Dawn Bonnell is the Vice Provost for Research at the University of Pennsylvania. In this capacity Dr. Bonnell shapes policy and advances administrative initiatives for the University’s $800+ million per year research enterprise. Dr. Bonnell is the Henry Robinson Towne Professor of Engineering and Applied Science. She was the founding director of the Nano/Bio Interface Center that direcetd $30M to research at the intersections of technology and biology at the nanoscale or molecular level. An editor of seven books and an author of more than 200 papers, Dr. Bonnell was elected in 2013 to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest honors in the engineering profession, is one of only seven awardees of the Staudinger-Durrer Medal from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and has served as President of the American Vacuum Society and Vice President of the American Ceramics Society. As Vice Provost for Research she is leading Penn’s initiative on innovation and commercialization which includes the establishment of the Penn Center for Innovation.