Pedro J. J. Alvarez is the George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, where he also serves as Founding Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center on Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) and as Director of the Rice WaTER Institute. Professor Alvarez received a B. Eng. Degree in Civil Engineering from McGill University and an MS and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is the 2012 Clarke Prize laureate for outstanding research in water science and technology and also won the AAEES Grand Prize for Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science. Past honors include a Collegiate Excellence in Teaching Award, President of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), Perry McCarty AEESP Founders’ Award for Outstanding Contributions to Environmental Engineering Education and Practice, AEESP Frontiers in Research Award, WEF McKee Medal for Groundwater Protection, Outstanding Achievement Award in Environmental Chemistry from the Chinese Chemical Society, and Brown and Caldwell lifetime Achievement Award for Site Remediation, among others. Prof. Alvarez was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for outstanding contributions to the practice and pedagogy of bioremediation and environmental nanotechnology, as well as to the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.