Science

Senior Fellow at Harvard University and Former Assistant Director for Space Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
In almost 20 years of U.S. government service, Dr. Uzo-Okoro has developed several national space policies and contributed to over 60 NASA missions and programs – as an engineer, technical expert, manager, and executive – in space science and technology topics.
At the White House, she led the space, aeronautics, and manufacturing portfolios, and has released space policy on Earth Observations, Orbital Debris, LEO including Microgravity research, Space Weather, In-space Servicing Assembly and Manufacturing, Aeronautics, human exploration, and space science.
She has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and three masters degrees in Space Systems, Space Robotics, and Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University (APL), MIT (the Media Lab), and Harvard University, respectively. She earned her doctorate degree in Aerospace Engineering from MIT.
Her story is profiled in President George W. Bush’s book, «Out of Many, One».

Last update: january 2025

Andrew Hessel is a distinguished figure in the realm of genomics and synthetic biology, making transformative strides in advancing human and animal health through cutting-edge innovations.
He is a co-founder of Humane Genomics, an early-stage venture committed to the development of synthetic viruses with profound implications for health and wellbeing. Andrew is the Co-founder and Chairman of the Center of Excellence for Engineering Biology, a pioneering institution that catalyzes breakthroughs in the manipulation of biological systems.

Last update: december 2024
Andrew's influence extends to the Genome Project-write, an international scientific initiative that aims to engineer complete genomes, including the human genome.

He is a guest writer for the American magazine «The New Republic» and author of the books «The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom» and «To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism». From 2010 to 2012, he was Visiting Professor at Stanford University and a Fellow in the Bernard L. Schwartz programme at the New America Foundation. From 2009 to 2010, he was a Fellow at Georgetown University and a Fellow at the Open Society Foundations (OSF) from 2008 to 2009, where he also served on the board of the Information Programme from 2008 to 2012. Between 2006 and 2008, he was the New Media Director at the «Transitions Online» newspaper. Morozov has contributed articles to a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, London Review of Books and The Times Literary Supplement. His monthly column for Slate magazine is syndicated in various newspapers, such as El Pais, Corriere della Sera, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Folha de S.Paulo.

Last updated: June 2015

Scientist, best-selling author, speaker and consultant on new perspectives on technology and the future. He is the author of the novel «The Postman» (filmed in 1997 in Portugal as "The Postman: O Mensageiro») and the author of the Hugo Award-winning novels «Startide Rising and The Uplift War», as well as many others. He is a leading commentator and speaker on contemporary trends and his non-fiction book «The Transparent Society» was awarded the Freedom of Speech Award by the American Library Association. His latest novel, «Existence» explores a big question: there are billions of planets capable of supporting life. So where is everyone? The book is a reflection on questions such as: how will we build the days and years to come – and how will we be shaped by the future?


Last updated: June 2015

She is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Genspace, a non-profit community laboratory dedicated to promoting science and access to biotechnology for the public. Her efforts to make Genspace a centre for entrepreneurship, innovation and citizen science have been documented by the media in publications such as Nature Medicine, Science, Discover Magazine, Wired, Make, BBC News, Dan Rather Reports, PBS News Hour, The Discovery Channel and The New York Times. She holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from New York University, worked for several years in the biotechnology industry and is currently Adjunct Professor at New York Medical College, Scientist-in-Residence at the School of Visual Arts, and Visiting Professor at The Cooper Union. She frequently mentors teams participating in DNA-based scientific competitions, such as iGEM and the Urban Barcode Project.

Last updated: June 2015

Full Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST).
His primary focus is engineering sciences and technologies, with a particular interest in computer engineering, especially robotics and artificial intelligence.
He has published over 200 articles in journals, book chapters and scientific conferences. He is co-author of two books. He has received seven awards and honourable mentions.
He completed his Bachelor's and pre-Bologna Master's Degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering at IST. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA.

An astrobiologist and international expert on the origin and evolution of life in the universe, she is Professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), where she created Portugal’s first astrobiology and chemistry of the cosmos research department. She is also Co-Director of the MIT-Portugal programme, a partnership between IST and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With a PhD from the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands, she has dedicated herself to studying the potential contribution of organic compounds present in meteorites and comets to the origin of life on Earth and searching for signs of life on Mars, the moons of the Solar System and extrasolar planets. She has participated in several space missions as a NASA Guest Scientist (2005/6), taught at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis in France and was Researcher at Imperial College in London between 2009 and 2017. She currently collaborates on various European Space Agency missions and is part of the national science team for the Japanese Hayabusa2 space mission. A member of the Committee of the Astrobiology Society of Great Britain and national representative of the Executive Committee of the European Astrobiology Association, she was appointed an Officer of the Military Order of Sant'Iago de Espada (2015).

Last updated: November 2019

Holder of the Henry Semat Chair in Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York, he has taught at CUNY School, Harvard and Princeton for several decades. He has specialised in Einstein's unified field theory (which he has been trying to complete) and in predicting trends in business, medicine, financial dynamics and our way of life in general. Co-author of string theory, Kaku's greatest ambition is to make Einstein's dream come true: to find a «theory of everything» that encapsulates all the physical laws of the universe. His many books include «The Future of Humanity», «Cyberspace», «The Future of the Mind», «The Physics of the Future» and «The Physics of the Impossible», all of which have been huge commercial successes . He regularly participates in television programmes and moderates science programmes on television and radio. The public face of the Science Channel, Michio Kaku also presented the BBC’s Visions of the Future, a documentary about the future of science, and a 12-part science series based on his best-selling book «The Physics of the Impossible», as well as regularly appearing on Fox News programmes. His articles have appeared in Time, New Scientist Magazine, Wired Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington Post.

A journalist, he was Director of News at RTP and TVI, simultaneously editing and presenting Telejornal (RTP) and Jornal das 8 (TVI). He began his career in radio and, in 1992, was part of the team that founded the first private television station in Portugal, SIC, where he presented Jornal da Noite. He taught at the Escola Superior de Comunicação Social and co-coordinated the Postgraduate Course in Journalism at ISCTE/Media Capital. At the invitation of the President of the Republic, he inaugurated the programme «Journalists in Belém Palace» in 2018.

A developmental and evolutionary biologist, he is a scientist, teacher, author of books on science and science communication and film producer. He directs the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science Education Department and the HHMI Tangled Bank Studio. He is Professor of Biology at the University of Maryland and Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin. He was awarded the Rockefeller University's Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing About Science in 2016.

Last updated: April 2021