Polly Becker provided the opener for “A Mind for Design.” Becker worked as an illustrator for 10 years in pen and ink and watercolor, drawing and painting as realistically as she could before embarking on her current assemblage style. Becker has won many awards, including a silver medal from The Society of Illustrators and awards of excellence from Communication Arts. Her work has appeared in Time magazine, the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, Gentleman’s Quarterly, Newsweek and Harper’s.

Steve Marsel shot the opener photo in “A Powerful Force.” Marsel is an award-winning advertising and editorial photographer. His photos have appeared in Rolling Stone, Time, Musician, Fortune, Spin, New York Times Sunday, Boston and Bostonia magazines. Marsel has garnered more than 100 awards for creative excellence in photography, including Clio Awards, Andy Awards from the Advertising Club of New York and Best of Show at the Hatch Awards from the Advertising Club of Boston. 

The illustration in “A Broader Perspective” was done by Otto Steininger. His work includes illustrations for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the L.A. Times and many other publications throughout North America, Japan and Europe. He has also designed two watches for Swatch. Recent projects include a campaign for Nike.

Robin Tatu, who wrote “The Engine That Soared” for this month’s issue, recently joined Prism as a book reviewer. Her work will be appearing regularly in the magazine. She enjoys reading about engineering, science and technology. Having returned from a year of field research in Indonesia as a Fulbright Fellow, Tatu divides her time between Washington, D.C., and Hawaii, writing her dissertation in Southeast Asian history and lecturing part time at George Washington University.