Noel C. MacDonald received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967. He holds a joint professorial appointment with the Department of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), where he also holds the Fred Kavli Chair in Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Technology. He has written or co-authored over 100 papers and several book chapters and holds 61 patents. He was an Acting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1967 to 1968, was a member of the Technical Staff at Rockwell International Science Center, and held management positions in Physical Electronics Industries, Inc., and Perkin-Elmer Company from 1968-1982. Before coming to UCSB, he held the Acheson/Laibe Professorship in Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and served as the Director of the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility and the Chairman of the School of Electrical Engineering at Cornell. From 1997 to 1999, he served as Director of the Microsystems Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In 2000 Prof. MacDonald was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to the development of the Scanning Auger Microprobe and micromachined micro-instruments. His current research interests include advanced materials processing as well as interdisciplinary research for micro/nano-electromechanical systems.