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at Los Angeles. Since 1980, Dr. Bikson's research has investigated properties of advanced information technologies in varied user contexts, addressing such issues as what factors affect the successful incorporation of innovative tools into ongoing activities; how these new work media influence group structures and interaction processes; what impact they have on task and social outcomes as well as user satisfaction; and what individuals and organizations need to know to use them effectively. She has pursued these questions as principal investigator for projects funded by NSF, the Office of Technology Assessment, and the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation. Her work emphasizes field research design, intensive case studies, and large-scale cross-sectional studies addressed to the use of computer-based tools in organizational settings. Dr. Bikson is a member of Data for Development (a United Nations' Secretariat providing scientific guidance on the use of information systems in developing countries) and a technical consultant to the U.N. Advisory Commission on the Coordination of Information Systems. She is a frequent reviewer for professional papers and has authored a number of journal articles, book chapters, and research reports on the implementation of new interactive media. She is a member of the AAAS, ACM, APA (fellow), Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Dr. Bikson recently served on the NRC's CSTB Committee to Study the Impact of Information Technology on the Performance of Service Activities.

Thomas A. DeFanti, Ph.D., is director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL), a professor in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and director of the Software Technologies Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He is also the associate director for virtual environments at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

DeFanti is an internationally recognized expert in computer graphics. In the 24 years he has been at UIC, DeFanti has amassed a number of credits, including: use of his graphics language and equipment for the computer animation produced for the first Star Wars movie; early involvement in video game technology long before video games became popular; contributor and co-editor of the 1987 NSF-sponsored report Visualization in Scientific Computing; recipient of the 1988 ACM Outstanding Contribution Award; an appointment in 1989 to the Illinois Governor's Science Advisory Board; and, his appointment as a University Scholar for 1989-1992. DeFanti is also a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery. He serves on the Technical