Nikon Small World

Thomas Deerinck
Research Scientist
at the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research
and the Center for Research on Biological Systems
University of California, San Diego

Thomas Deerinck is a research scientist at the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research and the Center for Research on Biological Systems at the University of California, San Diego and specializes in the development of methods for confocal, 2- photon and electron microscopic imaging of biological specimens. He has co-authored over 100 scientific papers, abstracts and book chapters and his work has appeared in such prestigious scientific journals as Nature, Science, and Cell. In addition, his images have been featured in museum shows and on the covers of numerous scientific journals. In the four years that he has entered the Nikon Small World Competition, he as garnered a 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th place as well as 2 honorable mentions.

Nicole Dyer
Senior Editor
Popular Science

Nicole Dyer is a senior editor at Popular Science magazine, where she oversees the news department, covering innovations in technology, medicine and space-age gadgetry. Nicole has been with Popular Science since 2002, during which time she helped the magazine earn its first National Magazine Award for General Excellence from the American Society of Magazine Editors. Prior to that, she served as managing editor at Scholastic’s award-winning Science World, a national science magazine for teens.

Nicole graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology from Bates College in Maine and moved to New York in 1995 to work as a research assistant in the laboratory of Eric Kandel at Columbia University’s Center for Neurobiology and Behavior. She resides in Brooklyn, New York.

John Hart
Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Professor
University of Colorado, Boulder

John Hart has taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder, since 1975. His research is in laboratory and theoretical modeling of the circulations on Jupiter and Saturn. He conducted microgravity fluid dynamics experiments simulating planetary and solar convection on two Space-Shuttle missions (1985, 1996), and won the American Meteorological Society’s Verner S. Soumi Award for innovative laboratory studies of geophysical fluids (1997). His flow visualizations have appeared in dozens of books and journals, including the cover of Science Magazine.

Hart became interested in microscopy in 1984, and has recently has been working on methods for constructing high-resolution stereoscopic (3D) images of microscopic crystals observed with polarized light. He is an avid nature and adventure-sports photographer, and his pictures have won top prizes in several competitions run by the American Canyoneering Association.

Hart graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in physics in 1966, and obtained a Ph.D. in Meteorology from M.I.T. in 1970. He was awarded a N.A.T.O. Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Cambridge, and taught at M.I.T. (1973-1974) before joining the University of Colorado.

Malcolm Ritter
Science Writer
Associated Press

Malcolm Ritter joined The Associated Press in New York as a science writer in March 1984. His work focuses on the life sciences, including areas such as cloning, genetics, the brain and stem cells. He has written about such topics as the role of race in biomedical research, the possibility of a worldwide influenza pandemic, the biology of appetite and the scientific study of happiness. For first-person stories, he has participated in research into using brain waves to control computers and using fMRI brain scans to detect lying. His story on efforts to develop a pill to guard against hearing loss from loud noise was honored by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Ritter has reported for AP from scientific digs in Patagonia, at the Little Big Horn and in the Great Smoky Mountains. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota, he wrote for newspapers in North and South Dakota before moving to New York.

Daniel Sieberg
Science & Technology Correspondent
CBS News

Daniel Sieberg is a science and technology correspondent for CBS News.

Most recently, Sieberg was CNN's technology correspondent (2001-06) and host of "Next@CNN" (2004-06), covering many technology-related issues including identity theft, privacy, security, hacking, gadgets and video games. He also reported on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina extensively for CNN and covered two shuttle launches. Sieberg served as the technology editor and writer for CNN.com (2000-03). Before joining the cable channel, he was a daily reporter for The Vancouver Sun and a video game reviewer for CTV in Vancouver (1999-2000). Sieberg has also served as a freelance writer for Time magazine.

Sieberg contributed to CNN’s Emmy Award-winning documentary, "Enemy Within" (2002) and received the Peabody Award for Significant & Meritorious Achievement in Broadcasting and Cable for his role in CNN's coverage of Hurricane Katrina (2005). He is also the recipient of the Rafe Mair Award for Excellence in Journalism (2000).

Sieberg was born in Richmond, British Columbia. He was graduated from the University of Victoria in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in fine arts and received a master's degree in journalism from the University of British Columbia in 2000. Sieberg is married and lives in New York City.

Michael W. Davidson
Director of the Optical and Magneto-Optical Imaging Center
at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Florida State University

Michael Davidson is the director of the Optical and Magneto-Optical Imaging Center at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University. Involved with various aspects of microscopy for over 25 years, Davidson's scientific interests include the packaging of DNA into virus heads, liquid crystallinity in biological systems, and the adsorption of small liquid crystal molecules onto surfaces.

Davidson has authored many scientific articles on the subject of photomicrography and his photomicrographs have been published in more than a thousand national and international scientific journals, popular magazines and newspapers. In addition, Davidson's photomicrography has won more than 40 awards in scientific and industrial photography competitions and has been exhibited at over 50 locations nationwide. He is also the expert behind the Nikon Instruments educational website MicroscopyU and his own Molecular Expressions.