Dr. Percy Poon was born in Hong Kong in 1958, the oldest of four children. He attended Catholic school through junior high and high school, but decided to work after high school instead of going on to college. After working in banking and police forensics for a couple of years, he decided to continue his education. Percy studied economics at a university in Hong Kong, graduated at age 25, and then applied to Southwest Texas State for an MBA. Having earned his degree after only a year and a half, he applied and was accepted to a PhD program at Louisiana State. He interviewed for several jobs as he was approaching graduation, but decided to follow one of his professors, Mel Jameson, to UNLV. In August of 1989, Dr. Poon moved to Las Vegas to take on a visiting professorship, and the next year was promoted to tenure-track assistant professorship. In 1994, he met and married his wife, and they make their home in the southwest valley. Percy recalls the different styles and contributions of university presidents Robert Maxson and Carol Harter. His memories of first arriving in Las Vegas include the marvel of the volcano at the new Mirage Hotel, the oppressive heat, and the smaller size of the city. Currently, Dr. Percy is dean of the College of Business and Finance, and feels that the program is working towards competitiveness with other well-established university programs, such as UCLA or Arizona State. He feels that progress has been made in pushing for academic exams, but that increased funding will create better programs and opportunities. Dr. Poon became a U.S. citizen in 1998, and makes occasional visits to his family still living in Hong Kong. He and his wife socialize occasionally with colleagues and church acquaintances, and also entertain family members when they visit from Hong Kong.

Dr. Lonnie D. Spight grew up in northern Colorado, earned his bachelor's degree at Colorado State University, and his PhD at University of Nevada Reno. His interest in astronomy dates from his early years on the farm in Colorado, star-gazing in the fields at night. Before coming to UNLV, Lonnie worked for the Department of Defense on scattering cross sections and explosions. Working between Los Alamos and the Test Site, he was often in Las Vegas and had met most of the physicists at the university. He was invited midterm to take over a physics class for a faculty member who had fallen ill, and was offered a job the following fall of 1970. In the seventies when Dr. Spight arrived, the physics department was located in trailers, and the university campus was mostly desert. Lonnie served as chair of the department on several occasions, and was responsible for insisting that faculty members get involved in research, no matter how tight the budget. He worked on solar energy and far-field microwave analysis, and helped set up safety standards for the new laser technology. One of Dr. Spight's interests outside of physics is a love for classical music. He was a volunteer "Deejay" for 12 years with KNPR once it got started in 1980. Meanwhile, after 37 years with UNLV Lonnie retains his enthusiasm and love for teaching. Today he teaches quantum mechanics and hopes that one day he will be able to teach a particle physics course which ties together cosmology, the beginning of the universe, fundamental cutting edge physics, quarks, gluon plasmas, and more. He has the course materials ready to go and is looking forward to many more years at UNLV.