MEET THE DELEGATION
ALAN HALE                                       RUSSELL SCHWEICKART                         DOUG BIESECKER

ALICE BUCK                                      ROCK BUSH                                                   STACY HEEN

GREGORY LESTER                          STEPHANIE LESTER                                   BILL MILLER

SUZANNE MILLER                           NANCY RAMSEY                                          CAROLYN YALE

 

ALAN HALE, delegation leader

Alan is best known as being one of the co-discoverers of Comet Hale-Bopp. He is a professional astronomer who has studied planets around other stars, and the minor objects (comets and asteroids) within our own solar system. He is the founder and present director of the Southwest Institute for Space Research in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and is also a writer and frequent public speaker on various scientific issues.

Back to top

RUSSELL SCHWEICKART

Rusty's chief claim to fame was his being the lunar module pilot for the Apollo 9 mission in March 1969, the first Apollo mission to fly the lunar module (which it tested in Earth orbit). This was his only space flight, although he was the backup commander for the first Skylab mission. Since leaving NASA he has worked for the National Science Foundation and is the former CEO of Aloha Networks, Inc., and currently is the President of NRS Communications, providing consulting services to the telecommunications industry. His wife, Nancy Ramsey, is also participating in the delegation.

 

Back to top

DOUG BIESECKER

Doug is a professional astronomer currently employed by the SM&A Corporation at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Most of his research work has involved study of the sun, and he currently works with the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, which is joint NASA/ESA project launched in late 1995. Although Doug is primarily involved in studying solar physics, he has recently gained quite a bit of notoriety via his discoveries of numerous sungrazing comets that are being detected by instruments aboard SOHO.

 

Back to top

ALICE BUCK

Alice is a family law attorney from San Diego, California. She is also a budding amateur astronomer, and in addition has a deep interest in the Middle Eastern countries as a result of her hosting a foreign exchange student from Jordan when her children were in high school. She is the sister-in-law of Alan Hale, and was visiting the Hales in New Mexico when Alan discovered Comet Hale-Bopp; after Alan's wife Eva, Alice was the second woman in the world to see the comet.

 

Back to top

ROCK BUSH

Rock is a senior research scientist with the Stanford University Solar Physics Group. His primary research interests are the study of the sun's magnetic field and helioseismology (the study of "sunquakes" to probe the interior structure of the sun). Within this capacity he has participated in the development and use of one of the instruments aboard the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. Rock's wife Carolyn Yale is also participating in the delegation.

 

Back to top

STACY HEEN

Stacy has recently been employed by Search for Common Ground in Washington, D.C., and her first major assignment since joining Search has been to work together with the other members of the delegation and with the Zirakzadeh Science Foundation in Iran in helping to make this trip possible (and a mighty fine job she's done, too). She is an expert in conflict resolution and in urban planning, and prior to joining Search she taught basic and advanced negotiation workshops and classes at the Harvard Law School.

 

Back to top

GREGORY LESTER

Greg is a graduate of Georgetown University and until recently was an investment banker with Paine Webber. He is now currently a student at the New York University School of Business. Greg likes to run and competed in the New York City marathon this past year. His sister Stephanie is also participating in the delegation.

 

 

Back to top

STEPHANIE LESTER

Stephanie is a high-school student from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, and is an aspiring astronomer with a primary interest in cosmology. In addition to her scientific interests she is involved in numerous other extracurricular activities, including debate, mock trial, and a student version of the U.N. Her brother Greg is also participating in the delegation.

 

Back to top

BILL MILLER

Bill is a former U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine, and earlier had worked as a Foreign Service Officer in Iran during the early 1960s. Currently he is a scholar-in-residence at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and also does consulting work for Search for Common Ground; he was primarily responsible for initiating contact with the Zirakzadeh Science Foundation. His wife Suzanne is also participating in the delegation.

 

Back to top

SUZANNE MILLER

Suzanne is the wife of Bill Miller, the Search for Common Ground consultant who is also participating in the delegation.

 

Back to top

NANCY RAMSEY

Nancy has been active throughout her life on public policy debates on various topics, including foreign and military policy, and has written two book on how these topics must be addressed during the 21st Century. She is also the President of Morning Star Imports, a small California-based firm which imports tribal and ethnic jewelry. She is the wife of former Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, who is also participating in the delegation.

 

Back to top

CAROLYN YALE

Carolyn works for the Environmental Protection Agency, and is based at that agency's western regional office in San Francisco. Her main speciality is in water management, and she is a team leader for the EPA's CALFED Bay-Delta program. During the mid-1970s Carolyn was a Peace Corps volunteer in Iran, and was based in Shiraz working in the Fars Province Planning and Budget Office. Her husband, Rock Bush, is also participating in the delegation.

 

Back to top

Back to main eclipse page