Alexander A. Balandin is a Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at UCLA. His research interests include Brillouin and Raman spectroscopy, thermal transport, and electronic noise in electronic materials. He is a recipient of the MRS Medal and IEEE Pioneer of Nanotechnology Award, and a Fellow of MRS, APS, IEEE, OSA, SPIE, and AAAS. He serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Applied Physics Letters.