Ian Pegg is an physicist and director of the Vitreous State Laboratory of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he manages and directs a staff that has reached 110 scientists, engineers, and technicians working in a variety of basic and applied research and development areas. His research has spanned various areas of materials science including the optimization of processes and glass compositions for use in nuclear waste disposal, geopolymers, nano-materials, and thermoelectrics. Over the past 30 years, he has led numerous vitrification R&D programs involving the development and characterization of glass formulations and the demonstration and scale-up of Joule-heated melting processes. Ian holds a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Sheffield, UK as well as MBA and BSc degrees.

Werner Lutze is a nuclear chemist with over 40 years of experience in materials science and nuclear chemistry. Currently a senior scientist at the Catholic University of America’s Vitreous State Laboratory focused on geopolymers, he is also emeritus professor of chemical and nuclear engineering at the University of New Mexico and the former head of UNM’s Center for Radioactive Waste Management. Werner has served as adjunct faculty in School of Mining and Geosciences at the Technische Hochschule Aachen(Germany) and as lecturer in materials science at the Technische Universität in Karlsruhe. He received his undergraduate education at the Freie Universität in Berlin and holds doctorates in chemistry from the Technische Universität, Berlin and the Technische Hochschule, Aachen. He is the co-editor of Radioactive Waste Forms for the Future.

Weiliang Gong is a geochemist with over 30 years experience in developing and characterizing glass, ceramics, nano, and cementitious materials, including geopolymers. He is a research scientist at the Vitreous State Laboratory at Catholic University, where he focuses on composite geopolymer materials, green concrete, and vitrification of high-level and low activity waste streams. Wei has a PhD in geochemistry from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with post-doctoral work at the University of New Mexico.

Jonathan Cool is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for revolutionary technology and disruptive business models. He has spent over 30 years as a senior executive managing technological innovation: conceiving, developing, launching, financing, scaling and operating technology-driven enterprises from concept through commercialization. He has also been a managing director of a private equity technology venture fund and a strategic management consultant. Jonathan has served on the board of directors at several public and private companies and on advisory boards for non-profit entities. He is a U.S. and Australian citizen with experience in the U.S., E.U., China, Russia, and Asia. He earned a BA with Honors and Distinction from Stanford University and an MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.