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Significantly mixed.The overall impacts of charter schools are in some ways quite positive, and in some ways extremely negative.Separating Good Schools from Bad SchoolsIt’s important to first note that a charter school is not the same as a private school. Charter schools are public schools; they cannot charge tuition, are subject to church-state issues that parochial or private schools are not, cannot require entrance exams, and must participate in required state testing where private schools do not.However, there is incredible variability to how charter schools are organized, run, held accountable, funded, accept students, create and use curriculum, and more.I have a friend who works for Etude High School, a public charter school in Wisconsin. It’s a great learning environment that very much differs from the rigid sit-and-learn methods of traditional schools. It’s a project-based learning, discovery-focused model that allows a lot of work-at-your-own-pace education and challenges students to apply cross-disciplinary skills in every aspect of their education. It’s doing some incredibly innovative education, and it’s been quite successful. My friend has been there for six years and loves it. His students have gone on to be quite successful.Other charter schools fail spectacularly. A recent study found that many online-based charter schools fail to graduate even half of their students. Numerous charter schools have closed mid-year and without warning, leaving students, parents, and even teachers stranded in the middle of a school year with limited options.What divides the two?Largely accountability, organization, and effective resourcing.Some charter schools are “schools within a school,” or otherwise organized under the main public district, and overseen by the district’s publicly elected school board.These can vary from entirely separate “alternative schools” that follow specialized or experimental educational structures, such as Etude, to specific, isolated programs that operate in the same buildings as the regular schools.For example, a nearby city to where I grew up operates an alternative school for students who might otherwise drop out due to teen pregnancy, disciplinary issues, work schedules, and more. The dedicated building is open longer hours (7am to 7pm,) with teachers that operate more on shifts than a traditional school. The school has built-in child care for single teen parents. It is focused on a traditional high school diploma and not just a GED. It doesn’t generally offer extracurricular activities, though students can enroll in those with the main school. (Most don’t.)In contrast, a friend of mine from college who taught English for a number of years was tapped to run an isolated, dedicated program within her school that she created from the ground up for at-risk students who just couldn’t operate in a traditional educational framework. She was essentially her own principal, though she officially reported to the principal of the high school on the organization chart. (She’s been incredibly successful and recently was a presenter at a multi-state regional conference on educational innovation.) This program co-ordinates with traditional classes, replacing most entirely, but still operates within the same school.Both of these charter schools are funded by need. They receive state aid per pupil like public schools, but they also receive grants for specific programs and specific activities. Etude works with a number of local manufacturers who sponsor various projects, extracurricular activities, and courses that work in conjunction with their businesses where students learn to apply their school work to real-world applications.Both of these are accountable to the local public school board. Their books are public record and overseen by the district administration.Other charter schools are privately owned, for-profit organizations, and operate on a contract with local districts. These receive public funding, but are not directly overseen by the public school board. These schools receive grants, local, state, and federal, ranging from the standard state aid per pupil to specific grants for technology, curriculum, or personnel, to undedicated blocks of straight cash to be used as the school sees fit.Some of these are successful. There are numerous privately-run for-profit Montessori schools that operate on contracts with districts to ensure that program graduates can easily transfer right into the public school’s curriculum, and many of these are very successful.Others are essentially nothing more than get-rich-quick schemes or other criminal enterprises by organizers, just as they are in higher education. The fact that they operate on contracts with sometimes little or even no oversight from the public also opens them up to incredible waste, fraud, and abuse. Over a six-year period spanning both the Bush and Obama administrations, the Federal government alone investigated 53 charter schools that resulted in 21 indictments and 17 convictions.Steven Cox, a former insurance executive and the founder of the now-defunct California Charter Academy, at one point the largest chain of charter schools in the country, was indicted on 56 counts of misappropriation and theft for trips to Disneyland and stealing $42,000 from the school to pay his personal income taxes. Eleven years later, Cox’s case still has not been resolved as he continues to use his fortune to litigate it. Horizon Academy in Cincinnati essentially operated as a front for an immigration fraud ring for several years as the founder used it to get work visas for Turkish nationals with absolutely no background in education. The CEO of Philadelphia Academy Charter School admitted to stealing approximately a half a million dollars from the school in part through raiding its vending machines.These schools operate on loose contracts with little to no accountability to the public other than being required to publish graduation rates and test scores. They can often operate for years bilking the public before closing, sometimes abruptly, and absconding with the funds.Positive Charter School Models and OpportunitiesWhere schools are effectively resourced based on demonstrated need, and are publicly accountable just as the traditional public school, charter schools may be quite effective. They can be testbeds for new educational practices and reforms, or offer alternatives for students who need different educational models from their peers.Charter schools might be a great way to differentiate education or provide specialized educational applications, such as in-depth vocational education. Imagine if a student graduated high school ready or significantly far along the track to becoming a journeyman carpenter or a licensed electrician. While requiring specialization through tracked education may not be practical or even desirable (look at me, I was going to be an astrophysicist when I started undergraduate,) offering the opportunities might be quite beneficial.Offering this kind of differentiated education is already a goal of most public schools. However, a charter school with a specific mission, as opposed to the more general liberal arts education of a traditional K-12 school, could provide a more focused differentiated education that goes in-depth on a particular area, rather than more broadly on several disciplines.There are positives and negatives to this. A more well-rounded education has proven itself over time to benefit a person over their whole life. I had a poster up on my wall when I taught that had a picture of scientists running away from dinosaurs that read, “Science will teach you how to clone a T-Rex. Humanities will teach you why it’s a bad idea.”Now, a charter school could have a liberal arts education that is still focused on a certain topic. A charter school focused on churning out STEM educated graduates, for example, may have just as much focus on literature and art and music, but from an engineering perspective. The band students might take more time to learn acoustical physics or metallurgy for better instruments. The literature may focus slightly more heavily on technical documents and scientific literacy, but also include fiction geared towards engineering types. The math might be more practical-application-based.The Perception of Failing Public Schools and The Rise of ConsumerismJon Stewart hosted educational reformer Diane Ravitch several times on his show. Ravitch noted on multiple occasions that the majority of U.S. adults have bought into the narrative that public schools are failing. International benchmark test scores continue to fall for U.S. students, for example. Advocacy documentaries such as Waiting for Superman paint the public schools as a broken system where teachers’ unions continue to drive a status-quo at the expense of children, and charter schools as the revolution in education that would shake up the industry with competition and reform that public schools lack, but limited by lottery systems leaving the unlucky trapped.Yet, Ravitch also noted that on the whole, most U.S. voters surveyed also believe that their local public school is good and successful.Jon Stewart: These areas, so the families in these areas, because this gets into another issue you bring up in the book [Reign of Error]. The families in this area are rightly concerned with the performance of some of the public schools in their area. These schools can be dilapidated, they can be poorly performing and these types of things. There is this movement and the charter movement that says ‘what’s wrong with giving choice to those kids in those areas?’ because the schools around them are not are not serving their needs. What is wrong with that in your mind?Diane Ravitch: Well, what’s wrong with it is that there, it is part of, I believe, a purposeful effort to create a consumer mentality around education. Public education is the public responsibility. Whether you send your children to private schools, or to a religious school, or you home school them, that’s your right. And if you have no children at all, you’re still obligated to support public education. What they’re trying to do is to say that public education is not public, it’s a choice, it’s a consumer choice. They’re trying to destroy the sense of civic obligation so the next time there’s a…JS: So, turn it into a marketplace?DR: Yes, a marketplace, exactly. So, the next time a bond issue is up, you will say ‘well, I don’t have a child in school. I’m not going to vote for the bond issue.’ We’re going to destroy public education that way. . . . I think it’s all wrong. I think that the idea of you look on your school, you go shopping and you pick your school the way you pick your shoes or your automobile, that is wrong too. People should have a good neighborhood school in every neighborhood. One where they are very happy to send their kids because they know the teachers are terrific. The funny thing is if you look at poll data from Gallup, what it shows is if people are asked how is American education doing, they’ve heard thirty years of American education is broken, it doesn’t work, it’s obsolete, so they say ‘oh, American public education, no good.’ How is your school, how is your neighborhood school? ‘Oh, my neighborhood school is terrific. My teachers are great. I love my teachers.’JS: But it is like Congress, you could look at that, too, the same way. Oh, my Congressman is okay, but the institution – it does have issues… [laughter].The increasing narrative of “school choice” around charter schools continues to create a false premise of the consumer mentality towards education; we pay for the educational system, and so we ought to get what we pay for. And if we don’t like the results, we ought to buy something else.Yet, public schools are not allowed in many cases to compete on the same level playing field as private schools or even charter schools.Public schools are reliant on taxes, and obviously, few people really like paying more in taxes. They see their property tax levies as directly funding the schools. They often don’t think about those taxes also funding police, fire, and EMS services. So, when the municipality suggests raising taxes again, adding another bonding bill to the budget, passing another referendum, it gets voted down, often by those who no longer have children in the district.This happens because we’ve bought into this business-consumerism model of education rather than funding it as a public trust for everyone. It used to be that we all understood it was a public trust; even if you didn’t have kids in the school, it was important to fund it for everyone because it makes the public better off.As John Green notes:Public education does not exist for the benefit of students or the benefit of their parents. It exists for the benefit of the social order.We have discovered as a species that it is useful to have an educated population. You do not need to be a student or have a child who is a student to benefit from public education. Every second of every day of your life, you benefit from public education.So let me explain why I like to pay taxes for schools, even though I don't personally have a kid in school: It's because I don't like living in a country with a bunch of stupid people.Consumerism takes the approach that whatever is good for the individual is good for society. This is the absolute worst approach to something like education, and really even good governance or society.Civic Responsibility and Pride, and How That Impacts Government - Including Public EducationEducation is one of the great equalizers of humanity, and it was for that precise reason that the United States was one of the earliest innovators in providing a free, public education to every citizen, even mandating compulsory attendance. We were one of the first countries to achieve a >90% literacy rate.We did so because of the idea of civic responsibility for one another: that if we all contribute to the public good, we all receive back something greater than we put in.Education lifts millions out of poverty by creating a skilled workforce. That skilled workforce put a car in every driveway, a computer in everyone’s pocket, and a man on the Moon. The space program alone yielded innovations that dominate our daily lives ranging from memory foam to LASIK to infrared ear thermometers. It would not have been possible without a broad, skilled workforce, the product of public education.Whether it’s vocational education, professional education, or even general education, public education creates opportunities for every single person in the country to contribute to society. It was that kind of public access to education that turned the United States from a backwater rural agrarian society to the largest, most prosperous industrialized superpower in the world.And we took pride in that. We created state university systems that we wanted to become the envy of the world, publicly available to every citizen. We would produce the finest scientists and inventors and the world’s greatest artists. We would take pride in fostering the world’s greatest economy and the world’s greatest culture.We did that by investing in our people. Collectively. Public institutions would be cathedrals of civic pride. Public buildings such as schools and courthouses were marble and granite, built to last. They were also the centers of civic activity. The school was often the heart of the town, where meetings and debates and festivals and elections were held. The courthouse would be where critical matters of government would be decided and administered. These were buildings of respect, and everyone took pride in that. We built that.We don’t teach that kind of civic mentality anymore, not in our homes and not in our schools. Hell, we can’t even teach that in our schools anymore, because teachers would get fired for politicizing in the classroom.The school is not the center of civic life, because honestly, we no longer have a civic life.Consumerism has replaced that sense of civic responsibility to each other to make the nation better overall. Ayn Rand’s idea of selfishness as a virtue has become the guidestar of the nation: screw you, so long as I got mine.We no longer care about investing in society, trusting that we would reap the benefits. Instead, we only care about consuming from society; if we are not personally benefiting, then it must not be valuable.This is why, I firmly believe, it is so easy for certain people to believe in the idea of a “moocher class” of “welfare queens” who just exist to live fat off the public trough: it’s what they would do if they were allowed to. Why? Because they live from a mentality of consumerism, and not civic engagement.If we start from the premise that public schools are a public trust which we are all responsible for, the whole conversation changes. No longer is it about requiring education to fix itself by forcing it to compete over increasingly limited resources. Instead, it’s a matter of coming together as a culture to improve education. Every stakeholder has some degree of obligation, then.Some of it might be more funding. Maybe people without kids decide to invest their time in coaching. Maybe businesses do more joint ventures with the schools.Most of it is just shifting from an external locus of control to an internal locus of control.And that’s eminently evident in the overall impact of charter schools. The impact of charter schools is that they continue to further the mentality that other people are responsible for making a product that we want to buy and we’ll just keep demanding alternatives until we get what we want, rather than civic ownership of that product and collective work to improve it. If others are responsible for the quality control, then we as a society don’t have to have any responsibility for the outcomes.But if we are responsible for improving that product, that has a whole host of rather difficult implications for us. That’s going to require work.Look. If you want a better country, you have to be better citizens.That starts with understanding that in a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, the people are what make the difference. All of the people. Everyone is responsible for the public good. Everyone has to contribute and work at it.Charter schools are a cheap cop-out to avoid that responsibility. They continue to further an external locus of control that takes away the need for self-agency to work to improve the situation. Someone else can clean it up.Oh, we’ll pay for it. Grudgingly.So long as we don’t actually have to do anything.In BriefCharter schools do provide some valuable alternatives to traditional models of education, and testbeds for educational research. They can be excellent ways to differentiate student learning and provide unique opportunities for some students.They can also be incredibly detrimental to student outcomes and perpetuate a flagging sense of civic responsibility and a consumerist society that abdicates personal responsibility and self-agency for “more choices” and personal satisfaction.It’s difficult to say which of these impacts has the greater weight. Every situation in every place charter schools are implemented is different.Caveat emptor.Your mileage may vary.This is long and I didn’t add any pictures. Here. Have a baby raccoon.Mostly Standard Addendum and Disclaimer: read this before you comment.I welcome rational, reasoned debate on the merits with reliable, credible sources.But coming on here and calling me names, pissing and moaning about how biased I am, et cetera and BNBR violation and so forth, will result in a swift one-way frogmarch out the airlock. Doing the same to others will result in the same treatment.Essentially, act like an adult and don’t be a dick about it.Getting cute with me about my commenting rules and how my answer doesn’t follow my rules and blah, blah, whine, blah is getting old. Stay on topic or you’ll get to watch the debate from the outside.If you want to argue and you’re not sure how to not be a dick about it, just post a picture of a cute baby animal instead, all right? Your displeasure and disagreement will be duly noted. Pinkie swear.If you have to consider whether or not you’re over the line, the answer is most likely yes. I’ll just delete your comment and probably block you, and frankly, I won’t lose a minute of sleep over it.Debate responsibly.Thanks for the A2A, Habib.

Mr. Avinash P. GandhiMr. Avinash P. Gandhi received his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra and he has completed Senior Management programmes at Indian Institute of Management and Administration Staff College of India.Mr. Gandhi served as a Special Advisor to Asia Automotive Acquisition Corp. since June 20, 2005. From 1998 to 2002, Shri. Gandhi had been the President of Hyundai Motors India and from September 1994 to June 1997, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Bhartia Cutler Hammer (now a part of Eaton Corporation). From June 1997 to June 1998, Mr. Gandhi was Group Chief Executive of a Conglomerate of seven companies having tie-ups with leading global electrical products manufacturers.Mr. Avinash P. Gandhi has rich years of experience in engineering and various managerial positions. He held top leadership positions in prestigious organizations for nearly two decades in a professional career spanning forty years. From 1969 to 1994, he served in a number of positions with Tata Motors and Escorts Limited including that of Director on Board of Escorts Claas, a start up joint venture project with the largest Indian self propelled combine harvester company.Mr. Gandhi’s other positions of eminence include:The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fag Bearings India Ltd.Independent & Non-Executive Director of Havells India Ltd.Director of Uniproducts (India) Ltd.Member of Advisory Board of NuVeda Learning Pvt. Ltd.His other Directorship’s include Independent Lumax Industries Ltd., Fairfield Atlas Ltd., Panalfa Automotive Pvt. Ltd., Continental Engines Ltd., Mahavir Aluminium Limited, Minda HUF Ltd., Indo Alusys Ltd., Avinar Consulting Pvt. Ltd., Avinar Service Pvt. Ltd. and Pan Alfa Auto Ektrie Pvt. Ltd.Mr. S. N. AgarwalMr. S.N. Agarwal, a graduate engineer from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra and an alumnus of Harvard Business School (AMP- 1985) is the Chairman of the BHORUKA Group.He has been a Senior Executive Committee Member of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, (FICCI) since 1985. He has been the Chairman of various National Committees of FICCI on Power, Non-conventional energy, Logistics etc. He is the President of Karnataka State Council of FICCI-New Delhi and he is also the Vice President of SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry representing India.Mr. S N Agarwal’s other positions include Member, Governing Board - Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore), Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Campus Development of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B), Member - World Presidents Organization. He was also the Past President of All India Organization of Employers, (AIOE).Dr. Ganesh NatarajanDr. Ganesh Natarajan is Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Zensar Technologies Limited, a Global firm that transforms Technology and Processes for Fortune 500 companies. Dr. Natarajan has been one of the most successful professionals in the Indian Information Technology Industry, having earlier been part of two major success stories in IT Training and Consulting, NIIT and APTECH. During his ten-year stint as CEO of Aptech he grew the company’s revenues fifty times and listed it on the Indian and London Stock Exchanges.A Gold Medallist in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra he has completed his PhD in Knowledge Management at IIT Bombay. He is the author of three McGraw Hill Books on Business Process Reengineering and Knowledge Management and has also authored a book titled “Winds of Change”. He is a regular columnist for India’s premier Business and IT magazines.Dr. Ganesh Natarajan was named “CEO of the Year” by the Asia Pacific HR Conference in 1999 and received the Wisitex Foundation’s CEO of the Decade – Knowledge Award from India’s Minister for Information Technology in 2000. In July 2005, he received the Asia HRD Congress Award for Contributions to the Organisation through HR. He was one of nineteen finalists at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year Award 2005 where he was recognized for his exemplary leadership skills and business acumen.Dr. Natarajan chairs the Outsourcing Forum of the Confederation of Indian Industries in Western India and is also a member of the Executive Council of NASSCOM, India’s premier IT and BPO Association. He has been elected Chairman of the NASSCOM Innovation Forum for 2005-07.Mr. Deven SharmaMr. Deven Sharma holds a bachelor's degree from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, having graduated in Mechanical Engineering in the year 1977. He holds a Master's degree from the University of Wisconsin and a doctoral degree in Business Management from Ohio State University.Deven Sharma was named president of Standard & Poor's in August 2007. Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence, including independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With approximately 8,500 employees, including wholly owned affiliates located in 21 countries, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions.Prior to being named president, Mr. Deven Sharma served as Executive Vice President, Standard & Poor’s, where he was responsible for Investment Services and Global Sales. The businesses include Investment Data & Information, Research and Portfolio services. Prior to this, he spent five years as Executive Vice President, Global Strategy for The McGraw-Hill Companies, where he led the expansion into digital markets, geographies and new growth areas, as well as acquisitions. He also oversaw McGraw-Hill Ventures.Mr. Sharma joined The McGraw-Hill Companies in January 2002 from Booz Allen Hamilton, a global management consulting company, where he was a partner. During his 14 years with that firm, he provided guidance to client companies on business strategy and globalization, as well as on branding and sales management. Much of his experience includes work with global corporations in U.S., Latin America, Europe and parts of Asia. Prior to Booz Allen, he worked with manufacturing companies, Dresser Industries and Anderson Strathclyde.Mr. Sharma has authored several publications on competitive strategy, customer solutions, sales and marketing. He is a Board member of CRISIL, The US-China Business Council and Asia Society Business Council.Mr. Gurdeep Singh PallMr. Gurdeep Singh Pall is the corporate vice president for the Office Communications Group at Microsoft Corp. and part of the Microsoft Business Division's senior leadership team. He is responsible for vision, product strategy and business development, and R&D for Microsoft's Unified Communications offerings, including Microsoft Office Communications Server, Microsoft Office Communicator, Microsoft Office Live Meeting service and Microsoft Office Communications Online.Mr. Pall joined Microsoft in January 1990 as a software design engineer. He has worked on many breakthrough products in his tenure, starting with LAN Manager Remote Access Service. He was part of the Windows NT development team, working on the first version of Windows NT 3.1 in 1993 as a software design engineer, all the way through Windows XP in 2001 as general manager of Windows Networking. During his work on Windows, he led design and implementation of core networking technologies such as PPP, TCP/IP, UPnP, VPNs, routing and Wi-Fi, and parts of the operating system. He co-authored the first VPN protocol in the industry – Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol (PPTP) – which received the prestigious Innovation of the Year award from PC Magazine in 1996. He also authored several documents and standards in the networking area in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards body in the mid-1990s. Mr. Pall was appointed general manager of Windows Real-Time Communications efforts in January 2002 and helped develop a broad RTC strategy that led to the formation of the Real Time Collaboration division and acquisition of PlaceWare Inc. (now called Microsoft Office Live Meeting). Since then, Pall has led acquisitions of Page on media-streams.com AG and Parlano and key industry partnerships. Microsoft's Unified Communications efforts have received many technical and design industry awards. He was named one of the 15 Innovators & Influencers Who Will Make A Difference in 2008 by Information Week. Mr. Gurdeep Singh Pall recently co-authored "Institutional Memory Goes Digital," which was published by Harvard Business Review as part of "Breakthrough Ideas for 2009" and was presented at the World Economic Forum 2009 in Davos, Switzerland.Mr. Pall has more than 20 patents (in process or approved) in networking, VoIP and collaboration areas. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Oregon and a graduate degree in computer engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi in India.Mr. Sanjay NayakMr. Sanjay Nayak is the Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of Tejas Networks, a leading optical networking product company from India. Mr. Nayak is a technologist with over 18 years of industry experience in India as well as the USA. Prior to founding Tejas, he held senior management position in globally leading Electronic Design Automation companies such as Synopsys (where he was the Managing Director of Synopsys-India) and earlier at Cadence Design Systems. Mr. Nayak holds an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University, Raleigh and B.E in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra.Mr. Sukant SrivastavaSukant Srivastava is Managing Director and Country Manager for Convergys Corporation’s Customer Care business in India. He is responsible for overseeing the operations of Convergys’ eight contact centres and 11,000+ Customer Care employees in India, directing relationships with National Government officials and representing Convergys in key industry forums and associations. Additionally, he focuses on driving Convergys’ Relationship Management brand position in India, enabling talent acquisition and continued leadership in the rapidly growing business process outsourcing market. Mr. Srivastava reports to Clint Streit, president of Customer Care, and is located in Gurgaon, India. Prior to joining Convergys, Mr. Srivastava served in a variety of global leadership roles with Keane, Inc. His most recent assignment was as managing director for Keane’s Indian operations. In this position he served as a transformation agent for enterprise-wide change initiatives, including a shift to a globally integrated business model. Previously, he was vice president of Global Services Integration for Keane.Mr. Srivastava holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology in Ranchi, India and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of North Florida.Dr. Shree K. NayarDr. Shree K. Nayar did BE in electrical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, India in the year 1984. He received his PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in 1990. He is currently the T. C. Chang Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University. He co-directs the Columbia Vision and Graphics Center. He heads the Columbia Computer Vision Laboratory (CAVE), which is dedicated to the development of advanced computer vision systems. His research is focused on three areas; the creation of novel cameras, the design of physics based models for vision, and the development of algorithms for scene understanding. His work is motivated by applications in the fields of digital imaging, computer graphics, and robotics.Dr. Shree K. Nayar has received best paper awards at ICCV 1990, ICPR 1994, CVPR 1994, ICCV 1995, CVPR 2000 and CVPR 2004. He is the recipient of the David Marr Prize (1990 and 1995), the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship (1992), the National Young Investigator Award (1993), the NTT Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award (1994), the Keck Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching (1995) and the Columbia Great Teacher Award (2006). In February 2008, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.Dr. Arup Roy ChoudhuryDr. Arup Roy Choudhury is a firm believer in achieving team-excellence through transformational shift to proactive, positive and personalized approach. Having experience in private and public sector organizations, Dr. Arup Roy Choudhury has an illustrious career of about 35 years during which he has been holding the position of CEO for over thirteen years. An engineering graduate from BIT-Mesra, he completed his post graduation and doctorate from IIT-Delhi and fol lows the motto “Sankalpa Shuddha Hi Siddha” i.e. if your intentions are pure, you are bound to succeed.Becoming the youngest CEO of a CPSE at the age of 44 years, he scripted a stunning turnaround story as CMD when he transformed NBCC, which was a sick company with negative net-worth and salary backlog in 2001, into a blue-chip enterprise having 'Schedule A’ and ‘Mini Ratna’ status bestowed upon it by the Government of India. The transformational turnaround of the Company brought about by him enabled NBCC’s turnover grow about 10 times and net-worth over 500 times during his tenure of nine-and-a-half years at the helm (Annexure-I). He pulled NBCC out of the abyss and catapulted it into the distinguished league of ‘Top Ten CPSEs’. Under him, NBCC broadened its business horizons and paid its maiden dividend to the Govt. of India for the year 2006-07, after 45 years of its incorporation.Dr. Choudhury now heads NTPC Limited, the 10th largest power producer in the world and ranked as #1 Indepedent Power Producer by Platts (part of the prestigious McGraw Hill Group). NTPC is acknowledged as the best company in the world for capacity utilization. NTPC is also one of the seven largest Central Public Sector Undertakings of India, designated as a ‘Maharatna’.Since taking over as CMD-NTPC in September, 2010, Dr. Choudhary has been positioning the enterprise on course to become the largest and best power producer in the world.In a period of three and a half years of Dr. Choudhury’s leadership, NTPC has already added about 10,800 MW, which is over one fourth of its total installed capacity of over 43,019 MW built in over 38 years. NTPC’s turnover is around Rupees 68,800 crore (about USD 12.5 Billion). NTPC's financial performance in 2012-13 has been exceptionally strong with a Profit After Tax (PAT) of about Rs. 12,600 crore (about USD 2.3 billion), an increase of about 37% over the previous year's PAT.Dr. Choudhury steered the process of ‘Offer for Sale’ for disinvestment of 9.5% stakes of the Government of India in NTPC, garnering over USD 2 billion (About Rs. 11,500 Cr). This was oversubscribed by 1.7 times with 45% coming from foreign investors. NTPC's issue for Tax Free Bond of Rs. 1,000 crore in December, 2013 received overwhelming response from the investors with oversubscription of 3.37 times.Dr. Choudhury, as Chairman of Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) - the apex forum of over 200 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in India - for two consecutive terms of two years each (From April 2009 to March 2013) effectively led policy advocacy for greater empowerment of these enterprises. He led a team of select CEOs to the Prime Minister and still remains the flag-bearer of Central PSUs.Dr. Choudhury figures at # 40 among 'India Inc's 100 Most Powerful CEOs 2013' in the list released by The Economic Times.Dr. Choudhury has received several national and international awards, including the Award for ‘The Best Organizational Turnaround’ from Hon. President of India in 2006, ‘Top Ten PSU and Turnaround Award’ from Hon. Prime Minister of India in 2007 and ‘Best Individual Leader of a Public Sector Enterprise’ from Hon. Prime Minister of India in 2010.Dr. Choudhury has captured his rich experiences and insights into a very well received book titled – 'Management by Idiots'.Mr. Anjan LahiriMr. Anjan Lahiri serves as President and CEO of MindTree’s IT Services business and is stationed in Bangalore. In this role he is responsible for all aspects of MindTree’s IT Services business around the world.Prior to relocating to Bangalore in 2008, Anjan spent five years in London setting up and then growing MindTree’s European Operations. In 1999 when he joined MindTree as a part of the founding team, he helped set up MindTree’s New Jersey office and then led MindTree’s US West Coast Operations from San Jose, California from 2000 to 2003 before relocating to London.Prior to MindTree, Anjan was a Director with Cambridge Technology Partners. He was part of the initial group, which started Cambridge’s internet services consulting practice. Anjan started his professional career with Wipro Infotech in 1987. By 1991 when he left to pursue higher studies in the US, he was a Territory Manager in Wipro’s Kolkata office.Anjan Lahiri received a BE in electronics engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi.Mr. Pawan Bhageria1983 Mechanical Engineering-Gold Medalist and MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur His 26 years of experience in Automotive / IT Industry includes Manufacturing, New Plant Commissioning Projects & all aspects of Information Technology with special focus on automotive & manufacturing industry. He has held leadership positions in large corporations of repute in India and abroad in Global cross-cultural business and technical environment.Key areas of work :Business aligned IT strategic planning and its execution,Process re-engineering & Efficiency Modeling .ERP (SAP/Oracle/Others) Global Implementation.IT Operations Managemen.IT Audits & ComplianceLarge Contract Negotiations & Vendor ManagementOrganization Change ManagementHe was Head of IT for Tata Motors & Strategic Account Manager at Tata Technologies before joining General Motors in 2006. Currently part of GM International Operations as IT Director.Mr. Himanshu KapaniaMr. Himanshu Kapania has been the Managing Director of Idea Cellular Limited since April 1, 2011. Mr. Kapania served as Deputy Managing Director at Idea Cellular Limited until April 1, 2011. He served as the Chief Operating Officer - Corporate and Director of Operations for Idea Cellular Limited.Mr. Kapania joined Idea in September 2006 with over 21 years of industry experience. He worked with Reliance Infocomm as their Chief Executive Officer for Northern Operations covering Punjab, Haryana and HP as for three years, with IDEA Cellular Ltd., as Chief Operating Officer for over six years, with Network Ltd., as Dy. General Manager - Marketing for three and a half years, with Shriram Honda as Manager Marketing for over three years and with DCM Toyota as Sr. Executive for five years. Mr. Kapania serves as a Director of Idea Cellular Limited. He is a BE in Electrical & Electronics from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi and a postgraduate from the Indian Institute of Management, BangaloreM. M. Singh (Batch of 1974)M M Singh is the Chief Operating Officer, Maruti Suzuki India LimitedHe leads Production vertical at Maruti Suzuki India Limited. He is responsible for rolling out 1.2 million cars from Maruti stable every year with assets under control (AUC) of USD 5 billion (Rs 30,000 crores). All manufacturing facilities at Gurgaon, Manesar , Gujarat reports to him. He leads a team of 20,000 people at 10 plants consisting of more than 150 departments.His leadership led to production of high Quality cars which were exported to EU, Latin America and Middle East, and Topping CSI and APEAL ratings in India. Every year Maruti exports about 120,000 cars made in India. During his leadership an Indian manufactured car became World’s largest selling auto brand, Alto, beating models like Polo and Accord.He is Chairman of SIAM ( Society of Automobile Engineers) Logistics, Co-chairman of FICCI Manufacturing National Committee and Chairman of CII North manufacturing committee.He has received inspired manufacturing fraternity with his patented thought process called “Production Managament System” which has set revolution in manufacturing sphere by combining Japanese practices with Indian wisdom and capturing the passion of western management.M M Singh is from the BIT BE (ECE) Batch of 1974Sudhir Mohan TrehanSudhir Mohan Trehan is Executive Chairman of Avantha Power & Infrastructure Limited and Vice Chairman of Crompton Greaves Limited.A gold medallist in mechanical engineering, he graduated from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi. He received his Master’s degree in operational research from State University of New York at Stony-Brook, U.S.A., and successfully completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S.A.He joined Crompton Greaves Limited in 1972 and, over the years, has held several positions of responsibility. He was appointed Managing Director of the company in 2000 and, on his retirement in June 2011, was named Vice Chairman. He is a member of the Avantha Management Board, which formulates strategy at the Group level. He is also Chairman of the Board of Governors at Thapar University.Sudhir is a highly respected and widely recognised business leader. He was named “Outstanding Chief Executive” for 2000-2001 by the Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering. In recognition of his contribution to the Indian industry in general and the management movement in particular, the Bombay Management Association (BMA) unanimously conferred upon him the “Management Man of the Year Award” for 2005-2006. He was named Business Standard CEO of the Year for 2008-09.Sudhir has worked in various capacities with industry bodies, including BMA, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association (IEEMA) and Nashik Industries & Manufacturers’ Association (NIMA). He was Chairman of CII’s Western Region.His interests include golf, cricket and reading.Mr. R. K. Gupta (Batch of 1965)Founder & Chairman, Laxmi Publications Group & President Emeritus BITOSA DelhiMr. Gupta is founder of Laxmi Publications Group. He has over 35 years of publishing experience. A wellknown figure in the Indian Publishing Industry, he was Ex-President, Federation of Educational Publishers in India. Apart from a distinguished personality in publishing industry, Mr. Gupta has actively taken part in promoting sports in India. He has head many international delegations. He was Secretary, Winter Games Federation of India, President, Ice Skating Association of India, Secretary, Winter Games Federation of India, Member, and Indian Olympic Association. He did Mechanical engineering from BIT Mesra.Mr. Pramod Taparia (Batch of 1966 )Founder & Chairman, Wintech TapariaMr.Pramod Taparia (popular as PT) is an entrepreneur, facilitating the food processing industry, by doing required pioneering work in India. At an age of 35 years, in 1985, PT got an award from the Vice President Shri Ramaswamy Venkataraman of India for being a "Self made Industrialist", at Delhi. Collaborating with the Swedish, in 1986, he founded a company offering international Technology & Equipments at an affordable price in India. This company, together his Scandinavian partners, pioneered Potatoes, Vegetables and Seafood processing & packaging in India. In addition to a formal degree in engineering, he went in the year 1993, for an Advance Management Program of few weeks, to a well known institute in Stockholm, Sweden.Mr. Niraj Sharan (Batch of 1976)Founder, Chairman & CEO Aura Inc.Mr. Niraj Sharan is the Founder-Chairman and CEO of Aura Inc., since 1989, a leading Global enterprise catering to the global ENERGY sector through Engineering, Manufacturing & System Integration. He is also Founder & Co-Chairman, Aurys s.r.l, Italy, a leading Technology Consulting and full service Engineering Company in Oil & Gas sector. He sits on advisory Board of several For Profit and Non-Profit companies out of USA, India & EUin Technology, Health Care and Clean Energy verticals. He is “Member, Technical Expert Committee - Government of India,under Department of Science & Technology since June 2009.”, “Special Invitee” to the US Endowment Board on US – India Joint Commission on Science and Technology formed under agreement of President Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.Mr. Sunil Jain (Batch of 1977)Chief Operating Officer & Head-Wind, Green InfraSunil is the COO of Green Infra. He has over 27 years of experience in the engineering industry, particularly in the auto and infrastructure sectors. He has extensive experience in business development, both in the domestic and international markets, and in handling commercial negotiations with customers and vendors alike. Mr. Sunil is also the President, Northern Region Council and Member National Council of Indian Wind Power Association. Sunil is a Mechanical Engineer from BIT Mesra and holds an MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.Mr. Rajiv Nag (Batch of 1971)Founder and Chairman, CyberQ Consulting & Senior Advisor at KPMGSenior Advisor of KPMG ,The founder and Chairman of CyberQ Consulting Pvt. Ltd., Dr. Rajiv Nag is amongst the world's top-notch consultants in the areas of Process consulting who has helped organizations put their processes in place. With over 25 years of experience around the world in the areas of Software Project Management, Quality Assurance and System Testing, Development of Software Integrated Management Systems, Functional and System Integration, Application Systems Development, System design, Strategic management consultancy, Development of Quality Management Methodology and Information Security initiatives.Shri T. Venkatesh, I.A.S. (Batch of 1979)Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) & Board Member, NTPCShri Venkatesh is an Indian Administrative Service officer of 1988 batch of U.P. Cadre. Prior to his assignment as Jt. Secy. (DOPT) in the Ministry of Personnel & Public Grievances & Pension, he held various administrative posts including DM (Bareilly), Commissioner (Gorakhpur) and Secretary (PWD) in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He is looking after the work of CVO and also on Board of Directors of NTPC since October, 2009. He has done Mechanical engineering from BIT Mesra and is post graduate in same.Mr. Ashutosh Pande (Batch of 1983)Managing Director (India) and Global Vice President & GM ISBU at CSR Technology (India)Mr. Ashutosh specializes in market creation for new technology and products. Strategist, visionary and sharp thinker, he is currently Member Governing Council at Association of Geospatial Industries and also heads an incubation unit within the company where they are exploring avenues that will allow CSR to diversify beyond chipsets into services. He holds MS in Electrical Engineering from University of Alberta, USA and B.E. in Electronics & communication from BIT Mesra.Mr. Nirankar SaxenaDirector, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)Mr. Saxena heads the Business Information Services Network Division (BISNET) at FICCI and manages multiple project portfolios. His responsibilities include networking with leading senior Government officials,industrialists‟ and the diplomatic corps in India as well as the visiting foreign dignitaries. Prior to joining FICCI, he was Chief Executive Officer of Osprey Software Technology (P) Ltd and Director of Team Computers (P) Ltd. He holds a Page on b.e.in ComputerSciences from BIT Mesra.Mr. Ajay Pathak (Batch of 1977)Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road & Surface Transport, GOIFormer Joint Secretary at Ministry of Finance, he is now Jt. Secretary at Ministry of Road and Surface Transport. He has done his Civil Engineering from BIT Mesra.Mr. Jagdish Mitra (Batch of 1988)Chief Executive Officer of CanvasMAt CanvasM, he leads a team of over 600 associates that are focused on providing solutions that enable customers and enterprises take advantage of the mobile ecosystem. With over 20 years of experience in the areas of business development and marketing in the global information services market. Under his leadership, CanvasM has been awarded the “Best Start-Up Company” at the Mobile Content Awards 2008 held in London.Mr. Atul Kansal (Batch of 1984)Founder and Managing Director, INDUS EnviroMr. Kansal is Founder and Managing Director of INDUS Enviro and is responsible for its activities in India and the neighboring countries. He has more than 18 years of diversified consulting experience in Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) Management particularly in EH&S Compliance and Due-Diligence Auditing. Over last 18 years, he has worked on more than 350 environmental projects in a variety of sectors. He has done his Civil engineering from BIT Mesra and Masters from IIT Roorkee.Mr. Annup Damani (Batch of 1979)Managing Director at Alloy CastMr. Damani is Managing Director at Alloy Cast (P) Ltd. Today, under his leadership, the company now boast of a capacity of over 3, 50,000 to 4, 00,000 castings per month. It has factories to cater diversified range of products and services encompassing industries like automotive, hardware, plumbing and heating controls.Mr. Abhishek Sinha (Batch of 1995)Co-founder & CEO of Eko India Financial Services Private LimitedEko democratises access to formal financial services using mobile phones as a financial identity for people at the bottom of the pyramid. Eko stands out for simplicity of user experience while still ensuring secure transactions.Eko has partnered with 1,500 retail stores bringing banking services at the next-door grocer for close to 1 million customers. Eko processes over $ 1 million every day and has processed close to half a billion dollars in transactions so far! Eko listed amongst top 10 most innovative companies in India by Fast Company | Business + Innovation!SOURCE:- www.bitmesra.ac.in

Most Objectivist thinkers are ‘little known’ outside of Objectivist circles so I will post a list of the ones I know.Objectivist Intellectual’s Biographies (85) last updated 10/14/18 (not complete)Amesh AdaljaMD, 2002, American University of the CaribbeanDr. Adalja, a board-certified physician in infectious disease, critical care medicine, emergency medicine and internal medicine, specializes in the intersection of national security with catastrophic health events. He publishes and lectures on bio-terrorism, pandemic preparedness and emerging infectious diseases. He has been a guest on national radio and television programs.John AllisonMBA, Management, 1974, Duke UniversityMr. Allison is president and CEO of the Cato Institute. He was previously chairman and CEO of BB&T Corporation, the 10th-largest financial services holding company headquartered in the United States. During Allison’s tenure as CEO from 1989 to 2008, BB&T grew from $4.5 billion to $152 billion in assets.Carl BarneyCarl Barney is a businessman who, among other business activities, owns and manages several private business colleges.Rituparna BasuBS, Biology, 2010, Pennsylvania State UniversityMs. Basu is a health care policy analyst at ARI. Her work has appeared in publications such as Forbes and The Daily Caller, and she has been interviewed on radio and TV programs, internationally. Ms. Basu has briefed congressional staffers and speaks regularly at university campuses, including Georgetown, Emory and Temple.Ben BayerPhD, Philosophy, 2007, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignDr. Bayer teaches philosophy at Loyola University New Orleans. His research focuses primarily on questions about the foundations of knowledge and the freedom of the will.Robert BegleyRobert Begley is a writer for The Objective Standard. He is the founder and president of the NY Heroes Society, an organization dedicated to promoting heroism in the culture. Robert is also a judge in Anthem, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged essay contests. He was the host and producer for the Manhattan Cable TV program, The Voice of Reason. Robert is currently writing a book about the history of New York heroes.Michael S. BerlinerPhD, Philosophy, 1970, Boston UniversityDr. Berliner is the founding executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute and served as co-chairman of ARI’s board of directors. He is editor of "Letters of Ayn Rand", "Understanding Objectivism" and a recent biography of operetta composer Emmerich Kálmán. Dr. Berliner taught philosophy and philosophy of education for many years at California State University, Northridge.ANDREW BERNSTEINPhD, Philosophy, 1986, City University of New YorkAndrew Bernstein holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Graduate School of the City University of New York. He has taught at Hunter College, the New School for Social Research, Pace University and Marymount College, where he was chosen Outstanding Faculty Member for 1995. He currently teaches at the State University of New York at Purchase, where he was selected Outstanding Faculty Member for 2004.Dr. Bernstein has lectured at universities across the United States, including at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, the United States Military Academy at West Point and many others; and at philosophical conferences both in America and abroad. He is the author of The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire, to be published in the spring of 2005 by University Press of America. His first novel, Heart of a Pagan, was released in 2002. He is currently writing Objectivism in One Lesson, an introduction to the philosophy of Ayn Rand. His website is Andrew Bernstein | Philosopher and TeacherDr. Bernstein is the author of "The Capitalist Manifesto" (2005), "Objectivism in One Lesson" (2008), "Capitalism Unbound" (2010), "Capitalist Solutions" (2011), and of numerous essays. He is currently writing “Heroes and Hero Worship” for the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. Dr. Bernstein lectures widely on Ayn Rand’s novels and Objectivism.DAVID BERRYD.M.A., Composition, 2002, University of South CarolinaDavid Berry is an associate professor of music. He teaches courses across a wide range of historical and theoretical musical subjects including film music. He is a recorded and published (BMI) composer with performances of his music in America and Europe in both fine art and popular music genres.CRAIG BIDDLEB.A., Fine Arts, 1988, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityCraig Biddle is the author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts That Support It and is currently writing another book, Good Thinking for Good Living: The Science of Being Selfish. In addition to writing, he lectures on the Objectivist ethics and teaches workshops on thinking in principles. Editor and Publisher of “The Objective Standard”Specialties: Ethics, ObjectivismHARRY BINSWANGERPh.D., Philosophy, 1973, Columbia UniversityDr. Binswanger is the author of The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts, the editor of The Ayn Rand Lexicon and co-editor of the second edition of Ayn Rand’s Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. Dr. Binswanger is a professor of philosophy at the Ayn Rand Institute’s Objectivist Academic Center and is a member of ARI’s board of directors. He is currently working on a book on the nature of consciousness.Dr. Binswanger is the author of "How We Know" and "The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts", the editor of "The Ayn Rand Lexicon" and co-editor of the second edition of Ayn Rand’s "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology". He is an instructor of philosophy at the Ayn Rand Institute’s Objectivist Academic Center and a member of ARI’s board of directors.TORE BOECKMANNWriterMr. Boeckmann has written and lectured extensively on Ayn Rand’s fiction and philosophy of esthetics. He edited for publication Rand’s The Art of Fiction. His own fiction has been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. He is currently writing a book on Romantic literature.Thomas A. BowdenSpecialties: Legal issues, physician-assisted suicide, abortion rights, mandatory community service.Mr. Bowden, an attorney in private practice in Baltimore, Maryland, taught at the University Of Baltimore School Of Law from 1988 to 1994. Author of a booklet against multiculturalism, “The Enemies of Christopher Columbus,” he has also published op-eds in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Philadelphia Inquirer, Portland Oregonian, Los Angeles Daily News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Charlotte Observer. He is a former member of the board of directors of The Association for Objective Law, a non-profit group whose purpose is to advance Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, as the basis of a proper legal system. In that connection, Mr. Bowden has filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal for the Second and Third Circuits, challenging mandatory community service for high school students on legal and moral grounds.YARON BROOKPh.D., Finance, 1994, University of Texas at AustinDr. Brook is president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. A former finance professor, he has published in academic as well as popular publications, and is frequently interviewed in the media. He has appeared on CNN, Fox News Channel and PBS among others. On college campuses across America and in the boardrooms of large corporations, he has lectured on Objectivism, business ethics and foreign policy.Dr. Brook is executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the coauthor of the national best-seller “Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government” and a contributing author to both “Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea” and “Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.”ANDY CLARKSONMBA University of MarylandMr. Clarkson is a decades-long Objectivist He has focused on researching the history of ideas and published The Impact of Aristotle Upon Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Cultures : A Compilation of Notes and Quotes From A Variety of Sources Plus Commentary, published in December 2016.PAT CORVINIPh.D., Electrical Engineering, 1995, University of California at Santa BarbaraDr. Corvini recently left a twenty-year career in semiconductor optoelectronics to work full time in the history of science and mathematics. She lectured on Archimedes at the 2003 Objectivist Summer Conference.SUSAN CRAWFORDB.S.N, Nursing, 1982, Marymount College, VirginiaSusan Crawford is a registered nurse. She has given two parenting courses and wrote the pamphlet “The Reading Habit/Money Management.” Susan is married to Jack Crawford and the mother of two sons, Jason and DavidERIC DANIELSPh.D., American History, 2001, University of WisconsinDr. Daniels is a visiting assistant professor of history at Duke University’s Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace. He has lectured at summer conferences and to numerous Objectivist community groups. He is an alumnus of ARI’s Objectivist Graduate Center (precursor to the Objectivist Academic Center). A contributor to the Oxford Companion to United States History, he is currently working on a book about American politics andDr. Daniels works at LePort Schools, teaching science and history, and as a curriculum developer. Previously, he was a professor at Clemson, Duke and Georgetown Universities. Dr. Daniels has published book chapters and articles on antitrust, individualism and economic freedom.John DennisPhD, Psychology, 2010, University of Texas at AustinDr. Dennis teaches at Catholic University in Milan, University of Perugia and University of Alberta. His research on motivation is funded by the EU and Templeton Foundation. He is a licensed psychologist trained in CBT. In 2013 Dr. Dennis started Melioravit, a scientific communication company that helps researchers get funded, published and cited.Robert van DortmondMSc in Applied Physics, Delft University of Technology; Executive Program, Stanford Graduate SchoolMr. van Dortmond teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Amsterdam/The Amsterdam Centre for Entrepreneurship. He is an active mentor, shareholder and board member of various startups. He speaks on Ayn Rand’s ideas and is an advisory board member of ARI Europe of which he was one of the initiators.Dianne DuranteSpecialties: Esthetics, painting, sculpture, homeschooling.Dr. Durante is a freelance writer on art and current events. She has lectured on painting and sculpture at Objectivist conferences; several of these lectures are available on tape from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. She has also just finished a book on New York sculpture, Forgotten Delights: The Producers. Dr. Durante and her husband homeschool their daughter in Brooklyn, NY.Alex EpsteinSpecialties: Current Affairs, racism, and moral defense of businessmen.Alex Epstein is an Objectivist speaker and writer living in Richmond, VA. His Op-Eds have been published in dozens of newspapers around the country, including The Houston Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Washington Times. He is also a regular contributor to The Intellectual Activist, a monthly magazine analyzing political and cultural issues from an Objectivist perspective. Mr. Epstein holds a BA in philosophy from Duke University, where he was editor and publisher of The Duke Review for two years.STUART MARK FELDMANM.A., Art, 1975, Rowan University, New JerseyStuart Feldman works in bronze, stone and wood, creating sculptures of the human figure expressing man’s most noble and inspiring qualities. A former instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, he is cofounder of the Schuylkill Academy of Fine Art, in Philadelphia. His sculptures are held in private collections, and he has created a number of commissioned pieces.ROBERT GARMONGPh.D., Philosophy, 2002; University of Texas at AustinDr. Garmong is a graduate of the Objectivist Graduate Center, and has lectured on philosophy at many Objectivist conferences. He is the author of “J.S. Mill’s Re-Conceptualization of Liberty,” currently under submission to publishers. Dr. Garmong teaches philosophy at Texas A&M University and at Texas State University.MARILYN (GEORGE) GRAYB.S., Child Development, 1961, Iowa State UniversityMarilyn George is a retired Montessori teacher, school owner and administrator. She holds teaching certificates from both the American Montessori Society and the International Association of Progressive Montessorians and was a Montessori teacher for twenty-five years. She owned, administered and taught for ten years in her own school, which had an international reputation for excellence. She taught Montessori courses at Seattle University for more than ten years and has consulted for schools nationwide. Marilyn has been ballroom dancing since she met Ted Gray at a conference in 1989, at her first lesson, and today they compete at the Silver level.Debi GhateLLB, Law, University of Calgary, 1995Ms. Ghate is vice president of Education and Research at the Ayn Rand Institute, where she heads up a variety of educational and policy-related programs. She is also director of the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, an organization that supports academic scholarship based on Ayn Rand’s work.Onkar GhatePhD, Philosophy, 1996, University of CalgaryDr. Ghate is senior fellow and chief content officer at the Ayn Rand Institute. He specializes in Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, and is ARI’s senior instructor and editor. He publishes and lectures on Rand’s philosophy and fiction, including application of Objectivism in the culture, and has been a guest on national radio and television programs.GENA GORLINPhD, Clinical Psychology, 2012, University of VirginiaMs. Gorlin has two years of experience conducting individual psychotherapy with anxious and depressed young adults. Her research has been published in highly regarded academic journals. She is also a graduate of the Objectivist Academic Center and a former board member of The Undercurrent, a national campus publication.Allan Gotthelf (deceased)Specialties: Love, self-esteem, happiness, Objectivism, AristotleAllan Gotthelf is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey. He is an internationally recognized authority on the philosophy of Aristotle, with many scholarly publications. He has lectured on Objectivism and Aristotle — including their views on love and sex, self-esteem, and individual happiness — throughout North America and in Europe and Japan. He has been a visiting professor at Swarthmore College, Georgetown University, Oxford University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and most recently, the University of Texas at Austin. In 1987, Dr. Gotthelf was one of the founders of the Ayn Rand Society; a professional organization affiliated with the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, and has headed it since 1990. He enters his second year as Visiting Professor of Historyand Philosophy of Science (HPS) at the University of Pittsburgh. Prof. Gotthelf holds the Pitt Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism, funded by the Anthem Foundation and he will be working throughout the year on various projects in connection with his Fellowship. He is the author of On Ayn Rand (Wadsworth Publishing, 2000), the best-selling book in the Wadsworth Philosophers Series.4-19-2007 from his website:Visiting Professor, under the university's new Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism (Member: Classics, Philosophy and Ancient Science Program). A specialist on Aristotle's biology and philosophy, and on the philosophy of Ayn Rand, Gotthelf is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey, and has taught on a visiting basis at Swarthmore, Oxford, Georgetown, Tokyo Metropolitan, and the University of Texas at Austin. He is a life member of Clare Hall Cambridge, and was a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Gotthelf is author of On Ayn Rand (Wadsworth Philosophers Series, 2000); co-editor of Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's Biology (Cambridge 1987); editor of Aristotle on Nature and Living Things (Pittsburgh 1985); and has prepared for publication D.M. Balme's posthumous editions of Aristotle's Historia Animalium (Cambridge 2002, Cambridge MA 1991). His collected Aristotle papers will by published next year by Oxford University Press, under the title: Teleology, Scientific Method, and Substance: Essays on Aristotle's Biological Enterprise. He is currently working on several Aristotle projects and an extended study of Rand's theory of concepts, essences, and objectivity.TED GRAYB.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1965, Northeastern University;M.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1971, Brooklyn Polytechnic InstituteTed Gray, an engineer, has been dancing since his teens. They both consider dancing primarily a social and romantic activity. Occasionally, they enter amateur dance competitions. As a couple they have given many formal and informal group lessons—at home, at conferences and on a cruise ship. Ted is a mechanical engineer with forty years experience in design and analysis of structures, and prevention of vibration. He is an amateur student of history, enjoying especially the biographies of great Americans and the history of technology. He has been a student of Objectivism for thirty-eight years.Hannes HackerSpecialties: history and politics of the space program, science and technology.Mr. Hacker graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BS degree in aerospace engineering in May 1988. He earned a MS degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin December 1990. He has eleven years of space-flight operations experience including work on the space shuttle, international space station and commercial communications satellites.DAVID HARRIMANB.S., Physics, 1979, University of California at Berkeley;M.S., Physics, 1982, University of Maryland;M.A., Philosophy, 1995, Claremont Graduate University, CaliforniaDavid Harriman is the editor of Journals of Ayn Rand and a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute. He has lectured extensively on the history and philosophy of physics. He is currently developing the physical science curriculum at VanDamme Academy and working on two books: one demonstrating the influence of philosophy on modern physics (The Anti-Copernican Revolution) and the other presenting Leonard Peikoff’s theory of induction (Induction in Physics and Philosophy).David HolcbergSpecialties: Environmentalism, science, capitalism. David Holcberg holds a degree in civil engineering and is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute.JONATHAN HOENIGCommunications and Philosophy, 1999, Northwestern UniversityMr. Hoenig manages Capitalistpig Hedge Fund, LLC. A former floor trader, his first book, Greed Is Good, was published by HarperCollins. Mr. Hoenig has written for publications including The Wall Street Journal, Wired andMarketWatch: Stock Market News - Financial News. He was named one of Crain’s Forty Under Forty and appears regularly on Fox News Channel.Gary HullSpecialties: Philosophy, multiculturalism, business ethics, education.Dr. Hull is director of the Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace at Duke University. His op-eds have been published in numerous newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Orange County Register, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Chicago Tribune. He has made numerous television and radio appearances to discuss Ayn Rand’s philosophy, multiculturalism, affirmative action, the Elian Gonzalez affair, sex, ethics, politics. He has lectured on Ayn Rand’s philosophy at conferences around the world and, as a member of the Ayn Rand Institute’s Speakers Bureau, has spoken at universities across the country, including Harvard, Michigan at Ann Arbor, Wisconsin at Madison, Texas at Austin. Dr. Hull is the author of A Study Guide to Leonard Peikoff’s book Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand, and is co-editor of The Ayn Rand Reader (Penguin/Plume, 1999), a collection of fiction and non-fiction writings by Ayn Rand.MARTIN F JOHANSENMS, Computer Science, 2009, University of OsloMr. Johansen is a PhD research fellow at SINTEF, the largest independent research institute in Scandinavia. He is currently completing his PhD studies at the University of Oslo as part of an international research project on software testing.Elan JournoBA, Philosophy, 1997, King's College, LondonMr. Journo, director of policy research at ARI, is completing a book on American policy toward the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. His 2009 book, “Winning the Unwinnable War,” analyzes post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy. His writing has appeared in “Foreign Policy,” “Journal of International Security Affairs” and “Middle East Quarterly.”ELLEN KENNERPh.D., Clinical Psychology, 1992, University of Rhode IslandDr. Kenner, a clinical psychologist, has taught university courses in introductory psychology, abnormal psychology and theories of personality. She gives talks on romance, self-improvement, psychological self-defense, parenting and communication skills. She is in her eighth year as host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Rational Basis of Happiness®.Ryan KrausePhD, Strategic Management and Organization Theory, 2013, Indiana UniversityDr. Krause is an assistant professor at Texas Christian University’s Neeley School of Business. He researches corporate governance and has published in “Academy of Management Journal,” “Strategic Management Journal” and “Journal of Management.” His research has been covered by the “Wall Street Journal,” “USA Today,” “Businessweek” and Fox Business Network.Andrew LaymanAndrew Layman is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft where he works on Internet and database technologies. Prior to joining Microsoft in 1992, he was a Vice President of Symantec Corporation and original author of the Time Line project management program.Peter LePort, M.D.Specialties: Medicine, free market reform of healthcare, medical savings accountsDr. LePort, a full-time surgeon, lectures nationwide on free market reform in healthcare, particularly on the benefits of medical savings accounts. He is a member of the board of directors of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine. He co-wrote a healthcare reform proposal that discusses voluntary, tax-free medical savings accounts and high-deductible personal health insurance and which includes a method to privatize Medicare. He earned his medical degree from Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, and is a former assistant professor of surgery at that institution. He is a member of the Faculty of the American College of Surgeons and of the Orange County Surgical Society.Andrew LewisPostgraduate Diploma of Philosophy, 1994, University of Melbourne, AustraliaMr. Lewis has studied philosophy at the Objectivist Academic Center, the University of Melbourne and the University of Southern California. He worked with Leonard Peikoff on his radio show, has lectured at Objectivist conferences, and is principal at VanDamme Academy, where he teaches a three-year history curriculum covering ancient, European and American history.JOHN LEWIS (deceased)Ph.D., Classics, 2001, University of CambridgeDr. Lewis is assistant professor of history at Ashland University, where he holds an Anthem Fellowship for Objectivist Scholarship. He is Assistant Professor of History in the Department of History and Political Science. He has published in several professional journals, and has been a visiting scholar at Rice University and Bowling Green State UniversityEDWIN A. LOCKEPh.D., Industrial Organizational Psychology, 1964, Cornell University.Dr. Locke is Dean’s Professor of Leadership and Motivation (Emeritus) at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is internationally known for his research and writings on work motivation, leadership and related topics, including the application of Objectivism to psychology and management. He is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute and has published numerous op-eds.Keith LockitchPhD, Physics, 1999, University of Wisconsin at MilwaukeeDr. Lockitch is an ARI fellow and director of advanced training. In addition to speaking and writing for ARI on issues related to energy, climate and environmentalism, he teaches writing for the OAC and has developed courses on Ayn Rand’s ideas and novels for a variety of audiences.ROBERT MAYHEWPh.D., Philosophy, 1991, Georgetown UniversityDr. Mayhew is associate professor of philosophy at Seton Hall University. He is the author of Aristotle’s Criticism of Plato’s Republic and The Female in Aristotle’s Biology and the editor of Ayn Rand’s Marginalia, Ayn Rand’s The Art of Nonfiction, Essays on Ayn Rand’s “We the Living” and (forthcoming) Ayn Rand’s Q & A. He has completed a book on Ayn Rand’s HUAC testimony and is preparing for publication a collection of essays on Ayn Rand’s Anthem.Arline MannArline Mann is an attorney. She is vice president and associate general counsel of Goldman, Sachs & Co.John P. McCaskey, Ph.D. in history, is the founder and chairman of the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship. He spent twenty years in the computer business, most recently as founder of Epiphany, Inc., before returning to academia in 2001. He studies and teaches history and philosophy of science at Stanford University.Scott McConnellSpecialties: Volunteerism, Communism in America, Ayn Rand's life. Mr. McConnell is a former literature teacher and high school English teacher. He has a BA in behavioral sciences and worked in Hollywood as a script reader. He has given several lectures on Ayn Rand's life.Shoshana MilgramPhD, Comparative Literature, 1978, Stanford UniversityDr. Milgram, associate professor of English at Virginia Tech, specializes in narrative fiction and film. She has lectured on Ayn Rand at Objectivist and academic conferences and has published on Ayn Rand, Hugo and Dostoevsky. Dr. Milgram is editing the draft of her book-length study of Ayn Rand’s life (to 1957).Ken Moelis. Mr. Moelis is founder and chief executive officer of Moelis & Company, a global investment bank that provides financial advisory, capital raising and asset management services to a broad client base including corporations, institutions and governments. Mr. Moelis has over thirty years of investment banking experience. Prior to founding Moelis & Company, he worked at UBS from 2001 to 2007, where he was most recently president of UBS Investment Bank and, previously, Joint Global Head of Investment Banking. Mr. Moelis serves on the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees, the Wharton Board of Overseers, the Board of the Tourette Syndrome Association, and the Board of Governors of Cedars Sinai Hospital.Jean MoroneyCertificate, 1996, Objectivist Graduate Center, Ayn Rand Institute;MS, Psychology, 1994, Carnegie Mellon University;MS, Electrical Engineering, 1986, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMs. Moroney is president of Thinking Directions, a business that develops and teaches methods in applied psycho-epistemology. She has given her flagship course, Thinking Tactics, to corporate and public audiences across North America. She is writing a book titled “Smarter: How to Achieve Your Goals When Nothing Goes as Planned.”Adam Mossoff is Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law. He is also Co-Director of Academic Programs and a Senior Scholar at the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property at George Mason, which he co-founded in 2012. He teaches and writes in the areas of patent law, trade secrets, trademark law, property law, and internet law. He has published extensively on the theory and history of how patents and other intellectual property rights are fundamental property rights. His article on the very first patent war, the Sewing Machine War of the 1850s, has been widely cited in today's public policy debates concerning patent litigation, patent licensing, and patent pools. He has testified before the Senate, and he has spoken at numerous congressional staff briefings, professional association conferences, and academic conferences, as well as at the PTO, the FTC, the DOJ, and the Smithsonian Institution. He is Co-Chairman of the Intellectual Property Committee of the IEEE-USA, and he is a member of the Amicus Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Public Policy Committee of the Licensing Executives Society, and the Academic Advisory Board of the Copyright Alliance. ADAM MOSSOFF is an expert in patent law and property theory. He has published numerous law review articles and book reviews on topics in legal philosophy, patent law, and property law, including in law reviews at the University of Arizona and UC-Hastings, and in the interdisciplinary law journal, the University of Chicago Law School Roundtable. He was a visiting lecturer and John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University School of Law, where he taught a seminar on property theory. Immediately prior to coming to MSU College of Law, he clerked for the Hon. Jacques L. Wiener, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Mossoff graduated from the University of Chicago Law School with honors in 2001. He has a M.A. in philosophy from Columbia University, where he specialized in legal and political philosophy, and a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Michigan, where he graduated magna cum laude and with high honors in philosophy. Hi is now an Associate Professor of Law at George Mason University School of LawSpecialties: Philosophy of Law, Constitutional Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Patent RightsJ. PATRICK MULLINS is a doctoral candidate in the history department of the University of Kentucky. He is in the last stages of writing his doctoral dissertation with the help of a generous grant from the Ayn Rand Institute.Travis NorsenSpecialties: Physics, science, history and philosophy of science, science education.Mr. Norsen is a physics and philosophy double-major at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA. He is currently attending his final year of a PhD program in physics at the University of Washington in Seattle. Mr. Norsen is also a former adjunct instructor of physics at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA.JOHN E. OPFER, who still tops the list of Amazon Reviewers on the CyberNet Scoreboard, is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Ohio State University where he specializes in cognitive and developmental psychology. Nowadays he's too busy reviewing his research findings to review books. His work at OSU's Concepts and Learning Lab explores how young children form and change their concepts, such as concepts of living things and number. His website is at <Department of Psychology - John Opfer> where you will find links to several of his fascinating papers.Michael PaxtonMFA, 1984, New York UniversityMr. Paxton directed the world premiere of Ayn Rand’s Ideal (1989) and adapted and directed a dramatic presentation of Anthem (1991). His documentary, Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, won an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Satellite Award for Best Feature Documentary. He teaches production design and film history at the Art Institute in Hollywood.Lee PiersonPhD, 1982, Psychology, Cornell UniversityDr. Pierson, director of the Thinking Skills Institute at Fairleigh Dickinson University, teaches students and business professionals how to keep any thought process moving toward its goal by activating the right knowledge as needed. He has a long-standing interest in and recently participated in life-extension research.AMY PEIKOFFJ.D., 1998, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law;Ph.D., Philosophy, 2003, University of Southern CaliforniaDr. Amy Peikoff is an Anthem fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is teaching undergraduate courses in ethics and epistemology. Her writings on legal and philosophical issues have appeared in academic journals and leading newspapers. She has taught for the Objectivist Academic Center and lectured for Objectivist organizations and at conferences. Visiting Fellow at Chapman University’s Law School.Leonard PeikoffPh .D., Philosophy, 1964 New York UniversityFrom 1957 until 1973, Peikoff taught philosophy at Hunter College, Long Island University, New York University, the University of Denver and the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.After that, he worked full-time on The Ominous Parallels (published 1982) and gave lectures across the country. He gave courses on Ayn Rand's philosophy regularly in New York City, which were taped and played to groups in some 100 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. In addition, he spoke frequently before investment and financial conferences on the philosophic basis of capitalism.Dr. Peikoff, who is a naturalized American citizen, was born in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1933. His father was a surgeon and his mother, before marriage, was a band leader in Western Canada. He has been a contributor to Barron's and an associate editor, with Ayn Rand, of The Objectivist (1968-71) and The Ayn Rand Letter (1971-76).He is author of Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (Dutton, 1991), the definitive statement of Objectivism.Steve PlafkerJ.D., 1973 USCPh.D., Math, 1966 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOISBS, MATH, MIT, 1961Dr. Plafker is a retired Los Angeles County deputy district attorney. His teaching experience includes teaching law to law students and to undergraduates. Before becoming a lawyer, he taught mathematics at Tulane University. He is a founder and member of the Board of Directors of The Association For Objective Law (TAFOL).Richard RalstonSpecialties: Ayn Rand’s life, Objectivism (General), Projects of the Ayn Rand Institute, Volunteerism, Foreign Policy, Journalism and MediaAfter serving seven years in the U.S. Army, Mr. Ralston completed an M.A. in International Relations at the University of Southern California in 1977. He then began a career in newspaper publishing and direct marketing. He has been the circulation director and publisher of The Christian Science Monitor, a radio producer, a national television news business manager, and a book publisher. As an independent direct marketing consultant, his clients included IBM, British Airways, CNN, and the Los Angeles Times. His book Communism: Its Rise and Fall in the 20th Century was published in 1991. Mr. Ralston is now Managing Director for the Ayn Rand Institute.JOHN RIDPATHPh.D., Economics, 1974, University of VirginiaDr. Ridpath (York University, retired) writes and speaks in defense of capitalism, and on the impact throughout Western history—including the American Founding era—of the ideas of the major philosophers. A recipient of numerous teaching awards, and nominee for Canadian Professor of the Year, he continues to lecture throughout Europe and North America.Jonathan Paul Rosman, MDSpecialties: Medicine, psychiatry.Dr. Rosman is a board certified psychiatrist, with additional qualifications in the subspecialties of addiction psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. Prior to entering full-time private practice in California in 1989 he was an assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. For several years, Dr. Rosman has been a psychiatric consultant to the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, and is the psychiatric consultant to the Sleep Disorders Center at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California. He is also medical director for the Eating Disorder Center of California, a private, intensive outpatient clinic in Brentwood, California, devoted to the treatment of patients with anorexia and bulimia.Dr. Rosman is a published writer and lecturer on various aspects of psychiatry. Dr. Rosman's theoretical orientation is broad-based, drawing on and integrating aspects of cognitive-behavioral, short-term psychodynamic and biologic theories with Objectivist epistemological principles. He practices as both a psychotherapist and a psychopharmacologist.GREG SALMIERIB.A., Philosophy, 2001, The College of New JerseyPhD, Philosophy, 2008, University of PittsburghDr. Salmieri is a philosophy fellow at the Anthem Foundation and co-secretary of the Ayn Rand Society (a professional group affiliated with the American Philosophical Association). He teaches at Rutgers University. He has published and lectured on Aristotle and Ayn Rand and is co-editor of forthcoming books on both thinkers.Richard M. SalsmanSpecialties: Banking, free market economics, economic forecasting, capitalism, investmentsRichard M. Salsman is president and chief market strategist of InterMarket Forecasting, which provides quantitative research and forecasts of stocks, bonds, and currencies to guide the asset allocation decisions of institutional investment managers, mutual funds, and pension plans. He is the author of numerous books and articles on economics, banking, and forecasting from a free-market perspective, including Breaking the Banks: Central Banking Problems and Free Banking Solutions (American Institute for Economic Research, 1990) and Gold and Liberty (American Institute for Economic Research, 1995). Mr. Salsman’s work has appeared in The Intellectual Activist, the New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Barron’s. From 1993 to 1999, he was a senior vice president and senior economist at H. C. Wainwright & Co. Economics. Prior to that he was a banker at Citibank and the Bank of New York. Mr. Salsman is an adjunct fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and the founder of The Association of Objectivist Businessmen.Lee Sandstead received his B.A. Philosophy/B.S. Mass Communication from Middle Tennessee State University in December 1996, when he was awarded the prestigious award for “Outstanding Magazine Journalism Graduate.” He has studied art history at the University of Memphis’ graduate program, and most recently, the art history doctoral program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York City. He is a popular writer/photographer/lecturer of art-historical subjects. He has delivered almost 50 keynote lecture-addresses to such prestigious institutions as: Yale, Duke, University of Michigan, Penn State, NYU and the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto. Articles of his have been published in numerous journals, and his photography has been seen in publications such as: The New York Times, Fortune, and Ms. Magazine. He currently teaches art history at Montclair State University and is author of the forthcoming book on American master-sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman (1874-1954DINA SCHEIN FEDERMAN (deceased) is completing her article on "Integrity in The Fountainhead_" for ROBERT MAYHEW's upcoming collection of essays. She will also be delivering two lectures at the European Objectivist conference in London this month. Her writing projects include severalarticles on Virtue Ethics, a movement in academic ethics.DANIEL SCHWARTZBA, Liberal Arts, 2006, St. John’s CollegeMr. Schwartz is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at UC San Diego, where he is working on a dissertation titled “Baconian Foundationalism and the Problem of Certainty.” He specializes in early modern philosophy and the history of the philosophy of science.PETER SCHWARTZM.A., Journalism, 1972, Syracuse UniversityPeter Schwartz is the founding editor and publisher of The Intellectual Activist. He is the editor and contributing author of Ayn Rand’s Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, and is chairman of the board of directors of the Ayn Rand Institute.Thomas ShoebothamMM, Orchestral Conducting, 1996, University of New MexicoMM, Cello Performance, 1992, Eastman School of MusicMr. Shoebotham is music director of the Palo Alto Philharmonic. Previous conducting engagements have included Berkeley Opera, Opera San José, Peninsula Symphony Orchestra and many other groups. He has lectured on music, taught in school music programs and performed numerous recitals as a cellist and pianist over the last twenty years.Stephen SiekPhD, Musicology, 1991, University of CincinnatiDr. Siek, professor emeritus at Wittenberg University, has recently publishedEngland’s Piano Sage: The Life and Teachings of Tobias Matthay. For many years he has lectured and written about the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright, including a scholarly study of Wright’s 1909 home for Burton Westcott in Springfield, Ohio.BRIAN P. SIMPSONPhD, Economics, 2000, George Mason UniversityDr. Simpson is a professor at National University in San Diego. He is author of the book Markets Don’t Fail! and he has a number of papers published in academic journals. He is currently working on another book titled “Money, Banking, and the Business Cycle,” which he hopes to publish soon.Steve SimpsonJD, 1994, New York Law SchoolMr. Simpson is director of legal studies at the Ayn Rand Institute. A former constitutional lawyer for the Institute for Justice, he writes and speaks on a wide variety of legal and constitutional issues, including free speech and campaign finance law, cronyism and government corruption, and the rule of law.Aaron SmithPhD, Philosophy, 2010, Johns Hopkins UniversityDr. Smith is an instructor at the Ayn Rand Institute where he teaches in the Objectivist Academic Center and the Summer Internship program. He lectures for ARI and develops educational content for the Institute’s e-learning programs.Tara SmithPhD, Philosophy, 1989, Johns Hopkins UniversityDr. Smith, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, holds the BB&T Chair for the Study of Objectivism and the Anthem Foundation Fellowship. She has published books on values, virtues, and individual rights. Her latest, “Judicial Review in an Objective Legal System,” is forthcoming in fall 2015 (Cambridge University Press).MARY ANN SURESM.A., Art History, 1966, Hunter College, New YorkMary Ann Sures taught art history at Washington Square College of N.Y.U. and at Hunter College. She applied Objectivist esthetics to painting and sculpture in a ten-lecture course, “Esthetics of the Visual Arts,” which was written in consultation with Ayn Rand. Her philosophical approach to art history is presented in “Metaphysics in Marble” (The Objectivist, February/March, 1969). She is co-author with her (late) husband Charles of Facets of Ayn Rand (published by the Ayn Rand Institute), memoirs of their longtime friendship with Ayn Rand and her husband Frank O’Connor.C. BRADLEY THOMPSONPh.D., History, 1993, Brown UniversityC. Bradley Thompson is the BB&T Research Professor at Clemson University and the Executive Director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He has also been a visiting fellow at Princeton and Harvard universities and at the University of London.Professor Thompson is the author of Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea and the prize-winning book John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty. He has also edited The Revolutionary Writings of John Adams, Antislavery Political Writings, 1833-1860: A Reader, co-edited Freedom and School Choice in American Education, and was an associate editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. His current book project is on the ideological origins of American constitutionalism.Dr. Thompson is also an occasional writer for The Times Literary Supplement of London. He has lectured around the country on education reform and the American Revolution, and his op-ed essays have appeared in scores of newspapers around the country and abroad. Dr. Thompson's lectures on the political thought of John Adams have twice appeared on C-SPAN television.LISA VANDAMMEB.A., Philosophy, 1994, University of Texas at AustinLisa VanDamme is the owner and director of VanDamme Academy, a private elementary and junior high school in Laguna Hills, California. She specializes in the application of Objectivism to educational theory. Her previous lectures on homeschooling, hierarchy and the teaching of values will be included in a forthcoming education anthology featuring Leonard Peikoff’s “Philosophy of Education.”Don WatkinsBA, Business Administration, 2005, Strayer UniversityMr. Watkins is a fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the author of “RooseveltCare: How Social Security Is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance” and coauthor, along with Yaron Brook, of the national best-seller “Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government.”KEITH WEINERPh.D., Economics, 2012, New Austrian School of Economics (non-accredited)Dr. Weiner is the founder and CEO of Monetary Metals, a company on a mission to pay interest on gold, and the president of the Gold Standard Institute USA.He makes the economic arguments, as well as the moral, for a free market in money and credit. There has never been an unadulterated gold standard in history, as all governments (including the U.S.) have regulated and interfered with banking, even when other enterprises were unshackled. Today our monetary system is failing, and Keith describes the mechanics in detail, why making the passionate case for gold as the money of free markets.He is also the founder of DiamondWare, a software company sold to Nortel in 2008.Glenn WoiceshynSpecialties: Education, ethics, environmentalism, science, politics.Mr. Woiceshyn is currently developing curriculum and teaching materials for grades 4 to 6 based on his understanding of Objectivism and his experience in "homeschooling" his son and other children. As a freelance writer, Mr. Woiceshyn's op-eds have appeared in numerous newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald.JAANA WOICESHYNM.B.A., 1983, Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration; Ph.D., Organization and Strategy, 1988, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School)Dr. Woiceshyn is an associate professor at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. She has taught business ethics and strategic management to undergraduate, MBA and executive MBA students and to various business audiences since 1987.BARRY WOODPh.D., History of Art and Architecture, 2002, Harvard UniversityDr. Wood is curator of the Islamic Gallery Project at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He has lectured and published on subjects ranging from Persian poetry to Web design.Darryl WrightSpecialties: Ethics, political philosophy, ObjectivismDarryl Wright is associate professor of philosophy at Harvey Mudd College, a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan in 1991, and his A.B. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1985. Dr. Wright has published scholarly articles and/or lectured on the history of ethics, early twentieth-century philosophy, value theory, coercion, and other topics in philosophy.