James Randi

Lecturer, author, and former stage magician James "The Amazing" Randi founded the James Randi Educational Foundation in 1996 to provide a resource on the paranormal, supernatural and the occult. A recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant, Randi devotes his time to the promotion of critical thinking for the media, and anyone else interested in learning more about the proper way to explore these unusual topics. Read more about James Randi here.

D.J. Grothe

D.J. Grothe is President of the James Randi Educational Foundation. He has lectured throughout North America on topics at the intersection of education, science and belief. Formerly a professional magician, he has special interests in the psychology of belief and processes of deception and self-deception. He hosts the radio show and podcast For Good Reason, prior to which he hosted over 200 episodes of the popular interview program Point of Inquiry, which he and his partner Thomas Donnelly created in 2005. 

Michael Blanford

Michael Blanford is Director of Educational Programs for the James Randi Educational Foundation. Has spent the last 15 years promoting science literacy, science appreciation, and critical thinking. Michael has developed science curricula, programs, and informal content for a number of institutions, including schools, community centers, museums, and Camps. Before coming to the JREF, he was coordinator for the Saint Louis Science Center’s Life Science Lab. Michael is also founder and president of the Skeptical Society of Saint Louis.

Carrie Poppy

Carrie Poppy is the Director of Communications for the James Randi Educational Foundation. She has spent many years in the non-profit world, helping various organizations garner attention for their causes through community and media outreach. She is also the co-host of the popular undercover investigative podcast, Oh No, Ross and Carrie!, for which she has been acupunctured, colon-cleansed, ear candled, astrologically analyzed, and baptised into multiple religions. Carrie's primary interest in skepticism is in how to communicate truth with compassion.

Harriet Hall

Harriet Hall, MD, also known as "The SkepDoc," is a retired Air Force flight surgeon and family physician who writes regularly for Skeptic, Skeptical Inquirer, www.sciencebasedmedicine.org and other skeptical publications. See her website www.skepdoc.info for further information and links to her book, Women Aren’t Supposed to Fly, and other articles.

Karen Stollznow

Dr. Karen Stollznow is a host of the Point of Inquiry podcast, and co-host of the Skeptics Society's Monster Talk podcast. A prolific skeptical writer and investigator of pseudoscience and the paranormal, she is the "Naked Skeptic" web columnist for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the "Bad Language" columnist for Skeptic magazine. Dr. Stollznow is Contributing Editor for Skeptical Inquirer, is the Managing Editor of CSI's Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, and a frequent contributor to many sites and publications. She is a Linguist and Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Director of the San Francisco Bay Area Skeptics.

Barbara Drescher

Barbara Drescher teaches quantitative research methods and cognitive psychology at California State University, Northridge. Her research interests include perception, attention, learning, and reasoning. At ICBS Everywhere, Barbara evaluates claims and research, discusses education, and promotes science and skepticism. She is involved in several grassroots organizations and founded Woo Fighters with the primary goal of motivating students of all ages to become critical thinking activists.

Matt Lowery

Matt is a high school physics teacher and part-time physics & astronomy college professor with a strong interest in promoting science education & critical thinking among my students and the population in general.  I am a self-described skeptic, someone who believes in Carl Sagan’s adage that 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.'  I maintain a blog titled The Skeptical Teacher at http://skepticalteacher.org.

Maria Myrback

Maria is the author of the blog Fledgeling Skeptic and President of a science-based educational nonprofit, The Great Experiment Scholarship, Inc. She also gives lectures on basic skepticism and skeptical topics. Maria recently celebrated her third anniversary as a skeptic, having formerly been involved with reiki, crystal healing and psychics. Now she works to educate others who are just starting to learn about skepticism and analytical thought through her blog.

 

Brian Thompson

Brian is the Outreach Coordinator for the James Randi Educational Foundation. For several years, he has promoted scientific skepticism through humor and entertainment on podcasts, blogs, and in print media.  His writing has appeared in Skeptical Inquirer and the Young Australian Skeptics Blog Anthology.  At the JREF, Brian works with grassroots skeptical organizations and multimedia content producers to promote science and reason to the widest possible audience. He also hosts the JREF podcast Consequence and produces the video series The Randi Show.

 

Dr. Ray Hall

Dr. Ray Hall is a research fellow for the James Randi Educational Foundation, and a professor of physics at California State University, Fresno and holds a Ph.D. in experimental high energy particle physics from the University of California, Riverside. During his 16 years working on the D-Zero detector at Fermilab, he was part of the research team that discovered the fundamental particle known as the top quark. He has taught college level courses on critical thinking for more than 10 years, and given presentations promoting critical thinking and science to groups and institutions including the California Science Teachers Association, the Air Force Academy, Stanford University, CSU Sonoma, CSU Pomona, K2B International, and the Center for Inquiry in Los Angeles.

Dr. Steven Novella

Steven Novella, M.D. is the JREF's Senior Fellow and Director of the JREF’s Science-Based Medicine project. Dr. Novella is an academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine. He is the president and co-founder of the New England Skeptical Society and the host and producer of the popular weekly science show, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. He also authors the NeuroLogica Blog, which covers news and issues in neuroscience, as well as general science, scientific skepticism, philosophy of science, critical thinking, and the intersection of science with the media and society. His work with the JREF includes developing and directing JREF’s Science-Based Medicine project, providing the media and the public with trustworthy information about unproven alternative medical practices. Dr. Novella appears regularly on radio, television, podcasts and at public lectures and conventions promoting science and reason. His radio appearances include NPR: All Things Considered, Minnesota Public Radio, Jefferson Public Radio, Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour, The Skeptical Zone during Nat and Drew in the Morning on Virgin Radio 95.3 FM in Vancouver, and many others. His television appearances include The Dr. Oz Show, Inside Edition, 20/20, The History Channel, Penn & Teller: Bullshit, The Unexplained on A&E, and others.