Mark E. Thompson received his BS in chemistry in 1980 from the University of California, Berkeley, and his PhD in chemistry in 1985 from the California Institute of Technology. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Oxford University and is currently the Ray R. Irani Chair of Chemistry at the University of Southern California. His research involves the study of materials and devices for electroluminescence, photovoltaics and solar cells, chemical/biological sensing, and catalysis. Prof. Thompson is the author of approximately 400 papers in refereed professional journals and holds more than 250 patents primarily in the areas of optoelectronic applications, such as light-emitting devices and solar cells.