Cleland Host, J

Earned his Ph.D. at Northwestern University in Materials Science, including anthropological metal use. He has conducted research benefitting solar power, silicon technology and nanotechnology at Hemlock Semiconductor and Dow Corn-ing since 1997. From that work he holds five patents and has authored over three dozen internal papers and eleven papers for scientific journals, including the journal Nature. He has taught biology, math, chemistry, physics and general science at the college level, and an evolutionary biology segment at the high school level. He has also led many science outreach projects, reaching children from elementary school through High School. Big History has been an overarching theme of his career for over two decades, including many collaborative projects with Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow, online podcast interviews, and other activities. His focus on Big History has included Big History sections or topics in many of his classes taught at the university and high school level, as well as presentations on Big History topics at the first International Big History conference in 2012 and at Michigan Community College Biologist conferences in 2011 and 2013. His latest Big History project (in partnership with Heather Cleland-Host) is Elemental Birthdays, which is an instruction manual for the fun and educational inclusion of Big History, including stellar nucleosynthesis, in the celebration of birthdays of all ages.