PROFESSOR DR. LINDA S. POWERS is the Thomas R. Brown Chair in Bioengineering, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona. Before joining the University of Arizona faculty, she was a member of the technical staff of AT & T Bell Laboratories [1976-1988], an Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania [1978-1998], and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Utah State University [1998-2006]. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Chemists and her honors include the First US Bioenergetics Award of the Biophysical Society. Professor Powers earned her B.S. in physics and also in chemistry at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and her M.A. in physics and Ph.D. in biophysics at Harvard University. Her current research efforts involve the detection and identification of microbial (bacteria, viruses, fungi, toxins) contamination with applications to foods/water/air quality, sterilization/decontamination, medical diagnostics, homeland security, and the search for life in extreme environments as surrogates for the moon, Mars, and Europa.. Her email address is lspowers@email.arizona.edu.