David Gottfried received a Bachelor of Science in chemistry (highest distinction, highest honors) in 1984 from the University of Michigan and continued his studies in physical chemistry at Stanford University under a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship, obtaining his doctorate in 1991. He then spent time at the Weizmann Institute of Science/Bar-Ilan University as a European Molecular Biology Organization post-doctoral fellow before beginning research and teaching in biophysics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 1999 he moved to the Georgia Tech Research Institute where he designed and tested optical sensors for chemical and biological agents with food safety, environmental, and homeland security applications. Dr. Gottfried joined the Nanotechnology Research Center (a member center of the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology) in 2007 where he is program manager and technical liaison for the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network. Dr. Gottfried was selected as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2012.