Florida State University

Bio: Neil H. Charness joined the Florida State University as a Professor of Psychology in 1994. His research focuses on: age and expertise-trying to understand how acquired skill may compensate for age-related declines in cognitive efficiency; and on age and human factors-trying to understand how best to design technology for effective use by older adults.

Commissioner David K. Meehan is serving his second consecutive term as vice chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Meehan to the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) in 1999, which included automatic appointment to the FWC when the MFC ceased to exist. Currently, Meehan is president of Bankers Insurance Group. He is vice chairman of the holding company and its subsidiary boards and sits on the holding company's board of directors. Meehan is also vice chairman and director of First Community Bank of America, Hillsborough County. Meehan earned his Bachelor of Science in business at Florida State University in 1973. He served active duty aboard a submarine in the U.S. Navy from 1965 to 1968, including service in the Vietnam War. The St. Petersburg resident has actively participated in numerous professional, civic and social organizations. He currently is a member of the Florida State University, College of Business, Alumni and Advisory Board, the Property and Casualty Insurance Association and the Institute for Business and Home Safety. Leisure activities for Meehan include golfing, hunting, fishing, power boating, sailing, scuba diving and family activities. His love for Florida's woods and water bodies led him to assume an active role in protecting and managing the state's outdoor resources and its fish and wildlife species. Preserving Florida's natural heritage for future generations is among his highest priorities. Meehan served as FWC chairman in 2001. Gov. Bush reappointed him in 2002, so his current term expires in August 2007.

Mr. John Fraser hawill provide consulting services as expert in the area of academic technology transfer and commercialization. Mr. Fraser is the Executive Director of Intellectual Property & Commecial Development at Florida State University and has been working with Florida A&M since September 30, 2004, as subcontractor to FAMU on the NSF Partnership for Innovation award TechLink, out of which this SBIR application arises (NSF Proposal #0438670). His expertise includes over 25 years covering all aspects of academic technology transfer, start-up companies and professional venture capital. In 1986, he co-founded UTC, a North Carolina based, technology transfer center for clients such as Georgia Tech, University of Maryland, College Park and other major research institutions. We sold the business in 1990. John is also President of The Association for University Technology Managers (AUTM) the global professional association for academic technology transfer ( www.autm.net ). Mr. Fraser has been working with Florida A&M University and has a wealth of knowledge. Mr. Fraser will assist with the overall direction and objectives of the project.

Dr. Jackson received her medical degree from Hahnemann University in Philadelphia and completed her residency training at Abington Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania. As part of her medical education, she performed medical research and won scholarships and awards. She also served as an OB/GYN faculty member for resident physicians at Abington Memorial. Dr. Jackson is the Clerkship Director for OB/GYN at the Florida State University (FSU) College of Medicine. She has been voted outstanding educator of the year for the past two years by the FSU medical students. Dr. Jackson is a member of Florida Medical Association, Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO), and Perinatal Pediatric Ethics Committee. She is Board Certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Mark Schlakman, Chairman, serves as a senior program director for the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University. Prior to joining FSU's faculty in 2002, Mr. Schlakman held several senior government positions at the state and federal levels, including special counsel to Gov. Lawton Chiles; advisor for Gov. Jeb Bush during his initial months in office; senior advisor to Governor Kenneth H. "Buddy" MacKay, Jr., when Gov. MacKay served as White House Special Envoy for the Americas during the final two years of the Clinton administration; and as a special advisor to US Senator Bob Graham before returning to Florida. During his tenure in Washington, D.C., Mr. Schlakman also served as a Foreign Affairs Officer for the US Department of State. Mr. Schlakman is a lawyer and member in good standing of The Florida Bar. He also serves as Vice-Chair for the Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas (FAVACA).

Allison manages all internal operations and external relations of WCF. She has been a member of the senior management team at WCF for over three years, with a focus on growth initiatives. Allison is actively involved in fundraising for women's causes, has been an advocate for children's rights, and holds a Bachelor's Degree from Florida State University in Political Science and English.

Amy is a Senior at Florida State University majoring in Social Work. This will be her 11th year at Love At Work, her fourth on staff. She has also worked with children in a group home on a mission trip in New Orleans. Amy is responsible for our increased work with other agencies to get our homeowners the additional help they need. Her interests include hiking and kayaking.

Audrey Vihlen is a Senior Interior Design student at Florida State University and is currently interning at JPA. Her duties include space planning, assisting in interior finish selection and meeting with product representatives. Audrey grew up in Leesburg, Florida and graduated high school in 2002. She plans to graduate from FSU in the Fall of 2005 with high honors. After graduation she plans to seek employment as an interior designer in Chicago or Atlanta. She is currently working with Jeff Smerling on the renovations of three Hancock Bank branches in Tallahassee, which includes: space planning including both low and high impact schemes as well as interior finishes. She recently finished assisting Hugh Bosely with the interior color scheme and finishes of Fancy Pants, a recently opened women's clothing shop located in the Manor at Midtown.

Dr. Diskin is the real estate professor at Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL., who is an appraiser and consultant in addition. He holds the PhD and MAI.

Blake Draper works with the Director and Assistant Director on strategic planning for the advancement of the Claude Pepper Center's Intercultural Dialogue initiative. His primary purpose is to assist in establishing relationships between the Claude Pepper Center, universities, individuals, and foundations around the world. His duties include: donor research; development; and coordination of the Center's various programs and conferences. Blake is a graduate student at Florida State University, pursuing a Master's degree in International Affairs. His academic interests include international immigration, Latin American politics and society.

Bobby Bowden, a Birmingham native and head coach at Florida State University, announces he is removing his name from consideration as head coach of the Stallions. "I'd be very interested in the job except for one thing. I'm very happy here at Florida State. I've got a substantial five year contract," Bowden said. He might be interested in coaching professional football later in his career "if I can survive it, physically, and if college football begins to lose its challenge. That hasn't happened yet." Bowden said he only talked to Gould once last fall and the discussion was very general.

Charles Figley, Ph.D. is a psychologist, family therapist, and Professor in the School of Social Work at the Florida State University since June 1989. He is founder and director of the FSU Traumatology Institute (formerly the Psychosocial Stress Research and Development Program). Among other achievements, the Institute initiated the Green Cross Projects, following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and played an important role in humanitarian efforts in New York City immediately following the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. He established the Green Cross Foundation and the Academy of Traumatology to support the emerging field of traumatology. He is formerly Professor of Family Therapy and Psychology at Purdue University (1974-1989). Professor Figley received both graduate degrees from the Pennsylvania State University and his undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii, all in the area of human development. His latest books (2002) are Treating Compassion Fatigue (Brunner-Routledge) and Brief Treatments for the Traumatized (Greenwood Press). In 2000, Dr. Figley won four significant awards recognizing his achievements: (1) His Florida State University Traumatology Institute was named Outstanding Program Award for 2000 by the University Continuing Education Association; 2) Florida State University President's 2000 Continuing Education Award; (3) Florida Association for Marriage and Family Therapy's 2000 Community Service Award and (4) National Organization for Victim's Assistance (NOVA's) highest honor to a researcher, the Shaffer Research Award. In 2004, Dr. Figley was awarded a senior Fulbright Research Fellowship to conduct research in Kuwait and follow-up on his work that as started in 1992, shortly after the liberation from and end of the occupation by Iraq.

Christopher Walker, M.D., received his medical degree from The University of the West Indies and completed training in family medicine at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He completed his obstetrics and gynecology residency training at The University of Kansas Medical Center, and received further training in laparoscopic surgery in the Midwest laparoscopic training laboratory for two years. Dr. Walker joined Loch Haven OB/GYN in 2003 and serves as the medical director of the Mother-Infant Postpartum Unit at Florida Hospital. He also serves as the assistant clinical professor at Florida State University and the obstetrics and gynecology residency program. Dr. Walker has published papers in medical journals and won research awards. He also was recognized as being "The Most Outstanding Obstetrician" at Florida Hospital in 2006 and 2008. He is board-certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a member of the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists.

Conrad Gleber is Associate Professor of Art at Florida State University, where he teaches the history and critical issues of new media. His artwork uses digital audio and video in public environments to elaborate the shift of focus in art discourse from object to process. He helped to found the New Media Caucus and is on the board of the International Digital Media & Art Association.

A scholarship student at Florida State University, Dallas studied with Harry Schmidt until he took a year abroad to study languages in Germany. Once there, he remained abroad, spending one year in Germany and subsequent years in Sweden and Afghanistan. During these years, three critical musical milestones occurred for Dallas: he began playing the flute, moved over to the jazz world, and began his love affair with East Indian Classical music on the Bansuri, the bamboo flute. Upon returning to the U.S. after over three years abroad, he moved to San Rafael, California, to study with Indian Music masters Ali Akbar Khan and G.S. Sachdev, and jazz saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis. As diverse as his musical interests were, that is how wide he ventured into the world of jazz, world music, and fusion. The result was that he performed in the U.S., Europe, and India -- becoming known as the finest woodwind performer to achieve virtuosity in each of his musical passions. He moves easily between the inspired and fluid world of meditation, the complex and exciting rhythms of Indian fusion, the complex world of jazz, and his own compositions, which blend all of them. In addition, Dallas is also a pioneer in the performance and development of the electronic wind synthesizer, having naturally expanded his interest to the newer technologies that allowed him to move around all musical genres with unprecedented creativity and expertise. It was in 1984 that he recorded his first solo album, Stellar Voyage, and met Susan Mazer, when he collaborated on her first album, The Fire in the Rose. In his performance and recordings, Dallas easily moves between the silk melodic quality of the flute to the sensual richness of the saxophone and clarinet and on to the magic of the electric wind instrument. His melding of East Indian, jazz, and classical music make both his performance and compositions refreshing and enticing. Dallas has performed with Ahmad Jamal, Steven Halpern, Zakir Hussein, and other musical greats that cover the landscape of contemporary instrumental music.

Recipient of the first ASCAP Deems Taylor award for broadcast journalism, David Dubal has won numerous awards including the coveted George Foster Peabody award. He also received a proclamation from mayor Guiliani for his services to music in New York City. During 1999 he was heard every Sunday at WQXR as host of the program The American Century - a series devoted to American music. He was music and program director of the radio station WNCN (New York City) and was also producer and commentator of innumerable special broadcasts. Mr. Dubal has been on the faculty of the Juilliard School since 1983 and the Manhattan School of Music since 1995. At Juilliard, his series The World of the Piano is one of the most popular classes in the Evening Division. David Dubal has conducted master classes worldwide including: Seoul National University, the Berne Conservatory in Switzerland, and in Brazil and Israel. Mr. Dubal has judged many international competitions including a series of 6 lecture-recitals at the 1989, 1993, 1997 Van Cliburn competitions. The Dubal Collection of Interviews is at the University of Maryland. He is a Housewright Eminent Scholar at Florida State University. Currently Mr. Dubal is heard every Wednesday night at 10:00PM on WQXR in his program: Reflections From The Keyboard, The Piano in Comparative Performance. His new book, The Essential Canon of Classical Music was recently published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. In May, 2006, Mr. Dubal received an honorary Doctor of Music from the 64 colleges of The State University of New York.

Dennis Scarry is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He also holds memberships with the National Society of Accountants and the Florida Society of Association Executives. He serves on the Business Nuts and Bolts Committee of the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce. He is an adjunct instructor for Florida State University. He teaches Income Tax Planning for the Center for Professional Development's Certified Financial Planning program. He volunteers his time coaching flag football and working on the committee for the United Way Charity Golf Tournament. He helped start and continues to help run the Men's Ministry program at Good Shepherd Catholic Church. He and his beautiful wife Jennifer have been married 19 years and they have two sons, Brad and Kyle.

Dogan Yuksel is a doctoral student at the Florida State University?s Multilingual Multicultural Education program. His research interests include use of literature in language teaching, literary discussions, learner and teacher uptake, task-based language teaching and Sociocultural SLA.

Second Dan Drew Chiodo was one of the founding Instructors when Julington Academy of Martial Arts first opened. Though he was just a teenager himself at the time, Drew played a major role in the future and success of JAMA. He spent numerous hours training and developing the students, both at the studio and at local schools. "I just did what I had to do to help" says Drew. He was truly the right hand man for his dad, Master Bill Chiodo. Master Chiodo says "Drew's dedication to JAMA at such a young and trying age, really says a lot for him. He has such a good head on his shoulders and I honestly believe he can do anything he sets his mind to. He will definitely succeed in life." Over the years, Drew has competed in numerous competitions. He won a silver medal at the Junior Goodwill Games in Mexico, as well as winning many other National and International competitions. Drew is currently an honor roll student starting his junior year at Florida State University where he majors in Pre- Med, with intentions of one day becoming a surgeon. He is the Executive Vice President for his fraternity, Theta Chi, Gamma Rho Chapter. He is a Garnet and Gold Ambassador for FSU, and holds down a part time job. Drew has also been awarded the President's Education Award, one of the highest academic awards attainable.

Glen has been around dogs all of his life. He has been breeding, raising and training dogs for 25 years. His specialties are basic obedience, breed referral, puppy training and tracking. Glen's experience consists of work for veterinarians as well as other dog trainers. He has volunteered with Canine Companions for Independence. Most recently he worked with Dr. Katherine A. Houpt V.M.D., Ph.D, of the Behavior Clinic at the Cornell Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where Glen assisted clients in learning basic behavior modification techniques. Currently he is a graduate student at Florida State University in the Neuroscience program studying canine aggression and behavioral genetics.

Dr. Hans S. Plendl: Ph.D. (1958, Yale University). Member of Physics Department faculty, Florida State University (1956-1995). Senior Fellow, Institute for International Cooperative Environmental Research, FSU (1995-2002). Professor Emeritus, FSU (1995- present).

Holly Hanessian is a mid-career sculptor who creates objects, site-specific installations and artist's books. Her work uses text and the book form as a way to convey meaning based on life experiences that result from both choice and chance. Hanessian's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including the Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada, the Ningbo Museum of Art, Ningbo, China and the Yixing Ceramic Museum of Art, Yixing, China. In addition to her studio art practice, she is an associate professor of Art at Florida State University, where she directs the ceramics program within the Art Department. As an artist and educator, she has given lectures and workshops at over 25 different colleges and universities as well as having been featured in several magazines and books including, The Ceramic Narrative by Matthias Ostermann and 500 Ceramic Sculptures by Glen Brown.