Dr. Taher Saif received his BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Washington State University respectively in 1984 and 1986. He obtained his Ph.D degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University in 1993. He worked as a Post Doctoral Associate in Electrical Engineering and the National Nanofabrication Facility at Cornell University during 1993-97. He joined the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during 1997. His current research projects include mechanical response of single living cells due to local deformations, actuation of MEMS by light beams, mechanical behavior of nanoscale materials, interaction between small thin plates forming menisci with a fluid. (Photo courtesy of Thompson McClellan Photography)