Dr. Christian Pohl is co-director of the transdisciplinarity-net of the Swiss-Academies of Art and Science and senior researcher and lecturer at the Department of Environmental Sciences at ETH Zurich. He was trained in environmental sciences and wrote a doctoral thesis on how to handle uncertainties in environmental assessments by using fuzzy sets. As a postdoc he moved to the field of science and technology studies, where he analyzed the collaboration of natural and social scientist in Swiss and Swedish policy-driven environmental research. In 2003 he became co-director of td-net for transdisciplinary research of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (http://www.transdisciplinarity.ch/e). Td-net's aim is to strengthen research that addresses real-world issues and for that purpose bridges academic as well as non-academic expert knowledge.

During the last years Christian Pohl's work at td-net focused on the methodological particularities of transdisciplinary knowledge production. Out of this work he published, amongst others, the Principles for Designing Transdisciplinary Research (2007) and co-edited the Handbook of Transdisciplinary Research (2008), both providing practical examples, theoretical basics and tools for collaborative knowledge production. Christian Pohl's main field of research and publication is the analysis and design of transdisciplinary research, specifically in the field of sustainability sciences, and with a particular interest in the collaboration between natural and social sciences and the science.

Theoretical physicist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France. Professor at the Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Member of the Romanian Academy. Professor Extraordinary at the School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Founding member of ISSR. President-Founder of the International Center for Transdisciplinary Research and Studies (CIRET), a non-profit organization (165 members from 26 countries), which has a web site at : http://ciret-transdisciplinarity.org/index.php. Founder and Director of the Transdisciplinarity Series, Rocher Editions, Monaco, of the Romanians in Paris Series, Oxus Editions, Paris and of the Science and Religion Series, Curtea Veche, Bucharest (in collaboration with Magda Stavinschi). A specialist in the theory of elementary particles, Basarab Nicolescu is the author of 130 articles in leading international scientific journals, has made numerous contributions to science anthologies and participated in several dozen French radio and foreign multimedia documentaries on science. Basarab Nicolescu is a major advocate of the transdisciplinary reconciliation between Science and the Humanities.

He published many articles on the role of science in the contemporary culture in journals in USA, France, Romania, Italy, United Kingdom, Brazil, Argentina and Japan. His books include : From Modernity to Cosmodernity - Science, Culture, and Spirituality, State University of New York (SUNY) Press, New York, 2014, Manifesto of Transdisciplinarity, State University of New York (SUNY) Press, New York, 2002; Nous, la particule et le monde, Rocher, Monaco, 2002 (2nd edition) ; Science, Meaning and Evolution - The Cosmology of Jacob Boehme, Parabola Books, New York, 1991. He “recently” edited Transdisciplinarity -Theory and Practice, Hampton Press, Cresskill, New Jersey, 2008. A complete biobibliography of Dr. Basarab Nicolescu can be found on the page: http://basarab-nicolescu.fr/.

Professor Ovid Tzeng was the former Minister of Education in Taiwain, and former Vice President of Academia Sinica, the national research academy of Taiwan. He is a respected scientist recognized for his work in memory, psycholinguistics, and cognitive neuroscience. He has gained particular recognition for his extensive analysis of reading behaviors across different writing systems, and he is a leading pioneer in the field of cognitive neuroscientific studies of Chinese language. In 1994, he was elected as a fellow academician of Academia Sinica. While working at Academia Sinica, Professor Tzeng devoted himself to the research of cognitive neuroscientific studies of memory and language. During his tenure as the Vice President, he launched numerous programs to promote the interaction between Academia Sinica and International Council of Science Union (ICSU). He also represented Academia Sinica in the Human Network of National Academy. In February 2004 he was elected as a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and in 2006 he was elected to the Committee of Freedom and Responsibility in the Conduct of Science (CFRS).

Margo Dover, has been the executive director of Skillpoint Alliance since June 1996. Skillpoint builds partnerships among industry, education and the community leading to college and career success for Central Texans, while meeting employers’ needs for a qualified workforce. Dover's greatest strength is her 100% belief that every life has meaning and that is imperative that everyone served by Skillpoint will realize their best potential. Prior to coming to Skillpoint she spent much of her career as an international business specialist. During the 1980s she lived in Spain and Argentina where she was a co-founder and marketing director for Columbus International College, an American Community College program created for foreign students hoping to continue their post-secondary educations in the United States... Upon her return from Argentina, Dover did international business consulting until she was hired as the Director of the Texas International Center for the Texas Department of Economic Development where she planned, implemented and managed programs, events and initiatives designed to increase trade activity between Texas businesses and foreign markets.

After leaving government service Dover became the Founder and CEO of Trade Catalyst, Inc., a firm that combined technology with strategic partnerships to offer qualified trade leads for small and medium-sized companies worldwide. As Austin's economy shifted in 2000 Dover had the opportunity to move in a new direction and became the Vice President for Development for Meals on Wheels and More where she had sole responsibility for a $3.2 million capital campaign as well as the day-to-day fund raising for the organization. She has been a volunteer and/or board director for Austin Shelter Rescue, the Equestrian Aid Foundation "The Ride for Hope", Ninos Para Ninos/Kids for Kids and many other charitable organizations throughout the years.

Barry Lam has been described as a maverick among Taiwanese businessmen. Barry was born and raised in Hong Kong, but moved to Taiwan to attend National Taiwan University, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. In 1973 he and some former classmates launched Kimpo, a maker of handheld calculators. Barry became president and built the company into the world's largest contract calculator maker. But by the late 1980s, Barry Lam was looking for new challenges. As technology for making flat-panel displays matured, he figured the next big thing would be notebook PCs. Unfortunately, as a minority shareholder of Kimpo, Barry couldn't persuade the company's directors to take a risk on these new computers so he quit and started Quanta in 1988. Within two years, the young company had attracted Siemens and Philips Electronics as customers, among others.

Quanta has continued to lead the industry in portable, ubiquitous electronic systems. While 2001 was a year to forget for almost everybody in the PC world, Quanta continued to grow. Back in 2000 Quanta produced a customized laptop computer in 72 hours; a year later 48 hours; today less than 24 hours. Quanta had moved all its production to China. With annual turnover over US$33BN today, Quanta is one of the world's leading providers of technology products and solutions to Fortune 500 companies such as Apple, HP, Dell, IBM, Sony and others. Quanta holds the distinction as the world's largest manufacturer of laptop PCs, making over 1 in every 3 laptop PCs globally today. Quanta also provides a full array of mobile phones, mobile internet devices and servers and storage products. As Barry will tell you, Quanta's success is made possible by the company's ability to provide customers with high value added services from innovative product development, flexible manufacturing, real-time supply chain management to after sales service and support. Barry is convinced that product diversification and innovation will keep Quanta's flexible manufacturing busy for years to come. With the dedication to technological innovation and education, Barry launched the $200M R&D center project, Quanta R&D Complex (QRDC), in Taiwan. With floor space of 2.2M square feet and a capacity to house up to 7,000 engineers, QRDC is being touted by many in Taiwan as the Dreamland of R&D Engineers. QRDC inaugurated in late 2005 which is the headquarter of Quanta Computer Inc.

In 2005, Quanta and MIT announced a five-year, $20M joint research collaboration project (TParty) aimed at developing the next generation of platforms for computing and communication beyond personal computers. Furthermore, Quanta are hoping to build closer ties with more worldwide research institutes, tackling some advanced research projects that complement the Quanta-MIT TParty project and help expand the vision to provide reliable, affordable access to the benefits of information and communications technologies to all the world's citizens.

In both 1999 and 2001, Barry was chosen by Business Week as one of the fifty Stars of Asia. In 2002, he was highlighted on Business Week's list of the top 25 managers of the year for his achievements in taking Quanta to the number 1 notebook maker in the world. In 2005, Barry received degree of doctor for technology honoris causa from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Barry received Honorary Doctoral Degrees from National University (NTU) in 2007, and City University of Hong Kong (CityU) in 2011. In 2012, National Tsing-Hua University and National Chiao Tung University respectively had awarded an honorary doctorate to Barry to honor his outstanding achievement in the industry; his exemplary humanitarian spirit, and his efforts to promote art and literature.

Barry is also the Director of Cloud Gate Theatre Group and the Chairman of Quanta Education Foundation. The foundation has supported numerous charitable activities and promoted culture and arts to enrich people's lives. From year 2008, Barry is the member and Convener of National Palace Museum Advisory Committee. He is the Chairman of Epoch Foundation since 2008 and joins current membership of MIT EECS visiting committee.

Dr. A. Ertas, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received his masters and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. He had 12 years of industrial experience prior to pursuing graduate studies. Dr. A. Ertas has been the driving force behind the conception and the development of the transdisciplinary model for education and research. His pioneering efforts in transdisciplinary research and education have been recognized internationally by several awards. He is a Senior Research Fellow of the ICC Institute at the University of Texas Austin, a Fellow of ASME, a Fellow of Society for Design and Process Science (SDPS) and a founding Fellow of ATLAS. He is also an honorary member of International Center for Transdisciplinary Research (CIRET), France.

Dr. Ertas has earned both national and international reputation in engineering design. Dr. Ertas published 4 books (A. Ertas, and J. C. Jones, The Engineering Design Process, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, first addition 1993, and second addition 1996; A. Ertas, Prevention through Design (PtD): Transdisciplinary Process, (Funding for this research was provided by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health), 2010; A. Ertas, Engineering Mechanics and Design Applications: Transdisciplinary Engineering Fundamentals, Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, 2011; A. Ertas (Editor), Transdisciplinarity: Bridging Natural Science, Social Science, Humanities & Engineering, TheATLAS Publications, 2011) and edited more than 35 conference proceedings. He has also organized more than 30 international conferences within ASME, IEEE, SDPS and ATLAS.

Dr. Ertas' contributions to teaching and research have been recognized by numerous honors and awards. The honors and awards include: President's Excellence in Teaching; Pi Tau Sigma Best Professor Award; Pi Tau Sigma Outstanding Teaching Award; Halliburton Award in recognition of outstanding achievement and professionalism in education and research; College of Engineering Outstanding Researcher Award; George T. and Gladys Hanger Abell Faculty Award for overall excellence in teaching and research; and President's Academic Achievement Award. He also received the most prestigious SDPS George Kozmetsky Distinguished Achievement Award and Excellence in Leadership Award. Most recently, he was recognized as one of the distinguished former students of Texas A&M, Mechanical Enginering Department. In January 2012 Dr. Ertas received the ATLAS-Academy Gold Medal of Honor Award. He has published over 150 scientific papers that cover many engineering technical fields. He has been PI or Co-PI on over 40 funded research projects. Under his supervision more than 170 MS and Ph.D. graduate students have received degrees.

Dr. Juan M. Sanchez is the past Vice President for Research at The University of Texas at Austin and holder of the Temple Foundation Endowed Professorship #4 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

He obtained his B.S. in Physics at the University of Cordoba, Argentina, 1971; M.S. in Materials Science, 1974; and Ph.D. in Materials Science, 1977 at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Sanchez is the author and co-author of over 140 technical publications on a wide range of topics in materials science and engineering. His current research interests are in the electronic, thermodynamic and structural properties of materials including intermetallic compounds, magnetic and non-magnetic alloys, thin films and magnetic multilayers. Primary interest is the development and application of first principles computational methods for the construction of phase diagrams of multicomponent material systems. Other research interests include the development of laser-controlled selective chemical vapor deposition processes for metals, alloys and ceramics.

Dr. Sanchez serves on the Council of Federal Relations of the Association of American Universities; the Board of Trustee of the Southwestern Universities Research Association; the National Scientific and Policy Advisory Council for the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health; the International Advisory Board of the University of Nuevo Leon, Mexico; and the External Evaluation Committee of the Instituto Potosino de Investigacion Cientifica y Technologica, Mexico. Dr. Sanchez is a past member of the Board of Visitors of the US Army War College; the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and the Board of Directors of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

Dr. Tsai received his doctor of medicine from Teikyo University, Japan. He has been involved in research, teaching, and practicing medicine at China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan. While his research has been well regarded, he became famous during the 2003-2004 SARS epidemics as the Commander of Mid-Taiwan SARS Control and Medical Resources Integration Commanding Center for his outstanding achievement in the prevention of SARS spreading for which he has received a special high honor award from the Executive Yuan of the Taiwan government.

Red McCombs, born in Spur, Texas, attended Southwestern University and the University of Texas at Austin School of Business and School of Law. He left law school in his second year and began his career as a salesman in the automobile business in Corpus Christi in 1950. In 1958 he relocated to San Antonio where he is owner of Red McCombs Automotive. In addition to his auto interests, he is co-founder of Clear Channel Communications and of McCombs Energy in Houston and is active in a variety of other businesses. McCombs has served leadership roles in many national, state, and local organizations including Chamber of Commerce, United Way and San Antonio's World Fair. He formerly served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Southwestern University where he has been honored as Distinguished Alumnus. He is past Chairman of the Board of Visitors of University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Mr. McCombs has chaired many fund drives and community service organizations. He has been honored as Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin. He has also been honored with numerous local, state, and national recognitions including the San Antonio Business Hall of Fame, the National Automobile Dealers Hall of Fame, the Texas Business Hall of Fame, and the National Football College Hall of Fame.

In the past, Mr. McCombs was the owner of the Minnesota Vikings, an NFL franchise based in Minneapolis/St. Paul. In addition, he has owned the San Antonio Spurs, a National Basketball Association team which he secured for San Antonio in 1972. He also owned the NBA Denver Nuggets which he sold in 1985. At age 25, he purchased his first professional sports team, the Corpus Christi Texas Clippers in the Big State Baseball League. He is the namesake of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin (an honor given in recognition of a fifty million U.S. dollar donation to the University) and was named one of Forbes magazine's 400 richest Americans for the past 10 years. Red McCombs is a world-class entrepreneur. He is a transdisciplinary thinker who has diverse professional experiences in business that spans a broad spectrum, including the automotive industry, communications, sports industry, real estate development, exploration of oil and gas and finally various insurance com­panies.