BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Aspen Science Center
George Stranahan, Founding Chair
email hidden; JavaScript is required, Board Chair and Acting President
David Heil, Treasurer
Bill Frazer, Vice President
Michael Fain, Secretary
Norman Belmonte
Norman Belmonte is Chairman of Milco Industries in New York and is President of the Mitrani Family Foundation. He is a Member of the Board of Directors of the American Technion Society and past President of the New York City Chapter, American Technion Society and past Chairman of the New York Metro Region, American Technion Society. He serves on the Technion Board of Governers, Haifa, Israel. Belmonte also serves on the Board of Directors, ISEF Foundation, American Sephardi Federation, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and Center for Jewish History. He and his wife, Vivian, live in Cliffside Park, NJ and Basalt, CO.
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Norman Belmonte
Michael Fain
Michael Fain is Secretary of Aspen Science Center and a member of the Executive Committee. He was educated at University of Chicago, BA, x56. He was Engineering Director of the Hydrodynamics Lab, University of Chicago; Mechanical and Optical Engineer and Project Manager at various aerospace companies; Founder and former President, Alphametrics, Ltd., a manufacturer of precision light measuring equipment; Co-founder and former Chairman of Computers for Kids Foundation. He is a Member of University of Chicago Physical Sciences Visiting Committee, a Board member of Rocky Mountain Institute and former Board member of Aspen Center for Physics. He is co-author, with his wife, Judith Barnard, of eleven contemporary novels.
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Michael Fain
WIlliam R. Frazer
Frazer is Vice President of the Aspen Science Center and a member of the Executive Committee. He is Senior Vice President, Emeritus of the University of California (UC) system, and Professor of Physics, Emeritus, UC Berkeley. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American University of Armenia and was its founding chair. He chairs the External Advisory Panel for the UC-Caltech Thirty-Meter Telescope project, and is a member of the Boards of Governors of Los Alamos National Security, LLC, and Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, which are the contractors for these two national laboratories. In 1978 and 1979 Frazer chaired the UC System-wide Academic Assembly and Council. From 1981 to 1991 he was Provost of the University of California’s nine-campus system, with responsibility for academic planning and admissions and with oversight of the scientific programs of the Los Alamos, Livermore, and Berkeley National Laboratories. Later he was charged with organizing UC’s oversight structure, the UC President’s Council on the National Laboratories and its panels, and was the first chair of its Science and Technology Panel. Frazer was the first Chairman of the Board of Directors of the California Association for Research in Astronomy, which built and operates the twin ten-meter Keck telescopes atop Mauna Kea, each the largest in the world. From 1985 to 1991 Frazer was a member of the Board of Trustees of University Research Associates, which managed the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
From 1960 to 1981 Frazer was a member of the Department of Physics of the University of California, San Diego, where he conducted research and published extensively on the theory of the elementary particles. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He received a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, and an A.B. from Carleton College.
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WIlliam R. Frazer
Jill Kosdrosky
Jill Kosdrosky, Senior Vice President at Bank of America, was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received her first telescope at age 8, and has been seeking clear skies ever since. After obtaining her BS in Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, she joined Deloitte Consulting in an IT management role. She then moved to Delaware and later to England as program manager of Bank of America’s European credit card portfolio acquisitions. She obtained her Six Sigma LEAN Black Belt certification, and currently serves as BofA’s location strategist for the mortgage servicing division, working out of her home in Basalt, CO. She lives with her husband, Mike, and mutt, Grizzly. Jill enjoys hiking, cooking, watching Steelers football, growing vegetables, and studying all things in the sky, from airplanes to clouds to planets. She prides herself on planning all of her errand routes in a series of right-hand turns.
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Jill Kosdrosky
Andrei Ruckenstein
Dr. Ruckenstein is a co-founder of the Aspen Science Center and a past President of the Aspen Center for Physics. He holds a B.S. from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell. He is trained as a theoretical condensed matter physicist and is known for his work in strongly correlated quantum systems. He later redirected his interests towards biology-driven research. He was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, and a Humboldt Foundation Senior Prize. Dr. Ruckenstein is Professor of Physics and former Associate Provost & Vice President for Research at Boston University. He is also Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at Lancaster University.
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Andrei Ruckenstein
Harry Teague
Harry Teague AIA is President, founder and principal designer of Harry Teague Architects. Teague grew up in Alpine, New Jersey, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1966, and has lived in Colorado since receiving his M.Arch. from the Yale School of Architecture in 1972. He began his architectural practice in 1975 as a designer/builder, and personally constructed his designs for the first seven years of his career.Since 1975 HTA’s diverse practice has produced many significant buildings for educational, cultural and scientific institutions, as well as numerous award-winning residences. Teague was named AIA Colorado Architect of the Year in 2000, and Harry Teague Architects was named Firm of the Year by the AIA Colorado and the AIA Western Mountain Region in 1994 and 1995.
In addition to working closely with many non-profits as their architect, Teague has served on several boards including, as board president, the International Design Conference in Aspen, Aspen Science Outreach Center, and Aspen Journalism. His work has been included in exhibitions and published internationally in magazines and books. He has lectured and taught throughout the country, served on numerous professional design award juries and has received numerous local, state and national design awards.
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Harry Teague
Charles Cuniffe
With an award-winning architecture firm in Aspen since 1981, Charles Cunniffe, FAIA, is a champion of thoughtful community-based design, educational opportunities, the arts and human welfare.
Charles and his firm have donated pro-bono design services to countless non-profits, and consistently give back to the community; earning the AIA Colorado Community Service by an Architect Award in 2011. CCA has also earned AIA Colorado West Firm of the Year, Mentor of the Year, and has been on OUTSIDE Magazine’s 100 ‘Best Places to Work’ in the US for four consecutive years.
Charles is currently the elected Pitkin County Representative on the Board of Trustees of Colorado Mountain College, is a Founding Board Member and Chairman of Governance of Jazz Aspen/Snowmass, served as President Elect and President of the American Institute of Architects Colorado West from 2013 through 2017, is a member of the Aspen Art Museum, the Urban Land Institute’s Small Scale Development Council, Rocky Mountain Institute’s National Solutions Council, Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows, Aspen Science Center, the Aspen Rotary World Service Committee, and the Aspen Elks Lodge #224.
Charles Cunniffe Architects (CCA) has garnered national recognition, appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest Veranda, LUXE, Modern Luxury, and Architect Magazine amongst others. CCA has received numerous American Institute of Architects design awards and has earned Mountain Living Magazine’s ‘Home of the Year’ four times.
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Charles Cunniffe
Alan Fletcher
Alan Fletcher, one of this country’s most accomplished music administrators and respected composers, was born in 1956 in Riverside, New Jersey, and earned his baccalaureate at Princeton University (1978) and his master’s degree (1979) and doctorate (1983) at Juilliard. He studied composition with Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, Edward T. Cone, and Paul Lansky and piano with Jacob Lateiner and Robert Helps. In 1985, Fletcher was appointed to the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, teaching composition and theory and serving successively during his 16-year tenure at the school as Dean, Provost and Senior Vice President. From 2011 to 2006, he was Professor of Music and Head of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, after which he assumed his current position as President and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and School. Fletcher has lectured nationally and internationally on music and music administration, served on many boards, panels, juries, seminars and committees, and contributed articles and op-ed pieces to Symphony magazine, Gramophone magazine, Wall Street Journal, Sonus: Journal of Global Music, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Baltimore Sun, The Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Chronicle of Higher Education, and many others. Fletcher has won numerous composing awards and received commissions from the National Dance Institute, the Pittsburgh Symphony (2008 and 2011), Nashua Symphony, National Gallery of Art, Boston Celebrity Series, Duquesne University, New York Camerata, and other noted ensembles, organizations, and soloists. He chaired the 1997 Salzburg Seminar Music for a New Millenium: The Classical Genre in Contemporary Society.
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Alan Fletcher
David Heil
As President of David Heil & Associates, Mr. Heil works with non-profit organizations, governmental agencies and corporations to design, launch, and evaluate a range of educational and public outreach initiatives. Former Director of Informal Science Education for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), Mr. Heil is an innovative science educator, new enterprise developer, lecturer, and author. He is the former host of the Emmy Award-winning science series, Newton’s Apple. He was lead author on the award-winning program, Discover The Wonder, and is editor of Family Science. David was the Associate Director of the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry. While there, he initiated and administered many of the museum’s nationally recognized education and outreach programs, and also developed hands-on exhibits for a national tour. He also taught science and enrichment programs in grades 7-12, conducted research in plant biochemistry and radiochemistry, and worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He served on the Board of Directors of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, the Keystone Center, and currently serves as the Senior Science Advisor for the Council of Chief State School Officers. Mr. Heil recently received NSTA’s award for Distinguished Service to Science Education.
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David Heil
Mike Simmons, Jr.
Mike Simmons is Chairman of the Board, Acting President, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Aspen Science Center. With the assistance of the Executive Committee and the Staff he is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Center. He was Vice President for Academic Affairs, Trustee, member of the Science Board, and Chair of the Editorial Board of the Santa Fe Institute, where he co-founded the Complex Systems Summer School. Previously he was a research Staff Member, Associate Theoretical Divison Leader, and Deputy Associate Director for Physics and Mathematics at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he co-founded the Center for Nonlinear Studies and the Los Alamos Series in Basic and Applied Sciences. He is an Honorary Trustee and past President of the Aspen Center for Physics. He was a postdoctoral fellow and faculty member at several universities and has consulted on complex adaptive systems and organizational strategy with numerous organizations. His research interests were in quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, mathematical physics, and quantum coherent states. He received his Ph. D. in theoretical physics from Cornell University.
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L. M. Simmons, Jr.
William Turner
Bill is a member of the ASC the Executive Committee. Bill Turner spent 35 years as a management consultant, working with large financial institutions on issues of strategy, corporate governance, and operational effectiveness. While at McKinsey, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and A.T. Kearney, he assisted clients in 25 countries and resided overseas for more than a dozen years in London, Seoul, and Hong Kong. He led strategy and financial services consulting practices in the U.S., the United Kingdom, the Middle East, across Europe, and in Greater China. Prior to consulting, Bill led the corporate banking business for Chemical Bank, now JPMorgan Chase, in five mid-western states, managing relationships with large corporations and banks, and structuring and negotiating complex credit transactions. Eons ago, he graduated from Brown University with a degree in economics and then earned an MBA in finance from Columbia. Bill’s family has been coming to Aspen and Snowmass since the mid-1980’s, and Bill, wife Paula, and their dog Lola have lived in Snowmass Village for 15 years. Bill recently rolled off the board of Aspen Public Radio, where he was Chair for several years, and he serves on the board of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation in New York. Science – especially physics – has played an important role in Bill’s life. Brownian motion has kept him traveling around most of his life. From early on he accepted Einstein’s attributed comment that the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest. And, Bill views the world with lots of Fresnel rings, now that he has multi-focal intraocular lenses.
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William Turner
Rana Dershowitz
Rana Dershowitz, Vice President and General Counsel of Aspen Skiing Company, has spent the last 14 years of her 20 year legal career as counsel to various large for profit and not for profit sport-related entities. She was General Counsel, Ethics Officer, and Corporate Secretary of the federally chartered non-profit U.S. Olympic Committee, where she also oversaw Government Relations for four years. Previously she worked with Madison Square Garden, handling legal work for the Knicks, Rangers, Liberty and MSG Network. Earlier she worked at several different New York area law firms and was an adjunct professor of sports law at New York Law School. In 2012, Dershowitz was named one of Sports Business Journal’s Game Changers: Women in Sports Business. She is a 1995 graduate of Harvard Law School and a 1992 graduate of Harvard College, where she majored in archaeology. She is married with two young children in whom she hopes to instill a recognition of the importance of science education and an overall love of learning.
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Rana Dershowitz
Jane Frazer
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Jane Frazer
George Stranahan
George Stranahan is Founding Chairman of the Board, past President, and a member of the Execultive Committtee of the Aspen Science Center. At age 12 George knew that science would be his career choice, and his subsequent grades in assorted schools demonstrate his disinterest in any other subject. Except for a two year stint in the army late in the Korean War his career was a standard academic progression of BS, MS, PhD, Research Associate, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and out. He worked in theory on meson physics, plasma physics, and some very non-linear mathematics of phase transitions. He was improbably in the right place at the right time to become one of the founders of the Aspen Center of Physics, unquestionably a much more significant contribution to physics than his research papers.
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George Stranahan
The Aspen Science Center is a 501 (c)(3) organization founded to advance the public understanding of science through lifelong discovery, exploration, and education.
You can help support these exciting programs by donating online or sending a donation to PO Box 4669, Aspen, CO 81612, or by contacting Board Chair and Acting President Mike Simmons at 970-236-2360 or email hidden; JavaScript is required. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent of the law.
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