Menas Kafatos is a physicist and the Director of the Center of Excellence and has served as Founding Dean, Schmid College of Science & Technology at Chapman University. He received his BA in Physics from Cornell University in 1967 and his PhD in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972.

Kafatos has 35 years experience in undergraduate and graduate Earth systems science, hazards, remote sensing and datainformation systems, physics, computational and theoretical astrophysics, astronomy, and foundations in quantum theory. His current research interests include interdisciplinary Earth system science, natural hazards and climate change, tropical cyclones, and aerosols and pollution in mega-cities. He has published numerous books and more than 250 articles on computational science, astrophysics, Earth systems science, hazards and global change, general relativity, cosmology, foundations of quantum theory, and consciousness. He has been the Principal Investigator on more than 50 astronomical observational programs and on 4 NASA Science Applications grants and has received more than 75 grants and contracts from a variety of sources including NASA, NSF, NOAA, NRL, NIFA and USDA.

Kafatos is committed to the dialogue between science, philosophy and spirituality and is giving invited talks and workshops on these subjects including: Chopra Foundation’s “Sages and Scientists”; “Science and Non-Duality” (SAND); “Towards a Science of Consciousness.”