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.

Clark Jones showed pictures and graphs and discussed some of the practical issues of a real solar electric system, which was of interest to all. To learn more about this fascinating field, read his report to the IEEE Computer Society: http://www.hsgp.org/Clarks_Solar_Power_CS.pdf

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 Publishers Weekly:

The still-vocal critic of Sexual Personae, a book that drew on poetry and painting for its de-deconstructions of gender, checks in with an anthology of 43 poems, along with her own close readings of them. Her introduction offers a jumble of justifications for undertaking such a project (though she is "unsure whether the West's chaotic personalism can prevail against the totalizing creeds that menace it," she hopes it will), but the readings themselves reveal Paglia's fascination with poetry, which she likens "to addiction or to the euphoria of being in love." The book's first half presents canonical work that Paglia has found "most successful in the classroom" (Shakespeare, Blake, Dickinson, etc.). The second features mostly canonical modernist and confessional work (Stevens, Williams, Toomer, Roethke and Plath), with a few more recent pieces. Clocking in mostly at two to four pages, Paglia's readings sound a lot like classroom preambles to discussion—offering background, lingering over provocative lines, venturing provisional interpretations. Some of what she says comes off as grandiose (Roethke's " 'Cuttings' is a regrounding of modern English poetry in lost agrarian universals"), some as boilerplate, some as inspired. Though hit-and-miss, Paglia's picks and appraisals provide the requisite spark for jump-starting returns to poetry.

Jerry Walp and his wife, Judy, are members of the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix. Jerry was born and raised in Ohio and attended a small midwest technical school, graduating with a degree in Industrial Engineering. He spent the next 27 years working for a company in Colorado. Now retired, he has written five books, including Dominance and Delusion: Why We Do the Things We Do (written under the name M. A. Curtis -- and available in our library!). According to Jerry, Dominance and Delusion offers a new and controversial theory with respect to human behavior. It is a analysis of the human animal from an engineering standpoint. The book lays out the reasons why he believes we behave the way we do. His presentation was based upon the revolutionary ideas in his book.

The Walps are both retired. Judy is a volunteer with the American Red Cross and Jerry is a gardener, growing fruits and vegetables for the food bank. They have one son and two grandchildren.

Dr. Kevin McGraw is Assistant professor of Evolutionary and Systems Biology at ASU School of Life Sciences. Dr. McGraw holds an M.S. from Auburn Univ., and a Ph.D. from Cornell. In addition, he has done post doctoral studies at U.C.-Davis.

Dr. McGraw is the author and co-author of numerous books, articles and papers. He was awarded the 2005 Outstanding New Investigator Award by the American Ornithologists' Union. His contributions come in the field of avian visual communication and coloration, and he is credited with pioneering a new approach to the study of ornamental traits. By taking an integrative approach that combines concepts and techniques from evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, behavioral endocrinology, avian nutrition, and immunoecology, he has helped to solve questions about why and how birds assume the colors they do. He is a world authority on the carotenoid pigments of skin and feathers and other sources of color. By addressing how colors are synthesized, influenced by access to dietary components, and affected by health, condition, and heritage, he has greatly advanced our understanding of how avian ornaments develop and evolve.

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)

We read and discussed the book that started it all! It was sold out on its first day of publication in 1859. It created controversy then, and it continues to do so today. Read it and be informed first-hand on Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

There are many editions out there, included abridged, so try to get a copy of the original version.

Dr. Willem "Wim" Vermaas came to Arizona State University in 1986 after having worked on various aspects of plant cell and molecular biology at the University of Illinois, Michigan State University, the Technical University in Berlin (Germany), the Agricultural University in Wageningen (The Netherlands), and the Du Pont Experimental Station (Wilmington, Delaware). Since coming to ASU, research in his group has focused on the molecular biology and cell physiology of prokaryotic photosynthetic systems, increasingly making use of functional genomics. Dr. Vermaas is involved with the National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program in Biomolecular Nanotechnology, and was Director of the related NSF-supported Graduate Research Training Program in the molecular plant sciences.

Lori Lipman Brown is the Director of the Secular Coalition for America http://www.secular.org/index.html, a 501(c)4 advocacy organization whose purpose is to amplify the diverse and growing voice of the nontheistic community in the United States.

Ms. Brown served as Nevada State Senator from 1992 to 1994. Her legislative efforts focused on public education, mental health care and the repeal of consensual sex crimes, which resulted in her being named Civil Libertarian of the Year by the Southern Nevada chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and Legislator of the Year by the Nevada chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Brown has been a frequent political commentator on television and radio and a regular columnist in a variety of print media. A former private practice lawyer, she taught constitutional law, American history, and education law for the University of Phoenix, and women's studies for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Brown was also a high school English, speech and drama teacher in the Clark County school district.

She obtained her J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law in 1983, and her B.A. in communications from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1981. She has facilitated or presented at numerous events and served as a National Education Association diversity trainer from 1996 to 2000. Brown was hired by the Secular Coalition for America in September, 2005. She directs the coalition's activities and lobbies members of Congress on issues arising out of the inappropriate incursion of religion into civil law. She also addresses the interests and concerns of America's atheists, freethinkers, humanists, and other nontheists through media appearances and speaking engagements.