Brandon Vaidyanathan is a sociologist and is currently Associate Professor and Department Chair of Sociology at The Catholic University of America.

He studies the role of culture in commercial, scientific, and religious institutions around the world, and his work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals. His books have examined the relationship between religion and corporate life in India and the Arabian Gulf, and what scientists in eight countries think about religion.

His ongoing research examines the role of aesthetics in shaping scientific inquiry and the ways in which religious communities respond to mental health issues.

For more details visit www.brvnathan.com

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Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Ph.D., is a fellow in science and technology policy at the Baker Institute and a lecturer in the Department of BioSciences at Rice University. In addition, she is a track advisor for the Wiess School of Natural Sciences’ Professional Science Master in Biosciences and Health Policy. Matthews research and writing focuses on ethical and policy issues at the intersection between traditional biomedical research and public policy. Specifically, she focuses on regulation and ethical issues associated with emerging biotechnology, including stem cells and genomic medicine. Matthews also leads a project to review scientific advice in and to the federal government, including the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. Matthews has a B.A. in biochemistry from The University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Steven W. Lewis, Ph.D., is the C.V. Starr Transnational China Fellow and faculty advisor for the Jesse Jones Leadership Center Summer in D.C. Policy Research Internship Program. He is also a professor in the practice and associate director of the Chao Center for Asian Studies, which he helped found in 2008. His research explores the growth of a transnational Chinese middle class; the influence of advertisements in new public spaces in Chinese cities; the development of privatization experiments in China’s localities; and the reform of China’s energy policies, national oil companies and international energy relations. Through the Transnational China Project, Lewis has organized research conferences with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. He also has worked with the Energy Forum as the organizing researcher for the Northeast Asia Energy Cooperation Workshops, the Coastal Cities Summit surveys and U.S.-China-Middle East energy relations conferences.

Lewis has also been advisor to the Science Collaboration Across Borders initiative and served as the chief liaison between the Baker Institute, the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies and the China Institute for Contemporary International Relations. He is co-director of the Rice Ephemera Archive project of Fondren Library’s Center for Digital Scholarship, supported by the Henry Luce Foundation. He has conducted research and given briefings for The National Bureau of Asian Research; Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Sichuan Petroleum Administration; and the Korean Economic Institute, among others. Lewis is an associate fellow of Asia Society International, an editorial board member of Asia Policy and an academic advisor to the U.S.-China Working Group of the U.S. House of Representatives.

He received his doctorate in political science from Washington University in St. Louis.

Elaine Howard Ecklund is a sociologist and writer, who focuses on science and religion in public life. For more about her work visit www.elainehowardecklund.com.