AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion

About the Program: Staff

Program Staff

• Peyton West, Ph.D., Senior Program Associate

Affiliated Staff

• Mark S. Frankel, Ph.D., Program Director, AAAS Scientific Freedom, Responsibility, and Law Program
• Albert H. Teich, Ph.D., Director, AAAS Science and Policy Programs

Program Staff

Peyton West became a Senior Program Associate with DoSER in April 2006. She has worked to promote "The Evolution Dialogues: Science, Christianity and the Quest for Understanding," DoSER's plain-language resource about evolution and Christianity, and developed a project that educated state and local board members about the nature of science and evolution. She is now organizing a Science and Religion Coalition that would involve more scientific societies in the science and religion dialogue. Dr. West received Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Minnesota where she investigated the evolution of the African lion's mane and spent five years in Tanzania managing the Serengeti Lion Project. She received her B.A. in English from Yale University. Prior to joining AAAS, she worked in the Mammal department at the Bronx Zoo, and with the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minnesota to develop an NSF funded exhibit about the lion's mane. She serves on the boards of Friends of the Earth U.S. and the Frankfurt Zoological Society's Help for Threatened Wildlife Foundation.

Affilliated Staff

Mark S. Frankel directs the AAAS Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program and is responsible for developing and managing AAAS activities related to science, ethics and law. He serves as Staff Officer to two AAAS committees: the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility and the AAAS-American Bar Association National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists. He is editor of Professional Ethics Report, the Program's quarterly newsletter, and is a Fellow of AAAS.

Albert H. (Al) Teich is Director of Science & Policy Programs at AAAS, a position he has held since 1990. He is responsible for the Association's activities in science and technology policy and serves as a key spokesperson on science policy issues. Dr. Teich received a bachelor's degree in physics and a Ph.D. in political science, both from M.I.T. Prior to joining the AAAS staff in 1980, he held positions at George Washington University, the State University of New York, and Syracuse University. He is the author of numerous articles and editor of several books, including Technology and the Future, the most widely used college textbook on technology and society, the tenth edition of which was published by Thompson Wadsworth in 2005, and he is quoted and interviewed frequently in print media as well as on radio and television. Dr. Teich is a Fellow of AAAS and the recipient of the 2004 Award for Scientific Achievement in Science Policy from the Washington Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the editorial advisory boards to the journals, Science Communication; Science, Technology, and Human Values; Prometheus; Review of Policy Research; and Renewable Resources and a consultant to government agencies, national laboratories, industrial firms, and international organizations. He is a past chair of the Board of Governors of the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation, where he remains a member of the executive committee; a member of the External Research Advisory Board for the University of California at Davis; the Norwegian Research and Technology Forum in the United States; the Advisory Board of the University of Virginia's Department of Science, Technology and Society; and the National Research Council's Research and Technology Transfer Committee.