Margaret Carruthers is a geologist whose work has taken her to many parts of North America and the Pacific and South Atlantic Ocean. For more than 10 years, Margaret was a teacher and a consultant for developing a wide range of science-related materials. Currently, she is the Supervising Editor for Science at Words and Numbers in Baltimore, Maryland and the author of seven science books for children and young adults. She is also the co-author with Josie Iselin of Beach Stones. Her awards include runner-up for The Daily Telegraph/BASF Young Science Writer Awards 2000, and overall winner of the 2000 Geologists’ Association Earth Alert Rockwriters’ Essay Competition for Exploring the Longest Volcano on Earth. Carruthers received her MS degree from the University of Massachusetts. 

Pam George is the author of Shipwrecks of the Delaware Coast: A Tale of Pirates, Squalls and Treasure. A freelance journalist, her articles on maritime history have appeared in Delaware Beach Life, Chesapeake Life and Baltimore Magazine. George also writes articles on food, travel and health, for Forbes, the Christian Science Monitor and Men's Life. She received a B.S. degree in Communications from the University of Delaware.

An avid beachcomber, committed environmentalist, and founding member of the Beachcomb Alliance, Terri Kirby Hathaway is the Marine Education Specialist for North Carolina’s Sea Grant Program. Her duties include identifying and coordinating coastal curricula for use in classrooms, organizing teacher workshops, and publishing a marine education newsletter, Scotch Bonnet. Terri is also an education associate with the Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence and has presented at conferences for various education organizations including the North American Association for Environmental Education. Prior to joining Sea Grant, she spent more than 18 years as the education curator for the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. Earlier in her career, she worked as a biological technician and researcher in Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Terri holds a master’s in science education from East Carolina University.

Dave Harp operates a corporate and editorial photography business from Cambridge, MD. A graduate of Ohio University with a degree in English literature, Dave was staff photographer for the Hagerstown Morning Herald and a photographer for The Baltimore Sun Magazine before establishing his own business in 1990. Harp's photos have been extensively published in magazines such as Coastal Living, Audubon, New York Times, Natural History, and Smithsonian. In 2006, he was awarded the Grand Prize by North American Travel Journalists Association for magazine photo journalism and in 2007, won First Place by The Society for Professional Journalists for the same. He is a past president of the American Society of Media Photographers and has collaborated on several books with environmental writer Tom Horton, including Swanfall; Water’s Way; The Great March; and The Nanticoke.

Nationally known journalist, environmentalist and award-winning author, Tom Horton covered the Chesapeake Bay region for 32 years for The Baltimore Sun. He has also written for the New York Times magazine, National Geographic, Smithsonian and the Rolling Stone. An avid kayaker and beach explorer, Tom has called media attention to the detrimental pressures of population on Bay ecosystems and the impact of rising sea levels to the many islands in the Chesapeake region. He is the author of six books about Chesapeake Bay including An Island Out of Time, Chesapeake Bay of Light with Ian J. Plant, and The Nanticoke with David Harp. His book, Bay Country, which won the John Burroughs Award, given annually for the best book of nature writing in the U.S. 

C.S. Lambert has led a colorful life, beachcombing across five continents while working in publishing as a writer and editor for three decades in the U.S. and Europe. Lambert - “The Grand Dame of Sea Glass,” - was at the forefront of the sea glass movement with her 2001 publication, Sea Glass Chronicles (2008), a book that leads readers through the worlds of archaeology, science, adventure, and the arts as they pertain to her collection of sea glass and ceramic shards. Her second book, A Passion for Sea Glass, chronicles the numerous ways in which combers create fascinating artworks from their sea glass and ceramic treasures. An enthusiastic and popular lecturer, Carole’s third book, Sea Glass Hunter’s Handbook, is filled with tips and techniques to aid in the search for glass shards.

Megan Elyse Lloyd is a multi-talented artist, musician and photographer skilled at photographing beach treasures in fresh, mesmerizing and often amusing ways. Her recent artistic collaboration with Deacon Ritterbush in A Beachcomber's Odyssey resulted in the book being short-listed for the 2009 Eric Hoffer Award for Cover of the Year. Still in college, Meagan hopes to complete an Art Degree at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

A native of Annapolis, Selma Manizade is a graphic designer and jewelry designer who has worked with glass since 2002. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, Selma is currently the Art Director for Chesapeake Family Magazine and Vice President of the Annapolis Arts Alliance. As an artist, she specializes in fused glass panels and glass jewelry, much of which is made of sea glass collected on beacombing forays to Maryland's eastern shore.

Lisa McCue is one of today's most prolific and sought after illustrators. In the past 30 years she has illustrated over 175 children’s books including the Corduroy Bear series. (She will be selling and signing her book, Corduroy at the Beach, at the conference.) Her work also appears on fabrics, tins, greeting cards, wrapping papers and clothing. Along with her mother, Emeline, Lisa creates amazing art work from shells gathered along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Their specialties include stylized flowers (iris, gardenia, magnolias) from oyster shells and decorative topiary-style balls and candle holders. Lisa received her BFA from the University of Mass. 

Amatuer fossil hunter extraordinaire, Scott has been hunting and collecting fossils since the age of 6 and has done so in all but two states in the United States. For the last 20 years, he has concentrated his search in the mid-Atlantic region, especially fossil deposits located along Calvert Cliffs, the Patuxtent and Potomac Rivers, and throughout coastal Virginia. Scott lectures to fossil clubs throughout the east coast and on weekends is a field specialist for Flag Pond Nature Center.

Kathy Spaar is a long-time educator in environmental studies and spiritual practices, combining these skills in developing a variety of programs and workshops that nurture people's spiritual lives with contemplative practices with creative experiences in nature. She is currently the pilgrimage coordinator and a labyrinth caretaker for the Cathedral Crossroads program at Washington National Cathedral’s Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage. She also conducts “Gifts from the Sea” spiritual beach retreats with Dr. Ritterbush. Spaar received a Masters of Science in Linguistics at Georgetown University and worked as a cross-cultural trainer for the Peace Corps. She was employed as a naturalist and interpretive specialist with the Fairfax County Park Authority and the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, MO. and received spiritual formation training at the Shalem Institute in Washington, DC and spiritual direction training at the Haden Institute in North Carolina.

Jay Taylor epitomizes the fascinating way in which beachcombing can transform your life and interests. A native of Delaware and a life long beachcomber, Jay has been an avid collector of beach rocks since childhood. Then he met sea glass specialist R.ichard LaMotte, read his book, attended the 2008 North American Sea Glass Festival, and befriended British Sea glass collector and artist, Penny Parker. After that conference, Jay began combing beaches up and down the Delaware Bay for sea glass and subsequently joined Penny on a combing expedition the northeast coast of England. There he became hooked on the exquisite luminous beauty of English sea glass. Now an avid and knowledgeable collector Jay runs Penny’s U.S.-based English Sea Glass business while also acting as General Manager of the University of Delaware’s Virden, Center.