James De Yoreo

Guest Editor for this issue of MRS Bulletin

Physical Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA; email [email protected].

De Yoreo is chief scientist for materials science at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and affiliate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Washington. He received his PhD degree in physics from Cornell University in 1985. His group uses in situ techniques to investigate interactions, self-assembly, and crystallization in biomolecular, geochemical, and synthetic systems. De Yoreo is a former president and board member of MRS, and serves on the Executive Committees of the International Organization for Crystal Growth and the American Association for Crystal Growth.

Stephen Whitelam

Guest Editor for this issue of MRS Bulletin

Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA; tel. 510-495-2769; and email [email protected].

Whitelam is a scientist at the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He received his PhD degree in theoretical physics from the University of Oxford in 2004. Whitelam completed postdoctoral work from 2004 to 2007 at the University of California, Berkeley, and from 2007 to 2008 at the University of Warwick. His group uses statistical mechanics to investigate pattern formation and self-assembly at the nanoscale.

Sungwook Chung

School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Pusan National University, South Korea; tel. +82-51-510-2397; and email [email protected].

Chung is an assistant professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Pusan National University. He received his PhD degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2000. Following postdoctoral work at Northwestern University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he worked as a staff scientist in the Physical Biosciences Division and the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Chung’s research ranges from fabricating chemically and biologically driven nanostructures to investigating and manipulating the assembly process in biological and nanomaterials systems in situ.

Patricia M. Dove

Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA; email [email protected].

Dove is the C.P. Miles Professor of Science and University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). She has received her PhD degree from Princeton University and was on the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology until joining Virginia Tech in 2000. She received the F.W. Clarke Medal, the Dana Medal, and the US Department of Energy Best University Research Award. Dove is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Mineralogical Society of America, Geochemical Society, and European Association of Geochemistry.

Oleg Gang

Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA; tel. 631-344-3645; and email [email protected].

Gang is a scientist in the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He earned a PhD degree in physics from Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and completed his postdoctoral studies at Harvard University. His research focuses on guiding the formation of organized nanoscale architectures through self-assembly. Gang also studies structural aspects of soft-matter phenomena at the nanoscale and at interfaces using x-ray scattering and imaging methods.

Derk Joester

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, USA; tel. 847-491-7443; and email [email protected].

Joester joined the faculty of Northwestern University in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2007. He studied chemistry at The University of Tübingen, Germany, and ETH Zürich, Switzerland. He received his PhD degree at ETH Zürich in 2003. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Joester’s research interests include biological control of crystal growth, the role of organic/inorganic interfaces and confinement in phase transformations, and the nanoscale structure of vertebrate and invertebrate teeth.

Katy N. Olafson

University of Houston, USA; email [email protected].

Olafson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Houston. She received her BS degree in chemical engineering in 2012 from the University of Louisville J.B. Speed School of Engineering. Her research focuses on the fundamental mechanisms of hematin crystallization that underlie malaria pathophysiology and the mode of inhibition by antimalarials.

Jeffrey D. Rimer

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, USA; tel. 713-743-4131; and email [email protected].

Rimer is the Ernest J. and Barbara M. Henley Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston. He holds BS degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis and Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., respectively. He received his PhD degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware, and was a postdoctoral fellow for two years in the Molecular Design Institute at New York University. Rimer’s research interest in crystal engineering focuses on the rational design of materials with specific applications in the synthesis of microporous catalysts and adsorbents, and the development of therapeutics to inhibit crystallization in pathological diseases.

John Russo

Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan; and School of Mathematics, University of Bristol, UK; email [email protected].

Russo is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at the School of Maths, the University of Bristol. He received his PhD degree in physics in 2010 from the University of Rome La Sapienza. He then joined the University of Tokyo to work at the Institute of Industrial Science. His research interests include both equilibrium and nonequilibrium properties of colloidal systems, patchy particles, and complex fluids such as water.

Richard Sear

Department of Physics, University of Surrey, UK; tel. +44 (0)1483 686793; and email [email protected].

Sear works in the Department of Physics at the University of Surrey. After earning a PhD degree in 1995 at the University of Sheffield, he spent his postdoctoral period at the AMOLF Laboratory in Amsterdam and at the University of California, Los Angeles, before joining Surrey. Sear is mainly a computational physicist, although he works closely with experimentalists. His current research interests include crystallization and the dynamics of proteins inside living cells.

Hajime Tanaka

Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan; tel. 81-3-5452-6125; and email [email protected].

Tanaka is a professor at the Institute of Industrial Science at The University of Tokyo. He received his PhD degree in applied physics in 1982 from The University of Tokyo. He has worked on a wide range of problems related to soft-matter physics and liquid-matter physics, both experimentally and theoretically. He has published 260 journal papers. Tanaka’s awards include the Award of The Society of Polymer Science, Japan, in 1997; the Humboldt Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, in 2006; and the Top Paper Award of The Liquid Crystal Society in 2010.

Alexei V. Tkachenko

Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA; tel. 631-344-2130; and email [email protected].

Tkachenko is a scientist in the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). He earned a PhD degree in theoretical physics from Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and completed his postdoctoral studies at The University of Chicago and Bell Labs. Prior to joining BNL, he was an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. Tkachenko worked on a variety of topics in soft-condensed matter, from biophysics to granular materials, and was one of the first theorists to work on DNA-based programmable self-assembly.

Michael Tsapatsis

Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, USA; email [email protected].

Tsapatsis is the Amundson Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. His group recently developed hierarchical catalysts and molecular sieve films for membrane applications. His interests include chemical engineering and materials design, with an emphasis on energy efficiency and process intensification. He has co-authored approximately 220 publications. Tsapatsis is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Peter G. Vekilov

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, USA; tel. 713-743-4315 (4300); and email [email protected].

Vekilov is the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry at the University of Houston. He received his PhD degree in 1991 from the Russian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on phase transitions in solutions and aggregation of biological molecules. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a 2014–2016 Francqui International Professor. Vekilov has served as president of the International Organization for Biological Crystallization, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Association for Crystal Growth.

Michael Whittaker

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, USA; email [email protected].

Whittaker is currently a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University. He received his BS and MS degrees in materials science and engineering from The University of Utah in 2012. He worked for Ceramatec, Inc. studying ceramics for ballistics and energetic applications. He became interested in biomaterials while studying marine biology and ichthyology at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.