Dr. Miriam Rafailovich obtained her PhD, in physics from Stony Brook University, and was a post-doctoral fellow at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Senior Scientist at the Weizmann Institute. She subsequently served as Professor of Physics at the City University of New York (Queens College), Visiting Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and then joined the Stony Brook Department of Materials Science, where she currently holds the position of distinguished professor, co-director of the program in chemical and molecular engineering and Chief Scientist of the New York State Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center. Her research interests are focused on polymer surface engineering, biomaterials and biomechanics, tissue engineering, polymer nanocomposites andflame retardant polymers