been a professional journalist since 1982, working in Montana, Alaska, Washington, California and Kentucky, and an SEJ board member since 1997. In 1998-99, he was awarded a year on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus as Michigan Journalism Fellow. Bruggers has won numerous reporting awards. His report on railroad workers and brain damage was a top-ten finalist in the public service category of the 2001 Associated Press Managing Editors national contest. And in 2004, he won the Thomas Stokes Award, the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation's Excellence in Journalism Award, and two Best-of-Gannett awards for the series, "Toxic Air: Lingering Health Menace." Bruggers is a graduate of the forestry and journalism programs at the University of Montana, where he also earned an M.S. in environmental studies. He also writes a blog, Watchdog Earth.

Robert Bullard
Events:
Saturday, Breakfast Plenary, Environmental Justice and the Poor, 7:30 a.m.
Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, THE NATION: Diversity and Environmental Journalism, 9:00 a.m.

Robert Bullard is considered the "father of environmental justice." Author of 14 books on that and related subjects, he has been featured on CNN as one of its "People You Should Know." He founded and directs the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. Bullard also is the Ware Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the Atlanta school. He is completing a book, "Deadly Waiting Game Beyond Hurricane Katrina: Government Response, Unnatural Disasters, and African Americans."

James Burger
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, COAL: Beyond Coal: Strategies for Appalachian Reclamation and Renewal, 10:45 a.m.

James A. Burger is Garland Gray Professor of Forestry and Soil Science at Virginia Tech. He teaches and does research on topics including forest soils, silviculture, and forest and restoration ecology. He has been involved in reclamation research and applications for the past 29 years in the Appalachian coalfield region where he specializes in mined land reclamation for forestry land uses. Burger's many publications have changed the way soils and forests are restored after mining and have been incorporated in many state agency regulations and guidelines for reclamation. His many awards and appointments include his election as a fellow to the Soil Science Society of America.

Jeff Burnside
Events:
Wednesday, SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment, 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Cousteaus: Continuing a Legacy (Documentary Sneak Peek), 9:15 p.m.

Jeff Burnside is an SEJ board member, and part of the Special Projects Unit at WTVJ in Miami. Jeff broke the story regarding harm to marine mammals from low frequency active Navy sonar, documented concerns over rock mining threats to Miami-Dade wellheads where a million people get their drinking water, has traveled extensively to cover the decline of the world's coral reefs, and ventured to the bottom of the ocean aboard a scientific submersible during bioprospecting and chronicling the damage from bottom trawling. Burnside's investigative reporting recently won a national IRE certificate, a National Press Club award, and a Clarion award.

Theresa Burriss
Events:
Thursday, Tour 1, Almost Level 1: Cutting Down Mountains for Coal
Sunday, Breakout Author Session 1, Finding a Sense of Place: Appalachia in Literature and Journalism, 9:45 a.m.

Theresa L. Burriss is the director of the Radford University Learning Assistance and Resource Center and assistant professor of English and Appalachian studies. Burriss serves as the contributing senior editor of Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture. Her articles have appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Appalachian Journal, Appalachian Voice and The New River Voice. She's working on a project titled Women of Change, Women of Courage: Appalachian Activists.

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C

Dina Cappiello
Events:
Thursday, Tour 6, Journey Down the James
Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, ENERGY: Energy 101: A Primer for Reporters, 2:45 p.m.

Dina Cappiello, an SEJ board member, covers EPA, Interior, energy and environment out of Washington, DC for The Associated Press. Previously, she reported for ClimateWire and covered energy policy and climate change for Congressional Quarterly in DC. Prior to joining CQ, Cappiello was the environment writer for the Houston Chronicle, where her 2005 investigative series "In Harm's Way," which documented the risk industrial pollution poses to fence-line communities, won SEJ's Kevin Carmody Award for Investigative Reporting, Print, was a finalist for the Edward J. Meeman award, and was featured on PBS' Expose: America's Investigative Reports. In 2006, Ms. Cappiello was named the best specialty reporter in Texas. Before Houston, Cappiello reported on environmental issues for the Albany Times Union in upstate New York. Her work on acid rain and dredging PCBs from the Hudson River there resulted in her being named a finalist for the John B. Oakes Award twice, and a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. In 2001, Cappiello was named the Young Journalist of the Year by the New York State Associated Press Association. Cappiello holds masters' degrees in environmental science and journalism from Columbia University, and a bachelor's degree in biology from Georgetown University.

Scot Case
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, ENERGY: Must We Grow? The Tensions Between Consumerism and Saving the Planet, 10:45 a.m.

Scot Case is an internationally recognized expert on responsible sourcing, green supply chains and environmental marketing. As vice president of TerraChoice, Case helps connect retailers and consumers seeking more environmentally and socially responsible products with the manufacturers supplying them. He has delivered more than 250 keynote speeches, full-day training sessions and presentations throughout the United States and abroad. Among his published works, Scot has co-authored the Six Sins of Greenwashing report.

Jim Chamberlain
Event: Thursday, Tour 2, What Are Forests Worth? What Are They For? Can We Sustain Them?

Dr. Jim Chamberlain has focused his professional attention for the last 30+ years on forestry, forest management, forest products and natural resource issues. As a research scientist with the National Agroforestry Center of the USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, he is managing and building a forest farming research and development program focused on native plants that are harvested for non-timber products. His particular interests include sustainable production and harvest of non-timber forest products under natural forest management, as well as agroforestry. Chamberlain holds degrees from Paul Smith's College, SUNY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Yale, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and Virginia Tech.

Lynne Cherry
Event: Friday, Network Lunch 21, Kids and Carbon, 1:15 p.m.

Lynne Cherry is the author and/or illustrator of over 30 award-winning books for children. Her books, including The Greak Kapok Tree, A River Ran Wild and The Armadillo from Amarillo, teach children a respect for the earth.

Kristin Choo
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, THE CLIMATE: Rough Road Ahead: Preparing for Climate Change, 9:00 a.m.

Kristin Choo is a freelancer and a graduate of the Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program in the Department of Journalism at New York University. Her work has been published in the ABA Journal, and numerous magazines and newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, the Hong Kong Standard, and New Scientist, primarily focusing on the intersection of science and law. Her recent work includes features on avian flu, global warming and pharmacogenomics. Choo is particularly concerned with the legal aspects of stem cell research, and the future development of a framework for the growing science.

Ken Cook
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, THE CRAFT: Getting the Goods: Using Court Records for Environmental Investigations, 9:00 a.m.

Ken Cook, a resident of Washington, D.C., is president and co-founder, in 1993, of the Environmental Working Group. He is the author of dozens of articles, opinion pieces and reports on environmental, public health and agricultural topics. Cook earned B.A., B.S., and M.S. degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Alexandra Cousteau
Events:
Wednesday, SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment, 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Cousteaus: Continuing a Legacy (Documentary Sneak Peek), 9:15 p.m.

Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of ocean chronicler Jacques-Yves Cousteau, is co-founder and board member of EarthEcho International, a nonprofit organization that creates media to encourage protection of the world's oceans and fresh waters. She has been named one of National Geographic's Class of 2008 "Emerging Explorers," a program comprising 11 people who have pushed the envelope in trying to solve the world's problems through discovery and adventure. She also founded Blue Legacy, a nonprofit water advocacy organization.

Philippe Cousteau
Events:
Wednesday, SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment, 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Cousteaus: Continuing a Legacy (Documentary Sneak Peek), 9:15 p.m.

Philippe Cousteau, grandson of ocean chronicler Jacques-Yves Cousteau, is co-founder, chief executive officer, president and board member of EarthEcho International. It is a nonprofit organization that uses media to encourage protection of the world's oceans and fresh waters. He also is chief ocean correspondent for the Discovery Channel show, Animal Planet. He serves on the boards of various environmental groups.

Brian Czech
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, ENERGY: Must We Grow? The Tensions Between Consumerism and Saving the Planet, 10:45 a.m.

Brian Czech is president of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, a non-profit organization dedicated to education and research on the conflicts between economic growth and environmental protection, national security and international stability. He is a visiting professor at Virginia Tech and a conservation biologist with the U.S. government. Czech is the author of two books, Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train and (with Paul R. Krausman) The Endangered Species Act: History, Conservation Biology, and Public Policy. Czech has helped in getting the natural-resources professions engaged in ecological economics and macroeconomic policy issues.

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