Claude Guet
Deputy to the High Commissioner for Atomic Energy CEA (French Atomic Energy Commission)

Claude Guet is the head of staff of the French High Commissioner for Atomic Energy and a director within the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA). Before joining the High Commissioner Office (2006), he was the scientific director of the defense pole of CEA. Previously, he served as the head of the Department of Theoretical and Applied Physics at CEA. Holding a doctorat d’état (habilitation, 1979) he successively conducted his research activities at Institut Laue Langevin (Grenoble, 1973-79), Institute of Theoretical Physics at Regensburg (1979-81), CEA-Grenoble (1981-1985, 1989-2000), and Grand Accélérateur National d’Ions Lourds (GANIL, Caen, 1985-89), with medium-term stays at different institutes, including Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Institute for Nuclear Theory at Seattle, Institute for Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics at Harvard, and Yukawa Institute of Theoretical Physics at Kyoto. The unifying theme of his research work has been the physics of quantum finite systems, with experimental and theoretical contributions in low and medium energy nuclear physics, atomic physics, and physics of atomic clusters and nanoparticles. He has supervised 11 PhD students and has more than 150 publications and more than 3300 citations.

Chaim Braun
Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) Stanford University

Chaim Braun is a vice president of Altos Management Partners, Inc., a CISAC science fellow and affiliate, and a member of the Near-Term Deployment and the Economic Cross-Cut Working Groups of the Department of Energy (DOE) Generation IV Roadmap study. He has worked as a member of Bechtel Power Corporation's Nuclear Management Group, and led studies on power plant performance and economics used to support maintenance services. He also was the co-leader of a NATO Study of Terrorist Threats to Nuclear Power Plants, led CISAC's Summer Study on Terrorist Threats to Research Reactors, and most recently co-authored an article with former CISAC Co-Director Chris Chyba on nuclear proliferation rings.

Thomas B. Cochran
Senior Scientist, Nuclear Program
National Resources Defense Council

Thomas B. Cochran, the Wade Greene Chair for Nuclear Policy, is a nuclear physicist and senior scientist in NRDC's nuclear program, as well as the author or co-author of several books and numerous articles on nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear energy. He received his doctorate from Vanderbilt University in 1967 and has been with NRDC since 1973. Cochran is currently a member of the Department of Energy's nuclear energy research advisory committee and has served on a number of government and non-government advisory committees. He has received the American Physical Society's Szilard Award (1987) and the Federation of American Scientists' Public Service Award (1987). He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Rodney C. Ewing
Professor, Dept. of Geological Sciences
University of Michigan

Rod Ewing is the Donald R. Peacor Collegiate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Michigan, with faculty appointments in the Departments of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences and Materials Science & Engineering. Over the past thirty years, his broadly based research program on radiation effects in complex ceramic materials has led to the development of techniques to predict the long-term behavior of materials, such as those used in radioactive waste disposal. Ewing is the author or co-author of over 500 research publications and founding Editor of the magazine, Elements. He has been granted a patent for the development of a highly durable material for the immobilization of excess weapons plutonium. He is a fellow of the Geological Society of America, Mineralogical Society of America, American Geophysical Union, American Ceramic Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Materials Research Society.

Ira Flatow is the host of NPR's Talk Of The Nation: Science Friday. He anchors the show each Friday, bringing radio and Internet listeners world wide a lively, informative discussion on science, technology, health, space and the environment. Ira is president of ScienceFriday, Inc. and founder and president of TalkingScience, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit company dedicated to creating radio, TV and Internet projects that make science “user friendly.”

He has shared that enthusiasm with public radio and TV fans for more than 35 years. His most recent book is entitled Present At The Future.

His numerous TV credits include six years as host and writer for the Emmy-award-winning Newton's Apple on PBS and science reporter for CBS This Morning. He wrote, produced and hosted Transistorized!, an hour-long PBS documentary about the history of the transistor, which aired on PBS. He is also host of the four-part PBS series Big Ideas.

Michael Mayfield
Director, Division of Engineering
Office of New Reactors
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Michael Mayfield is the manager responsible for the hardware engineering aspects of design certifications and licensing reviews for new reactor designs under consideration by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He has worked as a researcher, a research project manager, and as a supervisor and manager of engineers for over 30 years, first in private industry and since 1985 with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He has been involved with and led materials engineering projects in both the national and international community, working extensively with both the OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency.