Moira Gunn

Dr. Moira Gunn stands squarely at the nexus of technology, science and society.

Through her programs Tech Nation and BioTech Nation, she has interviewed over 3,000 people ­ from CEO¹s to researchers, from venture capitalists to politicians, from teachers to technophobes. Popular business guests have included such leaders as Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google¹s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Microsoft¹s Steve Ballmer. But the story goes well beyond tech-business. From politics with Senator John McCain to poverty with Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, everyone plays a role - everyone is a piece of the puzzle.

More recently, Gunn has also reached into the world of biotech, interviewing the people who decode our DNA, seek cures for cancer, and hope to solve the energy crisis along the way. Her book: Welcome to BioTech Nation: My Unexpected Odyssey into the Land of Small Molecules, Lean Genes, and Big Ideas was named to the Best Science Books of 2007 by the Library Journal.

Both Tech Nation, and its regular segment BioTech Nation, play to a broad audience: heard nationwide on over 200 public radio stations, on NPR¹s XM-Sirius satellite radio channels NPR Now and NPR Talk, to 177 countries via Armed Forces Radio International, and to anyone anywhere over the Internet. And while an award-winning radio journalist, Gunn success in explaining and framing technology and science grows out of solid credentials: A former NASA scientist and engineer, Dr. Gunn earned a masters degree in Computer Science from Purdue University, where she was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. She has had a long career in software and systems development, and she holds a software patent in scientific research. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she will be recognized for her career achievements by Purdue University in May, 2009 with an honorary doctorate in science.

Dr. Gunn is also the Director of Information Systems Programs at the University of San Francisco, which also offers concentrations in Information Security and Biotechnology in addition to BSIS and MSIS degrees. For this work, she was named 2008 Educator of the Year by EE Times/Tech Insights.

Dr. Gunn is a Board Member Emeritus of the Tech Museum of Innovation in Silicon Valley, and a Member of the Advisory Boards of a number of
organizations, including the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, the Anita Borg Institute for Women & Technology, and the Trusted Computing Group.