Anthony J. DeMaria, Vice Chair, is chief scientist at Coherent-DEOS, LLC, and professor in residence at the University of Connecticut School of Engineering. He was chairman/chief executive officer and founder of DeMaria ElectroOptics Systems, Inc. (1994-2001). He held several positions at the United Technology Research Center before he retired as assistant director of research for electronics and photonics technology. Dr. DeMaria’s research expertise is in the area of utilization of laser devices; interaction of elastic waves with coherent light radiation; generation, measurement, and application of picosecond light pulses; gas laser research and applications; acoustic-optics; laser physics and devices; and optics. Dr. DeMaria has been adjunct professor of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a consultant to government and industry, editor of the Journal of Quantum Electronics, and a member of government and industry advisory boards. He was the Distinguished Fairchild Scholar at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. DeMaria is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. He was president of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (1997-2003). He was a research professor at the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Connecticut (1994-1998).

Bradley G. Boone is currently a physicist in the Space Department’s Radio Frequency Engineering Group at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) working on optical communications and laser radar for deep-space applications. He is a member of APL’s principal professional staff. After earning his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Virginia in 1977, Dr. Boone joined APL and became involved in a variety of advanced missile-guidance projects. He was the principal investigator on numerous independent research and development projects in active electro-optical systems, optical signal processing, superconducting electronics, and pattern recognition. He served as a section supervisor in APL’s Fleet Systems Department from 1983 to 1996 and as supervisor of the Electro-Optical Systems Group from 1997 to 2000. Dr. Boone has published more than 50 technical papers and 1 book and holds 5 U.S. patents. He has taught extensively for the G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering and was visiting professor in its Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in 1990-1991.

Steven R.J. Brueck is the director of the Center for High Technology Materials (CHTM) and a professor of electrical and computer engineering and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of New Mexico. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1971. As CHTM director, he manages research and education at the boundaries of two disciplines. The first, optoelectronics, is found in CHTM’s emphasis on semiconductor laser sources, optical modulators, detectors, and optical fibers. The second, microelectronics, applies semiconductor technology to the fabrication of electronic and optoelectronic devices for information and control applications. Examples of these unifying themes at work are silicon (Si)-based optoelectronics and optoelectronics for Si manufacturing sensors. Dr. Brueck is also a former research staff member of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He is a member of the American Physical Society and the Materials Research Society and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Optical Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Nancy (Naomi) Halas is currently the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of chemistry at Rice University. She received her undergraduate degree in chemistry from La Salle University in Philadelphia and her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Bryn Mawr College, the latter while she was a graduate fellow at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, N.Y. Following her postdoctoral research at AT&T Bell Laboratories, she joined the faculty at Rice University. She is best known for her invention of nanoshells, a new type of