Yakov Lapitsky is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toledo (UT). He received his B.S. and B.Ch.E. degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota in 2001 and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Delaware in 2006. Prior to joining the faculty at UT in 2009, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the biomaterials field at the University of Toronto. His current research focuses on the design, characterization and application of polyelectrolyte-based soft materials. His efforts in this area have been recognized with several awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, Outstanding Faculty Researcher and Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor awards from UT’s College of Engineering, and the Eleni and Evangelos Theodosiou/Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award from the UT Chapter of the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society.