Dr. David Salas-de la Cruz is an Associate Professor and Director of the Chemistry Graduate Program for the Department of Chemistry at Rutgers University-Camden. He earned a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, he acquired a B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and a M.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Villanova University. He is the author of over 18 publications, 1 equipment license, and 1 patent. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, American Chemistry Society SEED program, ARMY REAP Program, NJSGC, and Rutgers. His research is aimed at understanding the relationship between structure and natural material properties during the coagulation of polysaccharides with proteins using ionic liquids in order to design novel and tunable bio-based films for the medical, environmental and energy fields.