many years, until his retirement in 2003, he was the Director of Defense Nuclear Non-proliferation Programs at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington; he remains a technical consultant for nuclear non-proliferation programs there and for other U.S. Government agencies. He holds a Ph.D. in nuclear science, specializing in plasma physics, from the University of Florida. He is credited with being a co-developer of the first nuclear driven laser. He has served in the U.S. Government as a national lab scientist in many capacities over the past 20-plus years in endeavors related to nuclear weapons material control and nuclear warhead dismantlement monitoring. Some relevant examples of this service include being the Executive Secretary in the George H.W. Bush Administration of the President’s Committee on Fissile Material Control and Nuclear Warhead Monitoring, Scientific Peer Review Group Chairman of the NNSA Warhead Radiation Signatures Campaign, and Chairman of the NNSA Information Barrier Advisory Group – a group whose task was to develop minimally intrusive equipment to monitor sensitive nuclear materials and nuclear warheads on a bilateral or multilateral basis with other nuclear states. He currently remains heavily involved in the U.S.-Russian Warhead Safety and Security Exchange Agreement.

Richard W. Mies (Admiral United States Navy, retired) is the President and CEO of Hicks and Associates, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Admiral Mies joined SAIC after retiring from the U.S. Navy in February 2002, at the rank of Admiral. During his military career, Admiral Mies served as Commander in Chief, United States Strategic Command, and in a number of staff positions. He is one of only a few flag officers to complete qualifications as both a submariner and naval aviation observer. His many service decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), Legion of Merit (four awards), and National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal. Admiral Mies graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a B.S., majoring in mechanical engineering and mathematics, and completed post-graduate education at England’s Oxford University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Harvard University. He holds a Masters degree in government administration and international relations and an Honorary Doctorate of Law degree from the University of Nebraska.

Cherry Murray is deputy director for science and technology at LLNL. Prior to this appointment, she was physical sciences research senior vice president, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies. Murray has been recognized for her work in surface physics, light scattering, and complex fluids; she is best known for her work on imaging in phase transitions of colloidal systems. After receiving a B.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she joined Bell Laboratories as a member of the technical staff in 1978. She has numerous publications and two patents to her credit. She was chair of the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lucent managed by Bell Laboratories to promote research in nanotechnology as part of the economic development of New Jersey. Murray is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences and a member of numerous advisory committees and boards.