David Rakestraw is currently working as a science and technology advisor in the Director’s Office at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. From 2008-2018 he was a Program Manager at LLNL with responsibilities for chemical, biological, and explosive countermeasures programs. He received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Ohio Northern University (83) and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University (88). From 1988 to 2000, Dr. Rakestraw worked at Sandia National Laboratories where he was engaged in a wide range of research and development activities. Early research activities included developing nonlinear spectroscopic methods for trace species detection. During the 98-99 academic year, Dr. Rakestraw took a sabbatical from Sandia to become an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University. In 2000, Dr. Rakestraw left his position as a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia to co-found Eksigent Technologies. At Eksigent Technology Dr. Rakestraw developed microscale chemical HPLC systems, which are now sold worldwide for application in drug discovery and development. Dr. Rakestraw holds 18 US patents and has authored more than 65 peer reviewed scientific publications.