Prof. Mark A. Ratner is Morrison Professor of Chemistry and Associate Director of the Institute of Nanotechnology and Nanofabrication at Northwestern University. His lifelong work in molecular electronics, a field he is credited with creating in 1977, led to his receiving the 2001 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology and becoming a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has published 400 scientific papers and 2 advanced textbooks on chemistry, nanotechnology, and related subjects. Mark has been a named lecturer on molecular electronics and nanotechnology across the world, from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv, but concentrates his efforts on Northwestern University (where he received his Ph.D., served as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Chair of the Chemistry Department, received the Distinguished Teaching Award, and appeared on the Faculty Teaching Honor Roll ten times) and the Midwest region (as a senior consultant to Dow Chemical and other major companies). Mark holds a BA from Harvard University and is a former Director of Electrochemical Industries. He has held Fellowships from the A.P.Sloan Foundation, the Advanced Study Institute at Hebrew University, the American Physical Society, and AAAS.

Dan Ratner is a veteran of high-tech startups. He currently serves as Vice President of Sittercity and Chairman of the