Dr. Bruce Merrill is Research Director for Walter Cronkite Media Research Center at Arizona State University. His undergraduate major was mathematics and his master’s is in political science. His doctorate in political behavior is from the University of Michigan, where he trained at the Institute for Social Research.

When the journalism-telecommunication faculty was expanded in 1988, Dr. Merrill -- an ASU faculty member since 1971 -- was sought out because of his reputation as a researcher in the areas of political behavior and political media communications .

Professor Merrill’s first major assignment in fall 1988 was to establish a Media Research Program in the Cronkite School. Under his direction the School launched the Cactus State Poll in conjunction with KAET-TV in 1990. The Media Research Program is used to conduct public opinion polls and to train students in the design and interpretation of the polls.

Dr. Merrill has overseen more than 500 surveys during the past decade and has served as a consultant to scores of newspapers, television stations and corporations. The surveys have focused on a variety of issues as well as marketing and advertising strategies. Results have been disseminated widely by major national and international newspapers and electronic media outlets.

Dr. Merrill teaches courses in public opinion, political communication and quantitative research methodology with an emphasis on survey research. He also has interests in marketing and advertising strategy.

David William Foster is Regents Professor of Spanish and Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University. He holds a BA in Spanish, as well as an MA in Spanish and Romance Linguistics and a PhD in Romance Languages and Literature, all from the Univ. of Washington.

Dr. Foster's research interests focus on urban culture in Latin America, with emphasis on issues of gender construction and sexual identity. He specializes in Argentina and has written extensively on Argentine narrative and theater. His most recent publications include: Culture and Customs of Argentina (1998), A Funny Dirty Little War/no habrás más penas ni olvido (1998), Buenos Aires: Perspectives on the City and Cultural Production (1998) and Contemporary Argentina Cinema (1992).

The HSGP Book Club meets at the Mesa Library, Main Branch, 64 East 1st Street (East of Country Club Way at the intersection of N. Centennial Way -- N.W. corner).

From Amazon.com:

An all-time science fiction classic, Rendezvous with Rama is also one of Clarke's best novels--it won the Campbell, Hugo, Jupiter, and Nebula Awards. A huge, mysterious, cylindrical object appears in space, swooping in toward the sun. The citizens of the solar system send a ship to investigate before the enigmatic craft, called Rama, disappears. The astronauts given the task of exploring the hollow cylindrical ship are able to decipher some, but definitely not all, of the extraterrestrial vehicle's puzzles. From the ubiquitous trilateral symmetry of its structures to its cylindrical sea and machine-island, Rama's secrets are strange evidence of an advanced civilization. But who, and where, are the Ramans, and what do they want with humans? Perhaps the answer lies with the busily working biots, or the sealed-off buildings, or the inaccessible "southern" half of the enormous cylinder. Rama's unsolved mysteries are tantalizing indeed. Rendezvous with Rama is fast moving, fascinating, and a must-read for science fiction fans. Clarke collaborated with Gentry Lee in writing several Rama sequels, beginning with Rama II.

We got together to view the Bill Maher documentary, Religulous. After the film, we enjoyed dinner at Lucille's Barbeque restaurant while we discussed the movie.

Our member, John Sadowsky, was our guest speaker. John is a communications systems engineer. He holds a Ph.D. and has studied both engineering and mathematics. He was a professor at Purdue and ASU for nearly 15 years, and is currently a staff engineer at General Dynamics. He is also the political chair for the Sierra Club Palo Verde Group (greater Phoenix area).

DAVID C. BERLINER is Regents Professor of Education at Arizona State University. He has taught at the Universities of Arizona and Massachusetts, at Teachers College and Stanford University, as well as at universities in Australia, The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Dr. Berliner is a member of the National Academy of Education, a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and a past president of both the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Division of Educational Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA). He is the recipient of awards for distinguished contributions from APA, AERA, and the National Education Association (NEA). He is co-author (with B. J. Biddle) of the best seller The manufactured crisis, co-author (with Ursula Casanova) of Putting research to work, and co-author (with N. L. Gage) of the textbook Educational psychology, now in its 6th edition. He is co-editor of the first Handbook of educational psychology and the books Talks to teachers, and Perspectives on instructional time. His newest book, Collateral damage (with Sharon Nichols) is about the corruption of professional educators through high-stakes testing. Professor Berliner has also authored more than 200 published articles, technical reports, and book chapters.

The HSGP Book Club meets at the Mesa Library, Main Branch, 64 East 1st Street (East of Country Club Way at the intersection of N. Centennial Way -- N.W. corner)

From Amazon.com:

Writer Primo Levi (1919-1987), an Italian Jew, did not come to the wide attention of the English-reading audience until the last years of his life. A survivor of the Holocaust and imprisonment in Auschwitz, Levi is considered to be one of the century's most compelling voices, and The Periodic Table is his most famous book. Springboarding from his training as a chemist, Levi uses the elements as metaphors to create a cycle of linked, somewhat autobiographical tales, including stories of the Piedmontese Jewish community he came from, and of his response to the Holocaust.

Richard Leis, Jr. is Operations Specialist for the HiRISE Operations Center at University of Arizona in Tucson. He is also an HSGP member. In his work he focuses on downlink activities, such as downloading and processing images, leading image validation efforts, testing operations software, managing documents, writing Perl scripts, and participating in public outreach events. He is also involved in the Transhumanism movement.

Richard gave an outstanding PowerPoint presentation with slides of views of Mars and other planets in our solar system.