Kirk Schanze earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Florida State University in 1979 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1983. He was appointed a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1984-1986 and began his independent research career at the University of Florida in 1986. Schanze served as Professor of Chemistry and Chairman of the Organic Chemistry Division at the University of Florida. He was Distinguished Professor and held the Prominski Chair at the University of Florida until 2016. Since then he has held the Robert A Welch Distinguished University Chair at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He served as a Senior Editor for Langmuir from 2000 – 2008 and Editor-in-Chief of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces since 2008. Pro. Schanze’srecent researches focus onSolar Fuels and Artificial Photosynthesis, Conjugated Polymers and Polyelectrolytes, Fluorescence and Fluorescence Sensing, Light Activated Biocides, Organic Electronics and Solar Cells and Chemistry of Photoresponsive Organic and Polymer Materials. He has authored or co-authored 300 peer-reviewed articles on basic and applied research topics, with a primary focus on organic and organometallic materials chemistry, and is co-inventor in 20 patents or disclosures.