Dr. Albert Harrison
Albert A. (Al) Harrison received his BA and MA in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan. In 1967, he joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, and in 1979 he advanced to Professor of Psychology. Now Professor Emeritus, he is the author or co-author of approximately 100 papers in a wide range of journals, his books include Living Aloft: Human Requirements for Extended Spaceflight (with Mary Connors and Faren Akins, NASA, 1985), From Antarctica to Outer Space: Life in Isolation and Confinement (with Yvonne A. Clearwater and Christopher P. McKay, Springer-Verlag, 1991), After Contact: The Human Response to Extraterrestrial Life (Plenum, 1997) and, Spacefaring: The Human Dimension (University of California Press, 2001). His most recent book, "Starstruck: Cosmic Visions in Science Religion and Folklore" describes how new scientific findings about our place in the universe are encouraging people to find new answers to old existential questions. Al was a member of NASA’s Space Human Factors Engineering Science and Technology Working Group and is a member of the Permanent SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics. He is currently involved in planetary defense (protecting the Earth from asteroids and comets) and is currently chairing a subgroup of the Academy’s Space Architecture Study Group. In December, 2003 Al was PI of a NASA-sponsored conference on new directions in behavioral health, and has recently edited a special supplement on this topic for Aviation, Space & Environmental Medicine (June, 2005). He is former deputy US editor of Systems Research and Behavioral Science and a science advisor to Bigelow Aerospace. He may be reached at aaharrison@ucdavis.edu. He is now Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UC Davis, Davis California.

Dr. Jim Pass
Dr. Jim Pass received his Ph.D. in sociology in 1991 from the University of Southern California (USC) with a specialty in deviance. He became increasingly uninterested about the topic as he neared graduation. Being interested in both sociology and space exploration, he put the two together after reading Allen Tough’s web article entitled “Positive Consequences of SETI Before Detection” in which he made a comment about creating something called social astronomy or astrosociology. Dr. Pass immediately purchased the domain, Astrosociology.com and began the eight-month long development of the definition and purview of astrosociology. He is currently working full time toward the development of astrosociology; serves as consultant to 4Frontiers Corporation and on the editorial board of the journal Astropolitics. Progress in the development of astrosociology remains strong, though uneven due to the indifference and criticism of many of the entrenched leaders of the sociological community (who happen to control the national organization, the American Sociological Association (ASA)). Nevertheless, the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA), a large western regional organization, has allowed for two sessions. One session is strictly a panel comprised of astrosociological papers (including one by Dr. Albert Harrison). The second session will present Kathleen Connell’s film about the legacy of the Apollo program followed by a discussion. A third session, chaired by Dr. Marilyn Dudley-Rowley, will include a paper about the importance of bringing space into social science classrooms. Within the space community, we were successful in establishing the Astrosociology Working Group (AWG) within the AIAA. Kathleen and Marilyn were recent guests on The Space Show and are members of the AWG. Dr. Pass’ mission is to bring the social sciences into the space age (kicking and screaming) in an organized form that makes formal collaboration with the space community possible for the benefit of space exploration.