James W. Tunnell is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin where he holds the Roberta Woods Ray Centennial Fellowship. He holds courtesy appointments in the Departments of Oncology and Diagnostic Medicine at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. He earned a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in bioengineering from Rice University. He was awarded a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health to fund his postdoctoral fellowship in the Spectroscopy Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the faculty of the University of Texas in the fall of 2005 where he leads the Biophotonics Laboratory. Dr. Tunnell’s research in biomedical optics centers on developing technologies that use light (photonics) for biomedical applications that include noninvasive skin cancer screening, laser surgery, image-guided surgery, and targeted hyperthermia using nanoparticle enhanced photothermal therapy. Dr. Tunnell has received numerous awards/honors, including: South-by-Southwest Interactive Award (2015), Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers – AIMBE (2015), Best Paper in the Biomedical Engineering Division - America Society for Engineering Education (2012), Outstand BME Graduate Alumnus from Rice University (2010), Coulter Fellow (2010), “20 Greatest Inventions of the Next Decade”, Business Week (2009), Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (2007), Early Career Award from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation (2008, 2006), National Research Service Award from the NIH (2004), and Best Basic Science Paper from the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (2000). He has served as an Associate Editor for the Annals of Biomedical Engineering and on the program committees for CLEO, OSA, ASLMS, and IEEE-Photonics Society as well as several board positions for OSA and ASLMS. He is a member of OSA, ASLMS, IEEE, and BMES. Dr. Tunnell has lead (as PI) 26 funded research projects from a broad range of public and private organizations including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Coulter Foundation, American Society for Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. He has published over 100 referred journal articles, proceedings and book chapters, presented papers at more than 130 international and national conferences, and edited one book.