Pamela B. Vandiver, MA, is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Co-Director of the doctoral Program in Heritage Conservation Science and Adjunct Professor in the Archaeology Division of the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. She is head of the Laboratory for Cultural Materials and advises and teaches in the School of Architecture's program in Historic Architectural Preservation. She has an M.A. in art and anthropology, and an undergraduate degree in history, art and Asian studies. She has published 130 articles, including a Science article on the beginnings of ceramics at 26,000 BP and a Scientific American article on "Ancient Glazes." She has edited nine books in the Materials Research Society symposium series entitled Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology .

In 2004, she was awarded the Pomerance Medal of the American Institute of Archaeology for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology. William David Kingery (1926 - 2000) is best known as "the father of modern ceramics." He effected a paradigm shift in the field - from one based on craft-type technologies to a discipline based on an integration of solid state physics, chemistry and crystallography. He played a critical role in establishing ceramics as a materials science, and in archeological ceramics and art history. He was an inspiring teacher, a mentor to generations of students from around the globe, a valued consultant to industry, an entrepreneur and a respected advisor to government. He began the Basic Science Division of the American Ceramic Society and was a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 1999, the Inamori Foundation awarded him the Kyoto Prize for "Fundamental Contribution to Development of the Ceramics Science and Technology Based on the Physicochemical Theory.".