CONFERENCE ON WORLD AFFAIRS
Participant Prosopography the Haridas and Bina Chaudhuri Award for Distinguished Service, presented by the California Institute of Integrated Studies (CIIS). Ramdas received her master’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and her bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College. She is fluent in Hindi/Urdu, English, and German, and conversational in Tamil, Spanish, and French.
Douglas Ray Doug Ray is associate laboratory director of the U. S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. He is a recognized authority on the scientific and technical challenges required to decarbonize the global energy system and the environmental consequences of energy production and use on a global scale. Ray’s current areas of focus include science for energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate change and its impacts, emissions capture and storage, and high-performance computing for clean energy applications. This work involves investigating new carbon capture materials, new energy storage materials, and the potential role of biology in transforming the global energy system. Ray obtained an AB from Kalamazoo College and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a contributing member of a variety of national and international organizations, including the Chemical Sciences Roundtable of the National Academy of Sciences, which is devoted to the health of the chemical sciences in the United States, and the International Energy Agency’s Expert’s Group on Science for Energy, which is devoted to enhancing international collaboration on science for energy.
Bill Reinert Bill Reinert is national manager of advanced technology for Toyota Motor Sales, USA. His primary function is to coordinate Toyota’s various research, development, and marketing activities related to alternativefueled vehicles and emerging technologies. He is currently working on several advanced hybrid electric products, direct hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, reformed fuel approaches for hydrogen, full-featured electric vehicles, city electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid concepts, ethanol fuels, and sustainable transportation systems. Reinert also represents Toyota as a key partner with the World Wildlife Fund on environmental conservation efforts in the Galapagos Islands. Before taking over Toyota’s North American fuel cell efforts, Reinert and his team were responsible for product planning of the current generation Prius. Prior to joining Toyota, Reinert spent several years developing advanced neural network applications and advanced energy systems for Hewlett Packard; he also developed alternative energy solutions under contract to Bell Labs. Reinert is a former Navy submariner and a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Sarah Rich Sarah Rich is a leading voice in the fields of sustainability and new media. She is recognized for her expertise in green design and architecture, food, technology, consumer culture, and trend forecasting. She is currently a senior editor at Dwell magazine, based in San Francisco. Prior to joining Dwell, Rich was the managing editor of Worldchanging, the awardwinning online publication focused on solutions for a sustainable future. While there, she coauthored and edited the bestselling book Worldchanging: A User’s Guide
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for the 21st Century. She was also managing editor of Inhabitat, one of the largest web sites on sustainable design and architecture. Rich received her BA from Stanford University in cultural and social anthropology, and began her professional life in the world of food. She worked as a food justice community advocate, a production assistant for the Food Network, and a chef at the Berkeley Art Museum café. She is a founding editor of CivilEats.com, a nationally recognized web site about farm and food policy that emerged from the 2008 Slow Food Nation event. Rich’s work has been published in BusinessWeek, The Globe and Mail newspaper, ReadyMade magazine, Creative Review magazine, and Urban Design Review. She has lectured in Brazil, India, the United Arab Emirates, and throughout North America, and has been a new media and sustainability expert commentator on NPR, BBC World Service, and Current TV. She serves on the board of directors for Project H, a nonprofit organization working to promote humanitarian design.
Josh Rushing Josh Rushing co-hosts Fault Lines, the flagship current affairs program about the Americas on Al Jazeera English. As an international correspondent, Rushing has hosted and produced programs all over the world, from war-torn Iraq to drugfueled Colombia to bomb-laden Laos. In 2009, Rushing’s coverage tackled issues such as the criminalization of the mentally ill in America and the rise of dominionist Christians in the U.S. military. Multiple trips to Afghanistan saw him embedded with U.S. Marines in the Helmand Province on the eve of Afghanistan’s historic national elections, and later on, in the Wardak Province, he challenged reports that the Taliban’s control had reached the gates of Kabul. Rushing released his first book in 2007, 47