Professor Thompson is the Dean of the College of Engineering and Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware. He earned his B.ChE. from the University of Delaware, and M.S.E. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan (UM). Professor Thompson recently retired from the UM having served as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education from 2001 to 2005, Director of the Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory and Director of the Michigan Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. His scholarly research focuses on nanostructured materials for catalytic and energy storage applications, and he is author/co-author on more than 150 publications and is co-inventor on more than 10 patents. He is a Fellow of the AIChE and recipient of awards including a 2006 Michiganian of the Year Award for his research, entrepreneurship, and teaching, National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, McBride Distinguished Lectureship, Union Carbide Innovation Recognition Award, and Dow Chemical Good Teaching Award. He is co-founder and founding CEO of T/J Technologies, a developer of nanomaterials for advanced batteries; the company was acquired by A123 Systems in 2006. He also co-founded Inmatech to commercialize low cost, high energy density supercapacitors for automotive and military applications, and is active in the community, having served on the Board of Trustees for the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation and the African American Endowment Fund.