SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

David Auerbach
Graz, Austria
South African-born David Auerbach is Professor of Fluid Dynamics at the University of Graz, Austria. During the late 1960s, he was very involved with the student revolution and while attending college in Johannesburg founded the radical political environment movement. For more than 20 years until its closure, he led the Vortex Dynamics Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Flow Research in Göttingen. In addition to teaching and research, he leads the European Water Group and heads a group of professional water scientists and artists who meet to discuss a new consciousness on water. Auerbach earned a PhD in Fluid Dynamics at Göttingen University, Germany.

Maude Barlow
Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Ottawa-based activist, writer, and policy critic, Maude Barlow is the volunteer national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. Founded in 1985, this organization is Canada's pre-eminent public advocacy group, comprised of more than 100,000 members and 70 chapters across the country. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Forum on globalization. The best-selling author of ten books on the effects of globalization on social programs, education, the media and the environment, she holds an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from Memorial University.

James B. Blackburn
Houston, Texas
An environmental attorney with an MS degree from Rice University and JD from The University of Texas at Austin, Jim Blackburn is a partner in Blackburn & Carter, a firm devoted to environmental law and planning. He has practiced environmental law in Houston for more than 30 years and teaches in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at Rice. For legal work associated with urban quality of life issues, in 2003 he was awarded an honorary membership in the American Institute of Architects. He is an environmental activist, Chair of the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association and serves on the Board of the Matagorda Bay Foundation.

Edward Djerejian
Houston, Texas
The founding Director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian is one of the United States' most distinguished diplomats whose career spans eight presidential administrations. A leading expert on the complex political, security, economic, religious, and ethnic issues of the Middle East, he has played key roles in the Arab-Israeli peace process, the U.S.-led coalition against Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, successful efforts to end the civil war in Lebanon, the release of the U.S. hostages in Lebanon, and the establishment of collective and bilateral security arrangements in the Persian Gulf. He served as U. S. Ambassador to Israel under President Clinton and as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs for President George H. W. Bush and President Clinton. He was U.S. Ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic for President Reagan and President Bush. Ambassador Djerejian has also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the White House, and as Deputy Chief of the U. S. Mission to the Kingdom of Jordan. A foreign service officer since 1962, he graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He holds both a BS and an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Georgetown University and is fluent in Arabic, Russian, French and Armenian. Among his awards are the Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Department of State's Distinguished Honor Award.

Herbert Dreiseitl
Ûberlingen, Germany
The founding Director of the Atelier Dreiseitl, Herbert Dreisitl was born and raised in Ulm, Germany. Mr. Dreiseitl was inspired early on by his environment and was encouraged to follow his artistic instincts. In the German tradition, he trained as an artist through apprenticeships in England, Norway and Germany. For more than 20 years he has been the creative and moderating link between the Atelier's staff, encouraging a synergistic interface of art, ecology, engineering and hydrology. He directs urban design projects related to water throughout the world.

Winifred J. Hamilton
Houston, Texas
Winifred Hamilton is Director of the Environmental Health Section at the Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Center, Baylor College of Medicine. Ms. Hamilton earned her PhD in environmental health epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a member of the American Medical Writers' Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Association of Medical Illustrators and several environmental organizations. She has published extensively. She was awarded the Citizens' Environmental Coalition's Synergy Award for Environmental Excellence, as well as many from the Association of Medical Illustrators.

Joseph Hughes
Atlanta, Georgia
Joseph Hughes is the Chair of the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering in the Georgia Institute of Technolog. Mr. Hughes specializes in Environmental Biotechnology with an emphasis on how the metabolic capabilities of living organism can be harnessed to improve the environment in which we live. His research has focused on ways bacteria and plants metabolize hazardous organic pollutants. He is currently investigating interactions between contaminant phase distribution and metabolic rates. Prior to his appointment in August 2003 at Georgia Tech, he was Chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Rice University.

Walter W. Isle
Houston, Texas
Walter Isle is Vice Provost for Academic Affairs/Co-Director at the Center for the Study of Environment and Society, Rice University. Mr. Isle has taught courses on literature and the environment for ten years, and interdisciplinary environmental studies for five years. He is a Past-President of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE). His research interests include environmental literature and history, Native American literature, and history and literature of the American West. In 1999, he was appointed Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Rice University. Previously, he was Chair of the English Department. He holds a PhD in English from Stanford University.

Mary E. Kelly
Austin, Texas
Mary Kelly joined Environmental Defense in 2002 as senior attorney and Program Director for U. S./Mexico Border Initiatives. Environmental Defense is a leading national nonprofit organization representing more than 400,000 members. Since 1967, it has linked science, economics and law to create innovative, equitable and cost-effective solutions to society's most urgent environmental problems. Ms. Kelly currently serves on the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Environment Finance Advisory Board. She is a previous chair of the national Advisory Committee to EPA on the North American Commission on the Environment. She obtained her law degree from The University of Texas and has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arizona. Prior to joining Environmental Defense, she was Executive Director of the Texas Center for Policy Studies and a lawyer in private practice.

Neal Lane
Houston, Texas
A Senior Fellow of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, Neil Lane is the Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly University Professor in the Department of Physics. Widely regarded as a distinguished scientist and educator, Dr. Lane has written extensively on topics that include theoretical atomic and molecular physics, and science and technology. From mid-1978 to 1980, he served as Chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Upon returning to Rice, he served as Provost and Professor of Physics from 1986 until his 1998 appointment by President Clinton as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. His public service includes work at the National Science Foundation (NSF) as Director of the Division of Physics, as Director of the NSF and ex officio member of the National Science Board from 1993 to 1998. Rice has twice recognized his ability in the classroom with the George R. Brown Prize for Superior Teaching. A native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Dr. Lane earned his BS, with Phi Beta Kappa honors, MS and PhD degrees from the University of Oklahoma. He has been a member of Sigma Xi National Research Society for 40 years.

James Lester
The Woodlands, Texas
Director of the Environment Group at the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), Jim Lester is responsible for projects to make more sustainable management of water, air and biological resources. He was a faculty member and administrator in the University of Houston System from 1975 to 2002 and Director of the Environmental Institute of Houston at the University of Houston - Clear Lake. He serves on the executive committee of the Galveston Bay Foundation, chairs the Research Coordination Committee of the Galveston Bay Estuary Program, and serves on an advisory committee for the Rice University Center for the Study of Environment and Society. His scientific expertise is grounded in ecology and evolution, which he has applied to conservation and environmental quality projects. His current research involves analysis of compiled monitoring datasets to obtain new insights for watershed and landscape management. His group collaborates with other organizations to use information technology to make biological information more accessible and understandable via the Internet.

Shannon Marquez
San Antonio, Texas
Shannon Marquez is Assistant Professor at the Environmental Sciences, UT School of Public Health. Ms. Marquez' research interests include risk assessment of waterborne contaminants, vector control and environmental interventions for water-related diseases, public health engineering, international health, rural water and sanitation issues, community-based participatory research, and environmental health in underserved areas.

William McDonough
Charlottesville, Virginia
Internationally renowned architect and designer William McDonough, FAIA, will open The Global Forum on Water the evening of Thursday, April 1 at The Menil Collection, 1515 Sul Ross, with his presentation, "Designing for a Sustainable Future." Mr. McDonough and his partners are proponents and shapers of what they call "The Next Industrial Revolution," a movement to transform the relationship between commerce and nature. For his "utopianism grounded in a unified philosophy that - in demonstrable and practical ways - is changing the design of the world, Time magazine recognized him as a "Hero for the Planet" in 1999. He is a founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, a design firm recognized internationally for practicing ecologically, socially, and economically intelligent architecture and planning in the United States and abroad. Mr. McDonough earned a BA with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Dartmouth College and an MA in Architecture from Yale University. A former dean of the University of Virginia's School of Architecture, he holds professorships at the university's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and at Cornell University. Mr. McDonough received the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, the nation's highest environmental award, from President Clinton in 1996.

Marcela Olivera
Washington, DC
Marcela Olivera, International Liaison, Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y la Vida (Coalition for the Defense of Water and Life) has been involved in organizing what has been called the first successful struggle against water privatization in the world, in her hometown of Cochabamba, Bolivia. She is an outspoken proponent of community based ecopolitics who currently works with Public Citizen on organizing an international network on water rights issues.

Jerome Delli Priscoli
Washington, D.C.
Engineers, academics, administrators and environmentalists share significant interests far beyond their familiar adversarial positions. For 25 years, Jerome Delli Priscoli has been at the forefront of translating these shared interests into national and international public policy. He is Senior Advisor to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources. Over the past 28 years, he has been the principle advocate of the Corps' transformation toward open administration and advocacy of environmental ethics, directing the Corps' research, training and field assistance programs on Social Assessment techniques, Public Participation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). He is also the Corps' senior advisor on international water issues. He had been a pivotal actor in most of the major world water forums and in the creation of several critical world water partnerships of the last decade. Delli Priscoli is a skilled mediator and facilitator who practices throughout the world. Among those institutions with whom he has worked or advised are the U. S. Department of Defense, NATO, the International Academy for the Environment in Geneva and the World Bank. He is recognized as a world leader in conflict management, water resources and security. He holds BAs in Economics and Political Science from Tufts University, a PhD from Georgetown University in Political Science and has done postgraduate work in theology and philosophy. He is adjunct Professor in the School of International Water Resources Management at Colorado State University and is Editor in Chief of Water Policy, the official peer reviewed journal of the World Water Council.

Carla Valentine Pryne
Seattle, Washington
An Episcopal minister, Carla Valentine Pryne is a founding director of Earth Ministry in Seattle, Washington. She and Rev. James Mulligan established Earth Ministry in 1992 to engage individuals and congregations in knowing God more fully through deepening relationships with all God's creatures.

Maureen Stapleton
San Diego, California
Maureen Stapleton is General Manager at the San Diego County Water Authority. Ms. Stapleton oversees a dynamic agency that is aggressively pursuing a comprehensive array of programs to diversify and improve the reliability of San Diego County's water supply. The agency provides about 90 percent of all the water used in San Diego County, supporting a $130 billion economy and the quality of life for three million residents. Due to her efforts, San Diego now has a system of new reservoirs and other infrastructure to ensure a reliable water supply during an emergency.

Mark Wiesner
Houston, Texas
Director of the Environmental & Energy Systems Institute at Rice University, Mark Wiesner holds dual appointments as professor in the Departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Chemical Engineering. He has an international background in environmental engineering practice, research and policy, and his research pioneered the application of membrane processes to environmental separations and water treatment. Dr. Wiesner's current areas of research include nanotechnology and the environment, uses of colloidal and nano-structured materials, water reuse in microgravity and computational engineering of environmental processes. He is the founding Chair of the American Water Works Association Membrane Research Committee, and is associate editor of Environmental Science Engineering.

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