has 15 years of research and development experience in industry and more than 30 years in academia. From 1981 to 1996 he was a Lead Scientist for BOC Coating Technology, where he investigated and developed vacuum and plasma technologies for the deposition of thin film coatings. From 1996 to 2005, he was an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Materials Engineering and later in the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. In 1997, he created a successful consulting company, now called A. Belkind & Associates, LLC. He is an expert in various technologies for depositing and designing metal alloy, oxide, carbide, nitride and other thin films; plasma surface cleaning and treatment; and methods of film analysis. He has received 10 patents, published a book, and written more than 100 technical papers. Dr. Belkind is the recipient of a BOC Group Technology award and two awards from the Latvian Academy of Science.