Kevin Plaxco is a Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a shared appointment between the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Biomolecular Science and Engineering graduate program. Prof. Plaxco also serves as Associate Director of campus’s Center for Bioengineering. Prior to joining UCSB in 1998 Dr. Plaxco received his Ph.D. from Caltech and performed postdoctoral studies at Oxford and the University of Washington. Dr. Plaxco’s research focus is on the physics of biomolecular folding and its engineering applications. A major aim of the group’s applied research is to harness the speed and specificity of folding in the development of sensors, adaptable surfaces, and smart materials. Dr. Plaxco has co-authored numerous patents and more than 170 papers on protein folding, protein dynamics, and folding-based sensors and materials, and in 2014 was recognized by Thomson Reuters at one of the most highly cited chemists of the last decade. He has also written a popular science book on Astrobiology.