Igor Sokolov received his B.S. in Physics from St. Petersburg State University, Russia in 1984, and earned his Ph.D. from D.I. Mendeleev Central Institute for Metrology the Soviet Bureau of Standards (Russian NIST), Russia in 1991. In 1992, he was the recipient of the E.L. Ginzton International Fellowship Award from Stanford University for his work on atomic force microscopy. Igor worked as a research associate in the University of Toronto's Physics and Chemistry Departments before moving to Clarkson University in 2000 to join their Physics Department, where he achieved the title of full professor and served as director of the Nanoengineering and Biotechnology Laboratories Center. During his career, he has consulted for many large corporations such as Proctor and Gamble, General Electric, Arkema Group, Inc. and Purdue Pharma. He has 138 refereed publications, including such journals as Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials, etc.. He holds 20 patents (issued and pending). Igor's current research focuses on nanomechanics of soft material, molecules and cells; atomic force microscopy; nanophotonics, and the studies towards understanding of nature of cancer, early detection of cancer based on altered biophysical properties; self-assembly.