Elizabeth Ball
Educational Advisory Board Chairman

Elizabeth Ball earned her Ph.D. in Biology at The University of York, UK, in 1987. She continued full-time research on the genetics of insect flight muscle at The Johns Hopkins University, USA until 1989, before combining scientific research with education in Athens, Greece. In addition to teaching and examining biology for the International Baccalaureate for the past seventeen years, she has also co-authored several text books and toured Greece giving public lectures on science.

Philip Ball
Science writer

Philip Ball is a freelance science writer. He worked previously at Nature for over 20 years, first as an editor for physical sciences (for which his brief extended from biochemistry to quantum physics and materials science) and then as a Consultant Editor. His writings on science for the popular press have covered topical issues ranging from cosmology to the future of molecular biology.

Philip is the author of several popular books on science, including works on the nature of water, pattern formation in the natural world, colour in art, and the science of social and political philosophy. He has written widely on the interactions between art and science, and has delivered lectures to scientific and general audiences at venues ranging from the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) to the NASA Ames Research Center and the London School of Economics.

Philip continues to write regularly for Nature. He has contributed to publications ranging from New Scientist to the New York Times, the Guardian, the Financial Times and New Statesman. He is the regular contributor to Prospect magazine, and also a columnist for Chemistry World,Nature Materials and BBC Future. He has broadcast on many occasions on radio and TV, and in June 2004 he presented a three-part serial on nanotechnology, 'Small Worlds', on BBC Radio 4.

Philip has a BA in Chemistry from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Physics from the University of Bristol.

Erma Anderson
Science and mathematics consultant

Erma Anderson is a former high school physics and mathematics teacher and Albert Einstein Distinguished Fellow in the United States Senate. She was a Senior Program Officer with the National Research Council assisting in the development of the National Science Education Standards and a Christa McAuliffe Fellow with the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education. She has worked with the National Science Teachers Association on several projects including the Mentoring Initiative e-Mentoring for Student Success (eMSS), development of sciLINKS (www.sciLINKS.org) and Project Manager of Scope, Sequence and Coordination of Secondary School Science. She was a consultant and advisor to the Council for Basic Education’s Schools Around the World (www.s-a-w.org) project, developing and implementing the Evidence to Excellence protocol and a series of professional development activities that use student work from nine participating countries to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics and science. She has facilitated workshops for Educational Field Studies, National Institute of Medicine, United States Forestry Service, National Park Service, Kidsnet, school districts, and states. Currently she is a science/mathematics consultant with the Office of Overseas Schools AERO Project and the US High School Redesign Project. 

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