Joseph N. Pelton holds a Ph.D. from Georgetown University and is Director Emeritus of the Space and Advanced Communications Research Institute (SACRI) at George Washington University as well as the former Dean of the International Space University. He is also the founder of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation and founding President of the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI). Pelton is the author of over 30 books including the Pulitzer Prize–nominated book Global Talk, which won the Eugene Emme Literature Award from the American Astronautical Society.