[tt] Foundation For the Future Names Dr. Spencer Wells 2007 Winner of $100, 000 Kistler Prize

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Foundation For the Future Names Dr. Spencer Wells 2007 Winner of $100,000
Kistler Prize

Contact: Jean Gilbertson, Public Relations Manager
Tel: 425-451-1333, ext. 1013   Email: jeangilbertson at futurefoundation.org

Contact Dr. Spencer Wells via Glynnis Breen, National Geographic Society
Tel: 202-857-7481    Email: gbreen at ngs.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BELLEVUE, WA, July 12, 2007‹The Foundation For the Future has selected 
geneticist Dr. Spencer Wells as the 2007 winner of the Kistler Prize. The 
Prize is awarded annually for original work that significantly increases 
knowledge and understanding of the relationship between the human genome 
and society.

Dr. Wells is being honored for a body of work in the science of population 
genetics, culminating in the design and implementation of National 
Geographic and IBM¹s Genographic Project, a five-year effort now under way 
to map humanity¹s genetic journey to populate the planet. Dr. Wells is 
Director of the Project. Migratory patterns dating back as far as 150,000 
years are being studied through the collection and analysis of DNA samples 
from over 100,000 indigenous and traditional people. Prior to the founding 
of the Genographic Project, he wrote the book The Journey of Man on the 
genetic science that would enable him to trace the genealogy of humankind 
by focusing on genetic markers on the Y-chromosome. He also wrote and 
narrated the PBS science documentary film Journey of Man on the subject. 
The Genographic Project is following the genetic markers backward through 
time, utilizing ten research laboratories it has set up around the world, 
in an effort to plot humankind¹s historical journey before distinctions 
among peoples and cultures are blurred in an increasingly global melting 
pot. Wells¹s latest book, Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project, 
tells the story of the landmark study¹s first year.

³Dr. Wells¹s research has shown that all humans are descended from a 
common African ancestor who lived around 60,000 years ago,² said Sesh 
Velamoor, Deputy Director, Programs, for the Foundation. ³His current 
project, the largest study of its kind in anthropological genetics, is 
endeavoring to follow the clues in our genes to answer the questions about 
how Homo sapiens migrated from that single starting point to populate the 
world.²

Under its Research Grant Awards Program, the Foundation For the Future 
aided in the formation of the Genographic Project with a planning grant 
awarded in 2004. Key partners of the Genographic Project are the National 
Geographic Society and IBM, with field research support from the Waitt 
Family Foundation. All information resulting from the Genographic Project 
will be released into the public domain. The Genographic Project is a 
non-medical, non-commercial, non-profit, and non-governmental project.

The Kistler Prize includes a cash award of US$100,000 and a 180-gram gold 
medallion. It is named for Walter P. Kistler, President and benefactor of 
the Foundation For the Future, and originator of the Prize, who will 
formally present the 2007 award to Dr. Wells in a gala banquet and 
ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bellevue, Washington, on September 
20, 2007.

Besides the Kistler Prize, the Foundation For the Future also annually 
awards the Walter P. Kistler Book Award, the Walter P. Kistler Science 
Documentary Film Award, and the Walter P. Kistler Science Teacher of the 
Year Award. It convenes seminars, workshops, and symposia that focus on 
the long-term future of humanity, and it is presently developing a 
four-program television documentary series entitled The Next Thousand 
Years. The Foundation also funds research programs, publishes scholarly 
works, and undertakes public awareness and education programs concerning 
the long-term future of humanity. Details on its activities are available 
at www.futurefoundation.org.