Darrell Schlom is the Tisch University Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University. After receiving a B.S. degree from Caltech, he did graduate work at Stanford University receiving an M.S. in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering. He was then a post-doc at IBM’s research lab in Zurich, Switzerland in the oxide superconductors and novel materials group. In 1992 he joined the faculty at Penn State in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, where he spent 16 years before joining the faculty at Cornell in 2008. His research involves the heteroepitaxial growth and characterization of oxide thin films by reactive molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), especially utilizing a ‘materials-by-design’ approach to discover materials with properties superior to any known. His work has been recognized by the highest awards for materials discovery by four relevant societies: the MRS Medal from the Materials Research Society, the Frank Prize from the International Organization for Crystal Growth, the McGroddy Prize from the American Physical Society, and the John A. Thornton Memorial Award/Lecture from the American Vacuum Society. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society, the American Vacuum Society, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.