Mr. Hambleton is president of the board of Pronatura Noroeste, a non-governmental organization with a mission to conserve biodiversity through sustainable development projects. A Mexican businessman, conservationist, noted photographer and writer who lives in La Paz, he is best known for his work on the conservation of Baja California's cave paintings. He serves on the boards of numerous conservation and natural history groups in Mexico and the United States and was instrumental in the designation of the Sierra de San Francisco as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993.

His work as a conservationist over the last 30 years has been instrumental in creating greater awareness for the threats and opportunities confronting our region’s natural and cultural capital. He is the founder and president of Fundación Amigos de Sudcalifornia, A.C.; a founding member and member of the executive committee of Sociedad de Historia Natural Niparaja, A.C.; chair of the Bi-national Advisory Board and a member of the development and programs committees of the San Diego Natural History Museum; president in Baja California Sur of Adopte Una Obra de Arte, A.C.; and member of the Fronterizo Council of San Diego Dialogue.

Dr. Prather is an atmospheric chemist whose research involves the development of new methods for continuously monitoring atmospheric aerosols and particulate matter. Her laboratory has developed analytical methods capable of monitoring particles in a variety of forms—from clouds of ice to smoke from combustion sources—that have impacts on human health, visibility in the atmosphere, and global climate change. Although aerosols have attracted a great deal of scientific interest due to their many applications, little is known about their chemistry due to the limited number of techniques for detecting and characterizing aerosol particles. The traditional methods, which isolate particles on filters for later analysis in the laboratory, often allow the particles to evaporate or react before they can be analyzed, producing questionable results.

Prather’s development, called “aerosol-time-flight mass spectrometry,” overcomes many of those problems and represents the first analytical technique capable of providing instantaneous information on the precise size and chemical composition of individual aerosol particles. Her transportable instruments are being used to study the impact of aerosols on visibility, pollution levels, climate change, and human health. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she has begun working on adapting her instrument so that it might provide an early warning of airborne bacteria or chemical agents in the event of a chemical or biological warfare attack.

Dr. Thiemens heads a division at UCSD that combines the talents of more than 200 astronomers, chemists, mathematicians and physicists studying a variety of fundamental questions—from the very largest galaxies in the universe to the smallest subatomic particles. He chaired a high-level group at UCSD to develop strategies to help the San Diego region and the nation respond to the September 11th terrorist attacks, which led to his role in the development of the Regional Network for Homeland Security for the San Diego Area. He was also instrumental in helping to bring to San Diego last summer scientists from around the world to discuss ways of limiting the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. As an atmospheric chemist, he has applied his expertise to analyzing microscopic particulates in the atmosphere transported globally to San Diego and pushed for the development of a network of atmospheric aerosol analyzers that will help the region gain a better understanding of the health and environmental impacts of these invisible aerosols.

Dr. Thiemens is someone who can be legitimately called a “rocket scientist.” His studies frequently employ rocket-borne sampling to understand the chemistry of the earth’s upper atmosphere. He’s also involved in planning for future NASA missions to Mars. Shortly after coming to UCSD from the University of Chicago in 1980, he made discoveries that overturned conventional theories about the formation and evolution of the solar system. The founder and director of UCSD’s Center for Environmental Research and Training, Thiemens has done research on a wide variety of problems—from ozone chemistry to global warming to questions about the prospect of life on Mars. He has twice received the Alexander Von Humboldt award and won the E.O. Lawrence Award from the U.S. Department of Energy in 1998. In 2002, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Molina is a recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role in elucidating the threat to the Earth’s ozone layer of chlorofluorocarbon gases, or CFCs. A professor in UCSD’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and in the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, he is part of a group of leading atmospheric chemists at UCSD that includes Paul Crutzen, who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland of UC Irvine for their work on the chemistry of atmospheric ozone.

A native of Mexico whose early research with Rowland convinced governments around the world to eliminate CFCs from spray cans and refrigerators, Dr. Molina has focused much of his recent research on the chemistry of air pollution in the lower atmosphere. He has been working with collaborators from other countries, most notably colleagues in Mexico City, on assessing and mitigating the air pollution problems of rapidly growing cities around the world.

Born in Mexico City, he received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de México in 1965, a postgraduate degree in 1967 from the University of Freiburg in West Germany and a doctorate in physical chemistry in 1972 from UC Berkeley. As a postdoctoral researcher in 1974 at UC Irvine, he was a co-author with Rowland of a paper in the journal Nature that detailed their research on the threat to the ozone layer in the stratosphere of CFCs, then widely used as propellants in spray cans and as refrigerants in refrigerators.

He held teaching and research positions at UC Irvine, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology before arriving at MIT in 1989 as a professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and the Department of Chemistry. He was named MIT Institute Professor in 1997. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. He has served on the U.S. President's Committee of Advisors in Science and Technology, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, National Research Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology and on the boards of U.S.-Mexico Foundation of Science and other non-profit environmental organizations.