Ali Erdemir received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, in 1982, and 1986, respectively, and a B.S. in Metallurgy from the Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey in 1977.  Since 2020, Dr. Erdemir has been a Professor and Halliburton Chair in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA. He was previously an Argonne Distinguished Fellow and a Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois, USA where he spent over 30 years pursuing research on advanced materials and coatings. His studies at Argonne have led to the discovery of numerous new materials and coatings that provide extreme resistance to wear and friction coefficients down to 0.001. In recognition of his research accomplishments, Dr. Erdemir has received numerous coveted awards (including the University of Chicago’s Medal of Distinguished Performance at Argonne National Laboratory (2011), six R&D 100 Awards; the Mayo D. Hersey Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME, 2015), the International Award of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE, 2020), and the Distinguished Tribologist Award of the Japanese Society of Tribologists (JAST, 2020)). He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering (2019), the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2022), the World Academy of Ceramics (2021), The Science Academy of Turkey (2021), and an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2022). He was the President of the International Tribology Council from 2017 to 2022 and STLE from 2016 to 2017. Dr. Erdemir is also an Honorary Member of ASME and STLE; as well as a Fellow of AAAS, ASME, STLE, AVS, and ASM-International. He holds an honorary doctorate from the Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey (2024) and Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey (1998). He is the recipient of 36 U.S. patents and has authored/co-authored more than 350 research articles (245 of which are peer-reviewed journal articles) and 19 book/handbook chapters, co-edited five books, presented more than 250 invited/keynote/plenary talks at national/international conferences and universities. His current research focuses on bridging scientific principles with engineering innovations towards the development of new materials, coatings, and lubricants for a broad range of industrial applications in manufacturing, transportation, and other energy conversion and utilization systems where further increases in efficiency, reliability, and environmental sustainability are primary objectives.