SPEAKER: Brian Enke

Research Analyst - Department of Space Studies Southwest Research Institute

Brian Enke is a Senior Research Analyst in the Department of Space Studies at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.  As the Chairman of the local Mars Society chapter and an adviser to the MarsDrive Consortium, he has given many public talks about space exploration and settlement strategies. Brian also volunteers as a high school robotics mentor and a writer/consultant for the 4Frontiers Corporation. His novel about Mars exploration, Shadows of Medusa (http://www.shadowsofmedusa.com), continues to delight  hard-science fiction readers. In his rare moments of spare time, he writes space-related articles as the Denver Space Industry Examiner (http://www.examiner.com/x-2558-Denver-Space-Industry-Examiner).

MODERATOR: Dave Taylor

Senior Fellow at the DaVinci Institute; Blogger, Speaker, Workshop Facilitator and Radio Host

Dave Taylor has been involved with the online world since 1980 and films, edits and produces his own instructional videos for Intel Corporation, as seen on Intel Scoop and Intel's YouTube channel. He's not formally trained in video, he's just figured it out through trial and error, and it's that experience he'll be using to teach this valuable bootcamp. Find Dave online at www.DaveTaylorOnline.com

PANELIST: Burke Fort

Director of the Colorado School of Mines 8th Continent Project

Burke Fort is the Director of the Colorado School of Mines 8th Continent Project, bringing to the initiative over 30 years of experience in university aerospace research, technology development, public policy, STEM education and aerospace public outreach. His background represents a hybrid of public and private sector experience, combined with business, law and academic research that defines a true "Space 2.0" career path.

Fort is also the Executive Director of the Foundation for Space Exploration (FSX), a philanthropic foundation dedicated to "weaving space into the fabric of everyday life on Earth."  He has served as Program Manager for Planning and Development in the Center for Space Research at The University of Texas at Austin, and as Special Projects Manager of the Texas Space Grant Consortium, where he directed education programs in microgravity research, Mars mission planning and design, NASA customer engagement, remote sensing and space policy.

Fort is a member of the Colorado Governor's Small Business Council and represents the Colorado School of Mines in the Colorado Space Coalition. He is also an Associate Fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. Prior to his aerospace career, Fort was an environmental litigation attorney in the Austin, Texas office of the Fulbright & Jaworski law firm.

PANELIST: Dan Scheld

President of N-Science Corporation

Dan Scheld is founder and president of the N-Science Company in Golden, CO.  Prior to the opening of N-Science, Dan had held various positions of with United Engineers, Jade Systems Corp, Hughes Aircraft Co., Martin Marietta, Lockheed Martin, and was co-founder of the Equinox Interscience Inc., also in Golden.

Dan was an Electro-Optics Specialist at Hughes Aircraft Company.  There he was involved in several R&D projects related to what was then called SDI, or Star Wars.  These included the Airborne Optical Adjunct and the Space Surveillance & Tracking Satellite.

While at Martin Marietta/Lockheed Martin, Dan worked in the Payloads, Sensors, & Instruments Group. At PSI, he pushed several new technology initiatives.  These included concepts such as the Launch Fleet Data Transducer, the Optical Ignition Detection System, and several Laser Communication development programs.  Dan was also involved in several Mars Programs.  These included Mars Polar Pathfinder, Mars 98 & 01 Landers. Dan was Program Manager for the Martin Black products.

Dan was Vice President and Director of Engineering at EI.  Being a small business, he also was responsible for business development.  These efforts led to the award of key programs out AFRL and NASA for various Instruments and Components, most notably the Mineral Identification & Composition Analyzer (MICA) for NASA/JPL.  Dan led the Deep Sky Black and Special Projects areas. The Special Projects team generated several novel concepts for future Mars Missions which included the Mars Raptor and the Mother Goose Mars Scout project.

Today, the N-Science family continues this path to development of Space System concepts, design and development of Science Instruments and Components, and is the exclusive provider of the Deep Space Black optical coatings. 

PANELIST: Robert Zubrin

President of Pioneer Astronautics, President of the Mars Society, and author of the book Energy Victory

Dr. Robert Zubrin is an internationally renowned astronautical engineer and the acclaimed author of The Case for Mars, which Arthur C. Clarke called "the most comprehensive account of the past and future of Mars that I have ever encountered." NASA recently adapted Zubrin's humans-to-Mars mission plan.

But while many people recognize Robert Zubrin for his contributions to space programs, his recent book "Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil," Zubrin lays out a bold plan for breaking the economic stranglehold that the OPEC oil cartel has on our country and the world.

He is the author of the critically acclaimed nonfiction books The Case for Mars, Entering Space, Mars on Earth; the science fiction novels The Holy Land and First Landing; and articles in Scientific American, The New Atlantis, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Mechanical Engineering, and The American Enterprise. He has appeared on major television shows including CNN, CSPAN, BBC, Discovery Channel, NBC, ABC, and NPR.

A former senior engineer at Lockheed Martin, Zubrin is the president of the Mars Society, and the founder of Pioneer Astronautics, a successful space exploration and development firm.

PANELIST: Theresa DeGroote

President & Founder of Phlare, Inc

Theresa DeGroote is the president, founder and chief bottle washer of Phlare, a producer of space science education products (www.phlare.com). Founded in 2002, the company’s products are carried at NASA facilities, observatories, science museums, planetariums and science catalogs.
 
Enchanted with the Hubble Telescope virtually from its launch, Theresa founded Phlare utilizing the telescope’s extraordinary imagery and science. Since that time, she has produced products around Mars, Saturn, the solar system itself and just released a Hubble 20th Anniversary product.

Theresa has an MBA, International Business from St. Mary’s College of California and a BA, Political Science, from the University of Colorado/Denver.