Alain Diebold is Professor Emeritus and Empire Innovation Professor of Nanoscale Science in the College of Nanotechnology, Science and Engineering at the University at Albany, SUNY. Professor Diebold maintains an active, funded research program in the materials science of 2D materials and in the characterization and metrology of new semiconductor materials and structures. He is an AVS Fellow and a SPIE Fellow. Significant publications include a Fall 2021 book from Springer Nature entitled the Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanoscale Materials (co-author) and the Handbook of Silicon Semiconductor Metrology (editor and chapter author). Through collaboration with the industrial partners such TEL Technology Center America and Onto Innovations, students and post-doctoral fellows have advanced the characterization and metrology of advanced materials and structures through microscopy, optical, and both laboratory and synchrotron-based X-Ray methods. He authored or co-authored 18 book chapters, nearly 100 peer reviewed journal papers, more than 135 conference proceedings, and given more than 105 invited presentations both domestically and internationally. He remains active in the internal spectroscopic ellipsometry community which provides intellectual inspiration, and more importantly, is the community having many life-long friends.

Ray LaPierre is a Professor in the Engineering Physics Department at McMaster University. He attended Dalhousie University where he obtained a B.Sc. degree in Physics in 1992. He then completed his M.Eng. degree in 1994 and Ph.D. degree in 1997 in the Engineering Physics Department at McMaster University. His graduate work involved development of molecular beam epitaxy of compound semiconductor alloys for laser diodes in telecom applications. Upon completion of his graduate work in 1997, he joined JDS Uniphase (Ottawa, Ontario) where he developed dielectric coatings for wavelength division multiplexing devices. In 2004, he rejoined McMaster University and is currently a full Professor in the Engineering Physics Department. His research interests are focused on III-V nanowires, molecular beam epitaxy, and applications in optoelectronics, including quantum emitters and detectors. He has over 148 publications, 65 invited presentations, and 197 conference presentations related to semiconductor nanowire growth, characterization, and device fabrication. He is a Board Member of the journals, Nano Express and Nanotechnology. He is a member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Rogers is a Professor and Tier II Canada Chair in Food Nanotechnology at the University of Guelph, where he studies the underlying mechanisms that facilitate the self-assembly of small molecules. His work appeared on the Covers of Chemical Society Reviews, Langmuir, Nanoscale and Soft Matter and includes >110 peer-reviewed publications, 20 book chapters, and more than 80 conference proceedings. With an H-Index of 42, he has appeared on the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University since 2021 (https://ecebm.com/2023/10/04/stanford-university-names-worlds-top-2-scientists-2023/). He has been awarded the Young Scientist Awards through the International Union of Food Science and Technologists and the American Oil Chemists’ Society. He was awarded the inaugural Directors Award for Scientific Excellence from the New Jersey Institute of Food Nutrition & Health (IFNH). By mimicking natural structures, he develops a fundamental understanding of how to control the assembly of small molecules into complex materials with applications ranging from foods to biomaterials. Dr. Rogers has held faculty appointments at Rutgers University (Department of Food Science (2011-2015)) and the University of Saskatchewan (Department of Food and Bioproduct Science (2008-2011) before joining Guelph (2015- present). He is the Editor-in-chief of Food Biophysics (2024 – 2029).