Elaine Howard Ecklund is the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Rice University, as well as founding director of the Religion and Public Life Program. Ecklund is a sociologist of religion, immigration, and science who examines how individuals bring changes to religious and scientific institutions. She is the author of four books with Oxford University Press, one book with New York University Press, and numerous research articles and op-eds. Her most recent book is Secularity and Science: What Scientists Around the World Really Think About Religion (Oxford University Press, 2019) with coauthors David R. Johnson, Brandon Vaidyanathan, Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Steven W. Lewis, Robert A. Thomson Jr., and Di Di. Her forthcoming book, Why Science and Faith Need Each Other: Eight Shared Values That Move Us Beyond Fear, will be published with Brazos Press, a division of Baker Books, in May 2020.  She has received grants from the National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, Templeton World Charity Foundation, and Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Her research has been cited thousands of times times by local, national, and international media. In 2013, she received Rice University’s Charles O. Duncan Award for Most Outstanding Academic Achievement and Teaching, and in 2018 she gave the Gifford Lecture in Scotland.

Denis Alexander is the Emeritus Director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, where he is a Fellow. He has spent the past 40 years in the biological research community. From 1992-2012 he was editor of the journal Science & Christian Belief, and he currently serves as an Executive Committee member of the International Society for Science and Religion. In his book Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose? Alexander presents his belief in both the biblical doctrine of creation and the coherence of evolutionary theory. Alexander’s other books include Rebuilding the Matrix – Science and Faith in the 21st Century; Science, Faith and Ethics: Grid or Gridlock? (co-authored with Robert White); and The Language of Genetics – an Introduction. Dr Alexander gave the Gifford Lectures at St. Andrews University in December 2012 on the theme ‘Genes, Determinism and God’ to be published by Cambridge University Press 2016/17

Greg Cootsona is Lecturer in Religious Studies and Humanities at California State University at Chico and directs Science and Theology for Emerging Adult Ministries (or STEAM), a $2 million grant funded by the John Templeton Foundation and housed at Fuller Theological Seminary. STEAM is designed to catalyze the engagement of faith and science in Christian ministries with 18-30 year olds. His books include  Creation and Last Things: At the Intersection of Theology and Science (Geneva, 2002), C. S. Lewis and the Crisis of a Christian (Westminster John Knox, 2014), Mere Science and Christian Faith: Bridging the Divide with Emerging Adults (InterVarsity, 2018), and Negotiating Science and Religion In America: Past, Present, and Future (Routledge, 2020). He is also co-director of Science for the Church, an initiative that brings the resources of science to enhance the effectiveness of Christian congregations. Greg studied comparative literature at U.C. Berkeley and theology at Princeton Theological Seminary (M. Div.), the Universities of Tübingen and Heidelberg, as well as Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union (the latter where he received his Ph.D.) He has just finished 18 years as Associate Pastor for Adult Discipleship at Bidwell Presbyterian Church in Chico and Fifth Avenue Presbyterian in New York City. Greg has written for several periodicals such as Zygon, Theology and Science, as well as the Wall Street Journal and Christianity Today. He has been interviewed by CNN and The New York Times, and has appeared on the Today Show three times. He and his wife, Laura, live in Chico, California and have two daughters (18 and 21). Besides hanging out with his family, he loves to bike, read (and write), and drink good coffee.

Edward B. (“Ted”) Davis is Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at Messiah University and a Fellow of the International Society for Science & Religion. An expert on Robert Boyle and the Scientific Revolution, he also writes about Christianity and science in America since 1800, including the history of creationism and a study of modern Jonah stories featured on two BBC radio programs. Ted was an advisor for recent exhibits about science and religion at the National Museum of American History and the Museum of the Bible His latest book, Protestant Modernist Pamphlets: Science and Religion in the Scopes Era (2024), reprints ten rare pamphlets on “Science and Religion” from 1922 to 1931, with three chapters about the Protestant modernist encounter with science. The author can provide a coupon for a 30% discount upon request: tdavis@messiah.edu.

Praveen is Professor of Physiological Genomics and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Cornell University. He is also Director of the Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics. He leads a research lab focused on genome-scale and molecular approaches to understand physiology and human disease. Praveen received his BA degree from Cornell University and his PhD in Genomics from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Human Genome Research Institute under the mentorship of NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, he moved in 2011 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics. The same year he was selected by Genome Technology as one of the nation’s top 25 rising young investigators in genomics. In 2017, he returned to Cornell University as an Associate Professor. Praveen has authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals such as PNAS, Cell and Science and has served as a reviewer for over 50 different journals. Honors include a faculty merit award for outstanding teaching and mentoring, the prestigious American Diabetes Association Pathway To Stop Diabetes Research Accelerator (which is awarded to only three people per year), and the inaugural Boehringer Ingelheim Award for Excellence in Research Mentorship. Praveen is an advocate for thoughtful discussion at the interface of science and faith and has served on the advisory board of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), serves on the Board of BioLogos, is a frequent speaker for the BioLogos Voice Program and the Veritas Forum, and a mentor in the Veritas Faculty Scholars program.

Jeff Hardin is chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Wisconsin. In addition to numerous scientific research articles relating to embryonic development, Hardin is senior author of World of the Cell. He received a Master of Divinity degree at the International School of Theology in Southern California, where he met his wife, Susie, who worked in campus ministry with Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ). He is on the national advisory board for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship’s Faculty Ministry and serves as faculty advisor for the Navigators and InterVarsity Graduate Christian Fellowship on the UW-Madison campus.

Dr. Deborah Haarsma served as President of BioLogos from 2013 to 2024.   Under Haarsma’s leadership, BioLogos grew in both numbers and influence, from private events and a small website to extensive programs and widespread impact (see Our History). During her tenure, BioLogos built an extensive network of experts, writers, and speakers, and developed national conferences, a high-school curriculum, and a podcast.  BioLogos became the leading resource on the viewpoint of evolutionary creation and went on to help Christians wrestle with many complex science topics, always working at the intersection of Christ-centered faith and rigorous science and in a spirit of gracious dialogue.  Haarsma is a frequent speaker on modern science and Christian faith at churches, universities, and conferences. In addition to extensive writing and speaking for BioLogos, she has appeared on several podcasts, including Undeceptions (on Outer Space and on The Multiverse) and the Jesus Storybook Bible podcast. Her writing has been featured at Big Think and Sojourners, as well as in several books, including Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Design, the collection Calvinism for a Secular Age, and the collection Christ and the Created Order.   She wrote the book Origins with her husband and fellow physicist, Loren Haarsma, presenting the agreements and disagreements among Christians regarding the history of life and the universe.   Previously, Haarsma served as professor and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Calvin University. In her research, she used telescopes around the world and in orbit to pursue extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology, with publications on young galaxies, large galaxies, galaxy clusters, the curvature of space, and the expansion of the universe.  Haarsma completed her doctoral work in astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (profile by MIT’s Octet Collaborative) and her undergraduate work in physics and music at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota (profile for 2022 Alumna of the Year award). She and Loren enjoy science fiction and classical music, and live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.