Joshua B. Ballard PhD, earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his graduate degree in Physical Chemistry in a joint institute between University of Colorado and NIST. As a Beckman Fellow at Illinois, he worked with Joseph Lyding and Martin Gruebele on optically activated STM. After a decade at Zyvex Labs, he spent five years at Indiana University managing large research projects, and returned to Zyvex Labs in early 2023.