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Includes Feature Films, Kistler Prize Acceptance Speeches, Interviews, Lectures, and Scholar Visions of the Long-term Future

 

Recent Publications

“Global Transitions and Asia 2060” Executive Summary

“Water – The Crisis Ahead” Executive Summary

Winter 2010 Newsletter

All Foundation publications are available for download from our Publications page.

 

UPCOMING Events

12th Annual Kistler Prize

• September 30, 2020

“Global Population and the Planetary Future – 2011”

• Humanity 3000 Workshop
• October 27–28, 2011

 

RECENT Events

Norman Myers Lecture

• Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series
• May 2011

“Global Transitions and Asia 2060” Workshop

• Taipei, Taiwan
• November 2010

Peter Ward Lecture

• Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series
• October 2010

11th Annual Kistler Prize

• September 2010

“Managing the Future”

• Talk by Sesh Velamoor
• July 2010

“Water – The Crisis Ahead”

• Humanity 3000 Workshop
• April 2010  [AUDIO FILES]

 

 

 

 

Foundation For the Future

About the Foundation

 

OVERVIEW | BOARD OF TRUSTEES | BOARD OF ADVISORS | EMERITI

 

Board of Trustees

Walter Kistler   Sesh Velamoor   Donna Hines   Milt Woods   Sir Crispin Tickell


 
Walter Kistler
Co-Founder & President

Walter Kistler was born in Biel, Switzerland, in 1918, the third of three children born to Hermann Kistler, a lawyer, and Marguerite Jeanneret, a nurse. He studied sciences at the University of Geneva and earned a master’s degree in physics from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

In 1944, at age 26, Mr. Kistler went to work for the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, Winterthur, and subsequently spent several years as the head of its Instrumentation Lab. During this time, he pioneered a new measurement technology using Piezo-electric quartz crystals as the transduction element in accelerometers, load cells, and pressure gauges. This new technology made possible his own invention of a charge amplifier that could handle the very high impedance signals obtained from such sensors. In 1980 he received the prestigious Albert F. Sperry Award from the Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society (ISA) for these achievements.

In 1951 Mr. Kistler moved to the United States, where he joined Bell Aircraft, Buffalo, NY. At Bell, he invented and developed a pulse constraint servo-accelerometer that was later used in the guidance of the Agena space rocket. For this work, he received the 1968 Aerospace Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), recognizing “his pioneering effort in the development of high-performance aerospace instrumentation.”

Wishing to further pursue his work in quartz instrumentation, Mr. Kistler inaugurated in 1957 Kistler Instrument Corporation, which became a world leader in the development of quartz sensors. One of the major innovations under his supervision was the invention and development of the Piezotron, a semiconductor module that made a high-impedance quartz sensor to a low-impedance instrument. Several accelerometers of this type were used in the Apollo manned spaceflight project. Through these inventions, Kistler Instrument Corporation acquired a worldwide reputation.

Following the sale of Kistler Instrument Corporation in 1970, Mr. Kistler moved to Seattle, WA, and, with his partner, Charles Morse, founded Kistler-Morse Corporation. In a development effort spanning several years, Kistler-Morse created the new technology of bolt-on weighing, based on Kistler’s invention of the Microcell, an extremely sensitive semiconductor strain sensor. Mr. Kistler subsequently designed and developed a number of additional instruments: load stands, load blocks, and load discs for monitoring the contents of vessels through direct weighing. In 1982, he was named an ISA Fellow for his contributions in the field of sensor development. He also became a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) committee that established standards for pressure sensor testing.

Over the years, Mr. Kistler has played a key role in the startup of several high-technology companies either as a Director or as Chairman. These companies include Kistler Products, SRS, ICI, Interpoint, Paroscientific, and SPACEHAB, Inc. In 1993 he co-founded Kistler Aerospace Corporation (Kirkland, WA) to pursue his lifelong dream of designing and building a totally reusable space vehicle. The company is developing the world’s first reusable launch vehicles to reduce the cost of access to space by 80 to 90 percent. The reusable system will be capable of launching Earth satellites into low Earth orbit, medium Earth orbit, geosynchronous orbit, and even on escape trajectories to the Moon and the planets.

In 1996, Mr. Kistler established the Foundation For the Future, a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge concerning the long-term future of humanity.

Walter Kistler is a life member of the Swiss Physical Society and a member of AIAA and ISA, which presented him the Life Achievement Award in 2000. He is listed in American Men of Science, Who’s Who in Aviation, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, and Who’s Who in the World. He is the owner of more than 50 US and foreign patents and the author of a number of papers published in scientific and trade journals. His book Reflections on Life was published in 2003.
 


 
Sesh Velamoor
Trustee & Director of Programs

Sesh Velamoor, a native of Hyderabad, India, is the Director of Programs at the Foundation For the Future. In this capacity he organizes and moderates think tanks to discuss issues pertaining to the long-term future of humanity, including global education. He also routinely speaks and writes on various aspects of the long-term future in local, national, and international journals and forums.

Mr. Velamoor previously held the position of President at Kistler-Morse Corporation in Bothell, WA, a manufacturer of instrumentation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, and has master's degrees in industrial engineering and business administration. Mr. Velamoor has more than 30 years' experience in management at top levels of industrial corporations. During his career in business, he has published technical articles in manufacturing journals and was active in speaking on a variety of business topics, including excellence, material requirements planning, total quality, empowerment, Japanese management, and cultural diversity in the workplace. He has also taught university-level courses in marketing research, operations research, and organizational development.

He has been listed in Who's Who in the Northwest and Who's Who in the United States. He is active in community affairs and has served as President of the India Association of Western Washington and Chairman of the High-Tech Board of Bellevue Community College. He currently serves as a Foundation Associate of the Pacific Science Center, Trustee of the Kistler-Ritso Foundation, and member of the board of the Seattle Snow Leopard Trust.
 


 
Donna Hines
Trustee & Director of Administration

As Director of Administration at the Foundation For the Future, Ms. Hines oversees general administrative policy, accounting, personnel management, and office services. She supervises logistical details related to scheduling and hosting events, meeting planning, and travel and accommodations for Foundation officers as well as for participants who attend Foundation workshops, seminars, and symposia.

Ms. Hines was invited to be part of the Foundation For the Future at its inception in 1996. She was named Deputy Director in 1997 and Trustee in 2001. Prior to joining the Foundation, she held a variety of administrative posts over some 20 years, most recently at Kistler Aerospace Corporation, Kirkland, WA, a company dedicated to developing the first fully reusable aerospace vehicles. Previous positions included Assistant Director of the Academy of Performing Arts in Honolulu, HI; Travel Coordinator for a Seattle tour wholesaler that packaged tours to Easter Island, the Galapagos Islands, and the Paleolithic caves of France and Spain; and administrative posts in The Kelsh Company, which promoted Alaska as a tourist destination, and Mosquito Fleet Enterprises, a whale-watching company. She also worked in general administration for SPACEHAB, Inc., a leading provider of commercial space services.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in university studies, with emphases in psychology and sociology, and a teaching certificate for secondary education. During her college years, she was accepted into a UNM exchange program with the University of Massachusetts (UMass), where she won the approval of both UMass and UNM to take part in the writing and implementing of a unique off-campus program to investigate the academic and personal growth of students in independent study.
 


 
Milt Woods
Trustee

Mr. Woods has been active in the aerospace industry since 1960. He has held senior engineering, marketing, and management positions for Borg Warner Controls and Sundstrand Data Control. He is co-founder of Integrated Circuits Inc. (Interpoint) and was a Director and Executive Vice President of that company. Mr. Woods was a member of the Board of Directors of Kistler-Morse Corporation from 1975 to 1995, and is currently a consultant to small businesses.

Mr. Woods is also managing partner of Cornet Bay Marina Properties, a Northwest development company.
 

 
Sir Crispin Tickell
Trustee

Crispin Tickell, GCMG, KCVO, was elected to the Foundation For the Future Board of Trustees in 2007.

Tickell is the Director of the Policy Foresight Programme at the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization at Oxford University, as well as Chairman of the Trustees of the St. Andrew’s Prize for the Environment and Advisor at Large to the President of Arizona State University. His main interests are in the field of the environment and international affairs.

Most of Tickell’s career has been in the Diplomatic Service. He was Chef de Cabinet to the President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1980, Ambassador to Mexico from 1981 to 1983, Permanent Secretary of the Overseas Development Administration from 1984 to 1987, and British Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1987 to 1990. Other past positions include Warden of Green College, Oxford; Chancellor of the University of Kent; President of the Royal Geographical Society; Chairman of the Board of the Climate Institute of Washington, DC; Convenor of the Government Panel on Sustainable Development; a Trustee of the Baring Foundation; Inaugural Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment; and Advisor-at-Large to the President of Arizona State University. Since 1992 he has been a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

Tickell was a member of two Government Task Forces: one on Urban Regeneration, the other on Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Objects. From 1999 to 2004, he was a member of the Oxford Commission on Sustainable Consumption, and from 1994 to 2000, he served on the Government Round Table on Sustainable Development. He was a part of the Committee for the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) from 1991 to 1994, and of the Working Group on the Use of Non-Human Primates in Research, 2005 to 2006. Since 2002, he has served on the Board of Overseers of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York. His interests range from business and charities to climate, pre-Colombian art, and the early history of the Earth.

Among many honours and distinctions Tickell has received are the GCMG (Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George) in 1988, KCVO (Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order) in 1983, and MVO (Member of the Royal Victorian Order) in 1958. He received the Chinese Government Friendship Award in 2004, the Award for International Cooperation on Environmental Protection (Chinese State Environmental Protection Agency SEPA) in 2003, Distinguished Environmental Lecturer at Harvard University in 2001, Melchett Medallist of the Institute of Energy in 1996, and Global Environmental Leadership Award of the Climate Institute of Washington, DC, in 1996. Eight institutions have named him an Honorary Fellow and 24 honorary doctor degrees have been conferred upon him.