Craig J. Hawker, FRS is the Alan and Ruth Heeger Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies. He received a B.Sc. degree and University Medal in Chemistry from the University of Queensland in 1984 and a Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge in 1988 under the supervision of Prof. Sir Alan Battersby. Jumping into the world of polymer chemistry, he undertook a post-doctoral fellowship with Prof. Jean Fréchet at Cornell University from 1988 to 1990 and then returned to the University of Queensland as a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow from 1991 to 1993. In 1993, he became a research staff member at IBM Almaden Research Center, where he remained until moving to the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2004. He is also a Chair Professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals as well as an adjunct professor of chemistry at the University of Queensland. Professor Hawker has authored or coauthored 50 patents and more than 350 research publications. He has received numerous awards including the Arthur C. Cope Scholar, Macro Group UK International Medal for Outstanding Achievement, DSM – International Performance Materials Award, and the ACS Award in Applied Polymer Science. He was recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and is Editor of the Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry.