Alfonso Cárdenas is a Professor of the Computer Science Department, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, UCLA; Chair of the UCLA Information and Technology Planning Board; Council Member of the California Council on Science and Technology; and a consultant in computer science and management, Computomata International Corporation, Los Angeles, California. He obtained the B.S. degree from San Diego State University and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science, at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1969. His major areas of interest include database management, distributed heterogeneous and multimedia (text, image/picture, voice) systems, information systems planning and development methodologies, software engineering, medical informatics, and legal and intellectual property issues.

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Rick Ainsworth is the Director of the Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED) at UCLA since 1989. Mr. Ainsworth has written and served as Co-Principal Investigator for various National Science Foundation, Corporate and California State projects supporting several undergraduate, graduate, community college and pre-college STEM retention programs. Currently as Co-PI he manages the 1.8 million NSF STEP-grant, known as STEP-for Underutilized Populations (STEP-UP); the NSF SSTEM scholarship grant and the NSF Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) project, these three multi-year grants support diversity in STEM with emphasis on engineering, computing and physical sciences. He obtained a B.S. from the University of Southern California in Urban Planning and Administration in 1973 and completed Graduate work in the USC School of Law.

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Dr. Jacobsen received the M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering Science at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1965 and 1968, respectively. He has been on the faculty of the School of Engineering since 1969. He is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering and is the School`s previous Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs. Along with the CEED Director, Enrique Ainsworth, Professor Jacobsen has served as Principal Investigator for several NSF and MESA Grants to CEED. Professor Jacobsen`s research areas are mathematical programming, including non-convex and reverse convex programming, and the application of nonlinear optimization to various engineering problems.

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Professor Kaiser received a PhD in Solid State Physics from Wayne State University in 1984. He was part of the Ford Motor Co. Research Staff from 1977 through 1986, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1986 through 1994. In 1994, Professor Kaiser joined the faculty of the UCLA Electrical Engineering Department. At UCLA, he initiated the distributed networked embedded sensor field via many large collaborative programs across several departments. These combined UCLA research activities have now lead to the creation of many new programs within DARPA, NSF, NASA, and in commercial technology corporations. He served as Electrical Engineering Department Chairman from 1996 through 2000.

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David is a consultant in Computer Science, specializing in software systems and programming, and a Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. He obtained an M.S. degree in Computer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a B.S. Degree in Mathematics at the California Institute of Technology, where he graduated with honors. David has been a consultant since 1983 and a lecturer at UCLA from 1976-1985, 1997-1998, and 2001 to the present. He was Programmer at the California Institute of Technology in 1973-75, where he designed and implemented student database management programs, and controlled computer-assisted course scheduling.

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