Joel L. Plawsky received his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan and his MSCEP and ScD in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After graduation, Joel worked for Corning Inc. in their applied physics research division before returning to academia at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is currently a professor of chemical engineering at RPI. Joel was a NASA Faculty Fellow in 1999 and 2000 and a visiting professor of chemical engineering at Delft University of Technology in 2002. In 2003 Joel spent 6 months at Marshall Space Flight Center where he helped in the investigation of what caused the disintegration of the space shuttle, Challenger, and developed repair materials to help prevent another catastrophic loss. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), has served as the chairman of the Transport and Energy Processes Division of AIChE, is a recipient of AIChE’s Herb Epstein Award, and serves on the editorial board of Chemical Engineering Communications.