Elena Semouchkina is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan Technological University. She received a PhD in Physics and Mathematics from Tomsk State University, in Russia, and a second PhD in Materials from the Pennsylvania State University. She was a recipient of the best PhD thesis award from the Penn State's Materials Research Institute, and of the NSF Fellows Award from the ADVANCE Program: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers. Before joining Michigan Tech, she has been a Senior Research Associate/ Associate Professor at the Materials Research Institute/ Department of Engineering Science & Mechanics of Penn State.