Advisory Committee

Edward J. Devinney Jr. is Visiting Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Villanova University. He is widely known for the “Wilson/Devinney” computer code for binary star light-curve analysis used by scores of astronomers. He has a bachelor’s degree in Physics from LaSalle University, with a minor in both philosophy and religion, and a doctorate in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ed spent ten years working in the Florida university system, including two as a National Academy of Sciences Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA Goddard Space Center. He then spent nine years with Siemens U.S. research labs as head of the artificial intelligence department and chief scientist. He spun out a high-technology company from Siemens and served seven years as its CEO.

Ed’s astronomical interests include instrumentation, observational aspects of solar eclipses, and binary stars, including black hole binaries. He is also very interested in the philosophy of science.

Peter Dodson, has spent his entire career as a gross anatomist at the School of Veterinary Medicine and as a dinosaur paleontologist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science, both at the University of Pennsylvania. 

He has done extensive fieldwork in the western United States and at Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta. In 1981, Peter discovered a new horned dinosaur in Montana, which he described as Avaceratops lammersi in 1986. He has participated in field projects in Madagascar, Egypt, Argentina, and China. 

With his students and colleagues, Peter is co-describer of a gigantic sauropod from Egypt, Paralititan stromeri, the diplodocoid sauropod Suuwassea emiliae from Montana in 2004, and the basal neoceratopsian Auroraceratops rugosus from China in 2005. His work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation. Co-editor of The Dinosauria, author of The Horned Dinosaurs and of several children’s books including An Alphabet of Dinosaurs, he is currently working on a book about the dinosaurs of China.

Michelle M. Francl is Professor of Chemistry at Bryn Mawr College and Adjunct Scholar at the Vatican Observatory. A quantum chemist, Michelle has published in areas ranging from the development of methods for computational chemistry to the structures of topologically intriguing molecules and teaches both chemistry and the occasional writing course. She was elected a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2009.

Michelle is herself a writer whose essays on science, culture, and policy appear regularly in Nature Chemistry and whose reflections on living a contemplative life in the midst of the everyday chaos can be found in a number of print and online venues. Her most recent books are Prayer: Biblical Wisdom for Seeking God from Liturgical Press and Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Trained as both a theologian in the Roman Catholic tradition and as a scientist, Michelle is interested in the ways in which theology and science intersect and interact. Should religion fear science? Should science dismiss the religious? How do these two seemingly different ways of taking a “long, loving look at the real”—Science and Theology—help us express our understanding of the universe that surrounds us?

Nelson Rivera is Professor of Theology and Ethics at United Lutheran Seminary where he teaches courses on a variety of theological topics, as well as Liberation theology and theology and the sciences. Nelson’s research and teaching also include courses that explore the relationships between theology and the traditions of western philosophy and culture. Among his interests is the exploration of the social and theological dimensions of important scientific ideas. His book, The Earth Is Our Home (Imprint Academic, 2010), explores the meaning and implications of evolutionary theory for epistemology and philosophy of religion, especially in the work of British Philosopher Mary Midgley. Nelson moves within an interdisciplinary intellectual landscape. 

Patrick McCauley is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Chestnut Hill College where he teaches religion, literature, and philosophy. He received a PhD in Philosophical Theology and Literature from the University of Iowa, an MA in English Literature from Binghamton University and a B.S. in Communications/Cinema Production from Ithaca College. 
 
His first book, Reading by the Light of a Burning Phoenix: A Kantian Interpretation of Hesse (LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2011), offers a new interpretation of Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf and is grounded in Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy. Patrick has also published the chapter, “On the Relation of Kant’s Aesthetics to His Practical Work,” in The Sacred and Profane: Contemporary Demands on Hermeneutics, edited by J.F. Keuss. 

Frank Pennington is an Ordained Minister with The United Church of Christ, a national Protestant denomination of just under two million members. A progressive church, the United Church of Christ has roots in the New England Congregational as well as the Reformed churches. Frank has a Master of Divinity from Colgate Rochester/Crozer Divinity School in Rochester NY and an undergraduate major in Education with a strong interest in the social sciences. A 1972 graduate of the Divinity School, he served ministries in Buffalo NY (college chaplaincy and student organizing) and churches in the Finger Lakes of NY State and in the Philadelphia region, most recently serving with the United Church of Christ at Valley Forge (29 years). In addition to formal ministry, he has also taught in urban public schools in both New York and Pennsylvania. In a period of intense public division with the weakening of civil discourse along with the growth of what have been called “the culture wars,” Frank has a strong interest in the constructive inter-faith conversations between Religion, Spirituality and the Sciences especially as these conversations might be advanced at the grass roots and “in the pews.” Frank writes a weekly blog on religion and culture entitled “Frankonfaith,” found on wordpress.com/ and enjoys outdoor activities including cycling, kayaking, and hiking.