Speakers

William Dembski

Associate Research Professor, Baylor University
Senior fellow, Discovery Institute
Executive Director for the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design
Ph.D., in Math, University of Chicago
Ph.D., in Philosophy, University of Illinois, Chicago
M.Div. from the Princeton Theological Seminary

Dr. Dembski has published articles in mathematics, philosophy, and theology journals and is the author/editor of seven books including The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance Through Small Probabilities, Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science and Philosophy, and No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased Without Intelligence. Dr. Dembski is currently co-editing a book with Michael Ruse for Cambridge University Press titled Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA.

Henry "Fritz" Schaefer III*

Director, Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry, University of Georgia
Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry
Ph.D., in Chemical Physics, Stanford University

Henry Schaefer III is a five-time nominee for the Nobel Prize. His awards include the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry, American Chemical Society Leo Hendrik Baekeland Award, the Schroedinger Medal, and the Centenary Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is the recipient of nine honorary degrees, with two more scheduled. Dr. Schaefer has lectured on the relationship between science and religion to most major universities in North America, and universities in Asia, Europe and the East. Dr. Schafer is the Editor-in-Chief of the London-based journal Molecular Physics and President of the World Association of Theoretically Oriented Chemists. Dr. Schaefer is the author of more than 975 scientific publications. He has been invited to present plenary lectures at more than 180 national or international scientific conferences.

Phillip Johnson

Jefferson E. Peyser Professor of Law Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
J.D., University of Chicago

Phillip E. Johnson served as a law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court and has taught law for more than thirty years since at the University of California, Berkeley. For the last decade he has also been at the forefront of the public debate over evolution and creation. He is recognized as the leading spokesman for the intelligent design movement, and he has taken his message to such places as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Johnson travels frequently to speak at conferences and with television and radio audiences.

Michael Ruse

Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University
Ph.D., in Philosophy, University of Bristol

Michael Ruse, formerly Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph in Canada, specializes in philosophy of biology (especially Darwinism), ethics, and the history and philosophy of science. In addition to his numerous publications in these areas, Dr. Ruse served as an expert witness in the Arkansas creationism trial of 1981. He is the author of eight books, including Darwin and Design: Does Evolution Have a Purpose? (Harvard University Press), and is the founder of the journal Biology and Philosophy.

Michael Behe

Professor of biochemistry, Lehigh University
Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute
Ph.D., in Biochemistry, University of Pennsylvania

Michael Behe has authored over 40 technical papers and one book, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, which argues that living system at the molecular level are best explained as being the result of deliberate intelligent design. Darwin’s Black Box has been reviewed by the New York Times, Nature, Philosophy of Science, Christianity Today, and over one hundred other periodicals.

William Provine

Professor of the History of Biology, Cornell University
Charles A. Alexander Professor of Biological Sciences, Cornell University
Ph.D., University of Chicago

William Provine began his career at Cornell as Assistant Professor of History in 1969, joined the Division of Biological Sciences in 1974, and became a member of the Section of Ecology and Systematics in 1986. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has held a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1988 he won Cornell's Clark Distinguished Teaching Award. His publications include The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics, and The Evolutionary Synthesis co-edited with E.Mayer.

Stephen Meyer

Director and Senior Fellow of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute
Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University

Dr. Meyer has recently co-written or edited two books: Darwinism, Design, and Public Education with Michigan State University Press and Science and Evidence of Design in the Universe. He has also authored numerous technical articles as well as editorials in magazines and newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, First Things and National Review. Previously, he has worked as a geophysicist with the Atlantic Richfield Company after earning his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Geology.

Jed Macosko

Fellow, Discovery Institute
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Macosko has been awarded MIT's Merck award for academic excellence, Admiral Rickover's medal of honor for exemplary research, and two of NIH's competitive research grants. He has done NIH-sponsored postdoctoral research in the field of molecular and cell biology, and he has taught at La Sierra University and Wheaton College. Currently, Dr. Macosko is studying life's molecular machines as a Discovery Institute Fellow at the University of New Mexico.

John Bloom

Director of Masters of the Arts in Science and Religion, Biola University
Professor of Physics, Biola University
Ph.D., in Physics, Cornell University
Ph.D., in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Annenberg Research Institute

John Bloom is currently the director of the Masters of the Arts in Science and Religion program at Biola. He has written articles such as On Human Origins: A Survey, Why Isn't the Evidence Clearer?, and Finding Truth in Religion: Is There a Factual Basis?.

J.P. Moreland

Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
Ph.D., in Philosophy, University of Southern California

With degrees in philosophy, theology and chemistry, Dr. Moreland has taught theology and philosophy at a number of schools throughout the U.S. He has authored or contributed to forty books including Christianity and the Nature of Science, Scaling the Secular City, Does God Exist?, and Love God with all Your Mind. He has written over sixty articles. Dr. Moreland served with Campus Crusade for 10 years, planted two churches, and has spoken to over a hundred college campuses.

Fazale Rana

Vice President of Science Apologetics, Reasons to Believe
Ph.D., in Chemistry, Ohio University

Dr. Rana is the two time winner of the Don Clippinger Research Award at Ohio University. Dr. Rana has published more than 15 journal articles and has co-authored a chapter in Biological and Synthetic Membra. His research interests are in biochemistry and the origins of life. Dr. Rana has spoken at numerous scientific events, universities, business forums, courtrooms, radio, and television.

Paul Nelson

Ph.D., in Philosophy, University of Chicago

Paul Nelson has published articles in such journals as Biology & Philosophy, Zygon, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, and Touchstone, and chapters in the anthologies Mere Creation, Signs of Intelligence, and Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics. His forthcoming monograph, On Common Descent, critically evaluates the theory of common descent, and is being edited for the series Evolutionary Monographs. He is currently collaborating with Stephen Meyer and William Dembski on a book formulating a scientific theory of biological design.

Michael Keas

Associate Professor of Natural Science at Oklahoma Baptist University
Ph.D., in History of Science, University of Oklahoma

Michael Newton Keas investigates how the history, philosophy, and rhetoric of science can improve science education and a liberal arts understanding of science itself. His independent and collaborative academic projects have received funding from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies. He has contributed articles to several scholarly anthologies and journals, including the American Chemical Society's Nobel Laureates in Chemistry (1901-1992) and the German centennial of A. W. Hofmann's death, Die Allianz von Wissenschaft und Industrie: August Wilhelm Hofmann (1818-1892).

Jonathan Witt

Associate Professor, Lubbock Christian University
Fellow, Discovery Institute
Ph.D. in Literary Studies, University of Kansas

Jonathan Witt has edited several book manuscripts for Discovery Institute Fellows, and is co-writing a screenplay for the documentary version of The Privileged Planet. His own research explores the concept of God as the artist of creation, with an emphasis on refuting naturalism's aesthetic case against a creator. He has published fiction as well as articles on the intersection of literary aesthetics and ethics.

Francis Beckwith

Associate Director, J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University
Associate Professor, Church-State Studies, Baylor University
Member of Princeton's James Madison Program Council on Moral and Political Thought
Ph.D. in Philosophy, Fordham University
M.J.S., Washington University School of Law, St. Louis

Dr. Beckwith is the author or editor of overone-dozen books including Law, Darwinism, & Public Education: TheEstablishment Clause and the Challenge of Intelligent Design, andPolitically Correct Death: Answering the Arguments for Abortion Rights.His articles have been published in a number of academic journals,including Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy; Notre Dame Journal ofLaw, Ethics & Public Policy, Journal of Social Philosophy, InternationalPhilosophical Quarterly; Public Affairs Quarterly; San Diego Law Review;and Philosophia Christi.

Jonathan Wells

Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute
Ph.D., in Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley
Ph.D., in Religious Studies, Yale University

Dr. Wells supervised a medical laboratory in Fairfield, California, and he has taught biology at California State University in Hayward. Dr. Wells has published articles in Development, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, BioSystems, The Scientist and The American Biology Teacher. He is also author of Charles Hodge's Critique of Darwinism (Edwin Mellen Press, 1988) and Icons of Evolution: Why much of what we teach about evolution is wrong (Regnery Publishing, 2000). Dr. Wells is currently working on a book criticizing the over-emphasis on genes in biology and medicine.

Fred Hereen

President of Day Star Research
Author and Editor of Cosmic Pursuit magazine

Fred Heeren is the author of an important apologetics book on modern cosmology, Show Me God and has written numerous articles for publications such as The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal and Evolution and Cognition, the journal of Austria’s Konrad Lorenz Institute.

Marcus Ross

Marcus R. Ross is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Geosciences at the University of Rhode Island. His research involves exploring the patterns of evolutionary history, diversity, and extinction in mosasaurs. He received a B.S. in Earth Science from the Pennsylvania State University and a M.S. in Paleontology from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Robin Collins

Winner of a Pew Evangelical Scholars Fellowship, 1999-2000
Fellow, Discovery Institute, 1997 -2004
Fellow, Center for Philosophy of Religion, Notre Dame, Spring 2003
Ph.D., in Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

Robin Collins teaches at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania where he is an associate professor of philosophy. He has around twenty articles/book chapters published, many of which have focused on how the fundamental findings of cosmology and fundamental physics provide evidence for design. He is currently completing a book on the argument for design from physics and cosmology tentatively entitled The Well-Tempered Universe: God, Cosmic Fine-Tuning, and the Laws of Nature.

Guillermo Gonzales

Assistant Research Professor of Astronomy, Iowa State University
Ph.D., in Astronomy, University of Washington

Dr. Gonzalez has extensive experience in observing and analyzing data from ground-based observatories, including work at McDonald Observatory, Apache Point Observatory and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory. He has also published over sixty articles in refereed astronomy and astrophysical journals including Astronomy and Astrophysics, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Astrophysical Journal and Solar Physics. His current research interest in astrobiology focuses on the "Galactic Habitable Zone" and captured the October 2001 cover story of Scientific American.

Walter Bradley

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University
Elected Research Fellow, American Society of Materials
Fellow of the International Society for Complexity Information and Design
Ph.D., in Materials Science, University of Texas in Austin

Dr. Bradley works in the field of fracture, fracture mechanics, life-time prediction, and failure analysis. In addition to publishing over 140 technical articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings on materials science and engineering, he has co-authored several works, including an article in the journal The Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere and the book The Mystery of Life's Origin, the best-selling advanced level text on the origin of life.

Jay Richards

Vice President & Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute
Ph.D., with honors in Philosophy and Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary

From 1996-1998, Dr. Richards was executive and associate editor of The Princeton Theological Review, and president of the Charles Hodge Society at Princeton Theological Seminary. He has published in numerous academic journals, as well as editorial features in The Washington Post, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and IntellectualCapital.com.
He is editor and contributor, with William A. Dembski, of Unapologetic Apologetics: Meeting the Challenges of Theological Studies , co-author, with astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, of the upcoming book The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery and author of The Untamed God: A Philosophical Exploration of Divine Perfection, Immutability, and Simplicity .

Hugh Ross

Founder and President, Reasons To Believe
Lecturer, Simon Greenleaf Institute of Apologetics, Trinity Law School
Ph.D., in Astronomy, University of Toronto

Dr. Ross’ interest in science began with an interest in Physics and Astronomy. Dr. Ross has written or co-authored 10 books including Beyond the Cosmos: What Recent Discoveries in Astronomy and Physics Reveal About the Nature of God, Origins of Life, Matter of Days. He has written more than 50 papers on science-and-faith issues. Dr. Ross’ unshakable confidence that God's revelation of Himself in Scripture and nature do not, will not, and cannot contradict became his unique message. He is able to present a persuasive case for Christianity without applying pressure. Because he treats people's questions and comments with respect, he is in great demand as a speaker and as a talk-radio and television guest. His website, www.reasons.org, has won several awards. He has been invited to speak at about a hundred campuses worldwide.

Lee Strobel

M.S. in Law, Yale University

Lee Strobel was an award-winning journalist for thirteen years with the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers. Author of the Gold medallion Award-winning books The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith, he is a teaching pastor at Saddleback Valley Community Church.

Nancy Pearcey

Francis A. Schaeffer Scholar, World Journalism Institute
Visiting scholar, Torrey Honors Institute
Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute

Mrs. Pearcey is a frequent speaker at conferences and Christian colleges, and has been writing on science and Christian worldview since 1977. In 1991, she became the founding editor of BreakPoint, a daily syndicated radio commentary, and was executive editor of the program for nearly nine years. Her books include How Now Shall We Live?, The Soul of Science, and a forthcoming book titled Set the Gospel Free: The Transforming Power of a Christian Worldview (Crossway: January 2004).

Richard Weikart

Associate Professor of History at California State University, Stanislaus
Ph.D., in Modern European History, University of Iowa

Richard Weikart received the biennial prize of the Forum for History of Human Sciences for the best dissertation in that field. With an extensive background in modern German and modern European intellectual history, he has published articles in journals such as Isis, Journal of the History of Ideas, German Studies Review, History of European Ideas, European Legacy, and Fides et Historia. One such article received the Selma V. Forkosch Prize for the best article in 1993 in the Journal of the History of Ideas. His book, From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany, which documents the influence of naturalistic evolution on ethical thought, euthanasia, militarism, and racism—and ultimately Hitler's ideology—will appear with Palgrave Macmillan in the spring of 2004. For more information on this book, go to: From Darwin to Hitler .

Craig Hazen

Director of MA program in Christian Apologetics, Biola University
Associate Professor of Comparative Religion and Apologetics
Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara.

Craig Hazen is the author of the book The Village Enlightenment in America and a number of articles such as Science Never Fails, The Origins of American Metaphysical Religion, and God and the Law. He is also the editor of Philosophia Christi , the journal of the Evangelical Philosophical Society.

John-Mark Reynolds

Founder and Director, Torrey Honors Institute
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Biola University
Ph.D., in Philosophy, University of Rochester

Dr. Reynolds frequently lectures on ancient philosophy, philosophy of science, home-schooling and cultural trends. His first book, Maker of Heaven and Earth: Three Views on the Creation and Evolution Debate, was co-authored with J.P. Moreland. He has written several technical articles in philosophy of religion and several articles in journals such as the New Oxford Review and Touchstone.

John Calvert

Managing Director, Intelligent Design Network
J.D., University of Missouri School of Law

John Calvert has recently focused his legal practice on constitutional requirements for teaching origins science in public schools. He has been actively involved in the debate all over the U.S. on the definition of science and the content of Science Education Standards. He is the co-author with William S. Harris of: Teaching Origins Science in Public Schools and Intelligent Design: The Scientific Alternative to Evolution.

Seth Cooper

Program Officer, Public Policy & Legal Affairs
Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture
J.D., Seattle University School of Law
B.A., Pacific Lutheran University