Michelle Thaller

Dr. Michelle Thaller is an astrophysicist with over two decades of science communication experience. Her research involves the lifecycles of stars, and she has worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Goddard Space Flight Center. She has appeared in many television science programs, including How the Universe Works and Space’s Deepest Secrets. Michelle has done two TEDx talks about astronomy and has hosted the podcast Orbital Path on public radio.

Elisabeth Ida Ward

Assistant Curator of the Smithsonian Institution's special traveling exhibition, Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga, from 2000 to 2004, Elisabeth Ward went on to complete her Ph.D. in Scandinavian Languages and Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, and continues to lecture for Smithsonian Journeys. Dr. Ward has a long-term passionate interest in all things Icelandic. Listening to her mother, speak to her grandparents in the Icelandic language, Elisabeth became fluent over many years while growing up in Southern California and traveling to Iceland during the summer. As part of her Ph.D. research, Dr. Ward lived in Iceland from 2006 to 2010, receiving Icelandic citizenship. Her dissertation focuses on the medieval Icelandic narratives called the Sagas of Icelanders; Dr. Ward’s research reveals the relationship between those stories and the actual physical landscape of Iceland. She argues they are “co-constituted”, meaning one cannot be read without the other.

In addition to appearing on documentaries for the Smithsonian Channel and others, she also worked as the Program Director for Vikingaheimar Museum in Reykjanesbær, Iceland, and as the Director of the Scandinavian Cultural Center at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma Washington. Since 2005, she has served as a consultant for Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center helping to create exhibitions for their Norway Pavilion about the Vikings, Norwegian folk culture, and Norse mythology. She recently returned to California to take a position as Executive Director of the Los Altos History Museum. The daughter of an American serviceman who met his wife while stationed in Iceland in the 1960s, Elisabeth is the mother of a 16-year-old son who also has Icelandic citizenship.

Allen Glazner

Allen Glazner is a geologist, educator and author with particular expertise in volcanoes, tectonics, and mountain building. He believes strongly that understanding the geologic underpinnings of the planet greatly enhances one’s enjoyment of the landscape and everything that lives on it. A native Southern Californian, Allen earned geology degrees from Pomona College and UCLA before embarking on a 38-year career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

While his research focus is on the American Southwest, Allen has field experience many other countries including Iceland, Alaska, the Caribbean, South Africa, Mexico, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. An award-winning teacher, he has led dozens of field trips for groups ranging from the general public to academic specialists, and has trained astronauts and National Park personnel in the field and classroom. In addition to over 150 academic papers, he has coauthored several books for the public including Geology Underfoot books on Death Valley, Yosemite National Park, and Southern California. 

Allen was a runner and now is an avid cyclist and hiker. He enjoys photography, especially landscape, aerial, and 3D-reconstructive. Reading, especially fiction, is one of his sedentary pursuits. See landscape photos and more at allenglazner.com.