Russell H. Vreeland is an Assistant Professor at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Dr. Vreeland received a B.S. degree in Environmental Science from Rutgers College of Agriculture and Environmental Science (now Cook College) in 1973 and an M.S. degree in Microbial Ecology from Rutgers University in 1976. He received a Ph.D. in Microbial Physiology from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in 1980. Following 2 years of Post doctoral research at the University of Western Ontario in London Ontario, Canada he was an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of New Orleans. He moved to West Chester in 1989. Dr. Vreeland has studied halophilic bacteria since 1976 when he isolated and identified the genus Halo monas. He is a 3-term member of the International Judicial Commission Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Halobacteriaceae. He is the chairman of the International Working Party to Establish Minimum Standards for the Taxonomy of Halophilic Bacteria. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the United Methodist Church. Dr. Vreeland has received research grants and contracts from Sandia National Laboratories, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Louisiana Fisheries Initiative, and private industry. He has published 20 research articles and reviews. Dr. Vreeland has presented numerous seminars and invited lectures in the United States and abroad. His current research interests involve the isolation and characterization of halophilic bacteria from hypersaline lakes and underground salt formations. Lawrence I. Hochstein, received his Doctorate in Bacteriology in 1959 from the University of Southern California. He was a Research Associate in the Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Research Associate in the Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Instructor in the Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Illinois, and is currently Research Scientist, Space Sciences Division, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. His major research interests include the physiology of the halophilic bacteria, denitrification, particularly in the exteremey halophilic bacteria, and the A TPases in the Archaea.
