Biography: John Kerr received his PhD in applied economics in 1990 at the Food Research Institute, Stanford University. Before joining the faculty at Michigan State University in 1999 he worked at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India, and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. His research interests are in international agricultural development and natural resource management. Focal areas of his research have been on adoption of agricultural technology and natural resource conservation practices, collective action and property rights related to natural resource management, and the interaction of these things with rural poverty in developing countries. He has lived in and conducted research in India, Mexico, and Egypt,, and conducted short term research in many other countries as well.

Biography: Mohammad Hassan Khalil is an associate professor of Religious Studies, an adjunct professor of Law, and Director of the Muslim Studies Program. Before returning to his hometown of East Lansing, Michigan, he was an assistant professor of Religion and visiting professor of Law at the University of Illinois. He specializes in Islamic thought and is author of Islam and the Fate of Others: The Salvation Question (Oxford University Press, 2012) and editor of Between Heaven and Hell: Islam, Salvation, and the Fate of Others (Oxford University Press, 2013). He has presented papers at various national and international conferences, and has published peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on various topics, from bioethics to early Islamic historiography to contemporary conversion narratives to soteriology to jihad.

Biography: Dr. Maria Lapinski is joint-appointed as a Professor in the Department of Communication and Michigan Ag-Bio Research at Michigan State University (MSU). She is currently serving as the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences and in this role facilitates interdisciplinary research partnerships and identification of funding sources for faculty research. Dr. Lapinski received her doctorate in 2000 from MSU and her Master of Arts from University of Hawaii, Manoa. Her research examines the impact of messages and social-psychological factors on health and environmental risk behaviors with a focus on culturally-based differences and similarities. To this end, Dr. Lapinski has conducted collaborative research projects with her students and colleagues in a number of countries in Asia, the Pacific Rim, Central America, and Africa. Her work has been presented at national and international communication and public health conferences, published in refereed journals including The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Health Communication, Communication Monographs, and others. Her research has been funded by agencies such as the National Science Foundation, World Health Organization, National Institutes of Health, and United States Department of Agriculture. Her favorite courses to teach are International Health Communication, Risk Communication, and Health Communication for Diverse Populations.

Biography: Dr. Leichtman is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, and she focuses on West Africa and the Middle East. She earned her Ph.D. in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from Brown University, and she also holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in International Relations and African Studies and a B.A. in Middle Eastern and North African Studies from the University of Michigan. Her research highlights the interconnections among religion, migration and politics, and conversion to Shii Islam, through examining Muslim institutions and the communities they serve. She investigates the location of Shii Islam in national and international religious networks, the tension between Lebanese and Iranian religious authorities in West Africa, and the development of a vernacular Shii Islamic movement in Senegal.