Toward a Science of Consciousness 2012

Plenary

MENAS KAFATOS

Menas Kafatos joined Chapman University in 2008 as the Vice Chancellor for Special Projects and is also Founding Dean of the Schmid College of Science, Director of the Center for Excellence in Applied, Computational, and Fundamental Science, and is a Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics.  He received his B.A. in Physics from Cornell University in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972.   After postdoctoral work at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, he joined George Mason University and was University Professor of Interdisciplinary Sciences there from 1984-2008.  He also served as Dean of the School of Computational Sciences and was Director of the Center for Earth Observing and Space Research. He has 34 years experience in undergraduate and graduate Earth systems science, hazards, remote sensing and data information systems, physics, computational and theoretical astrophysics, astronomy, and foundations in quantum theory.  He has published numerous books including The Conscious Universe, the Non-local Universe (with Robert Nadeau, Springer-Verlag), Principles of Integrative Science  (with Mihai Draganescu, Romanian Academy of Sciences Press), and more than 250 articles on computational science, astrophysics, Earth systems science, hazards and global change, general relativity, cosmology, foundations of quantum theory, and consciousness. He has helped foster several Memorandums of Understanding with several international institutions such as Peking University, Seoul National University, Korea University Ewha Womans University and recently made a research agreement for remote sensing/GIS with Korea University and climate change with Ewha Womans University.  Dr. Kafatos has wide interests in several fields of science and information science:  Earth System Science/Earth Observing/Remote Sensing: Interdisciplinary Earth system science; natural hazards and climate change; aerosols and pollution; vegetation and climate change coupling; tropical cyclones; Earth Observing System observations.  Data Information Systems: Federated, distributed data information system architecture; content-based Earth science data browsing; user interfaces; distributed data systems and associated technologies.  Astrophysics and Space Sciences: Black holes, active galaxies and quasars; accretion hydrodynamics in curved metrics; General Relativity; high-energy emission from cosmic sources; ultraviolet astronomy, symbiotic stars; atomic physics; cosmological redshifts.  Foundations of Quantum Theory, Cosmology and Consciousness: Cosmological observations and their limitations; Universal Diagrams; foundations of quantum theory; quantum theory and brain dynamics; consciousness as the unifying field in the cosmos.