Professor Andrew R. Barron is the Charles W. Duncan, Jr. - Welch Chair of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Science at Rice University; he is also Sêr Cymru Chair of Low Carbon Energy and Environment at Swansea University. Prof. Barron’s research is currently aimed at the development of rational molecular design for materials synthesis, emphasizing the leap from synthesis to application of nano-based materials. He was educated at Imperial College (London) and has held posts at the University Texas at Austin and Harvard. Professor Barron is the author of over 400 publications, 20 Patents, 5 books, and is the recipient of numerous awards including: the Hümboldt Senior Scientist Research Award, the Corday Morgan Medal, the Meldola Medal, and the first Welch Foundation Norman Hackerman Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry; in 2009 he was appointed as the Prince of Wales Visiting Innovator. In 2011 he won the Houston Technology Center's Lifetime Achievement Award in Nanotechnology and the World Technology Award for Materials.