James Gimzewski is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a member of the California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI-UCLA), and co-director of the Center for Social Interfaces & Networks Advanced Programming Simulations & Environments (SINAPSE), UCLA.

Throughout his 23-year career in nanotechnology, James has been actively involved in promoting science and technology to the public. He has worked with industrial and government organizations in Switzerland, the U.K., the U.S., the European Union, and Japan on issues relating to nanotechnology.

Since 1983, he has led a nanotechnology group at the IBM Corporate Research Laboratories in Zurich, Switzerland, and he is internationally recognized as a pioneer in nanotechnology research.

James has received numerous awards for his work in nanotechnology, including the 1997 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology, the 1997 Discover Award for Emerging Fields, the 1998 Wired 25 Award from Wired magazine, and the Institute of Physics' Duddell prize and medal, in 2001, for his work in nanoscale science. Additionally, he holds many awards from IBM, including two IBM Outstanding Innovation awards. He is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records for the world's smallest calculator.

James is a co-founder of the Institute of Nanotechnology, U.K., and served as a member of the board and chairman of its European advisory board. He has served on the board of reviewing editors of Science and the editorial board of Nanotechnology, as well as the Nanotechnology Opportunity Report by CMP Cientifica, which publishes state-of-the-art analysis of nanotechnology companies and organizations.

James was elected Fellow to the Royal Academy of Engineering for his research in engineering nanotechnology, in 2001, and he is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation. His professional work includes board memberships of the advisory group of the International Review of Physics, U.K. Government; he was a member of the advisory group on Nanotechnology-Office of Science & Industry, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), U.K. He was an expert witness for the Nanoscale and Technology Outlook: 20 Years, U.K. Government, Department of Trade and Industry, London. He was a steering committee board member of the National Research Program (NRP) "Molecular Devices and Supramolecular Structures" in Switzerland, and he is a member of the Evaluation Committee for the NRIM Center of Excellence Development Project in Japan. He also served on the board of six European research programs in nanotechnology.

James has directed many international conferences on nanotechnology, including two NASA Advanced Study Institutes, in 1993 and 1995; the first-ever industrial workshop on nanotechnology in Davos, Switzerland, in 1991; and a U.S.-Japan Conference, in 2002, at UCLA. He has joined the scientific boards of several nanotechnology companies, including Veeco-DI Instruments, Quantum Precision Instruments, and the Kentucky Initiative in Nanometer Scale Science and Technology.

James was a co-director of NANO, an interactive exhibit comprising nine installations that present nanotechnology using a hybrid of art and science that spans 10,000 square feet of exhibition space. The installation ran from December 2003 until September 2004, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (http://nano.arts.ucla.edu) and attracted over 100,000 people from all walks of life in the Los Angeles area, including organized groups of school children. In addition, it spawned "nano"-related activities such as NexGen's Nano Night, nano fashion shows, and modern dance all focused around issues of nanotechnology and society.

With over 180 papers published and more than 200 invited international talks, James' research continues to appear in journals such as Science and Nature. Approximately 300 press articles reporting highlights of his work have appeared in various print media, including Nature, Science, Scientific American, The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The London Times, the Financial Times, New Scientist, Discover Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times, and he was featured in an LA Weekly cover story.

TV programs and radio interviews on James' work have been broadcast in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, as well as on BBC World Services, CNN International, Deutschland Radio, ABC Radio, and others. He was featured in a program on nanotechnology for BBC television in The Next Big Thing. He was a guest panelist twice on NPR's "Science Friday," where he discussed emerging trends in nanotechnology.

James received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. He conducts his research in a specially constructed nanotechnology laboratory at UCLA, where he directs a group of 14 researchers. He lives in Santa Monica with his wife and three children.