Dr. Atanassov has a Ph.D. from The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and moved to the United States in 1992. Dr. Atanassov joined the University of New Mexico, becoming a Distinguished Professor. He started the Center for Emerging Energy Technologies, was Associate Dean for Research, and later was Director of the Center for Micro-Engineered Materials. In October 2018 Dr. Atanassov moved to the University of California, Irvine, where he is the Chancellor’s Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering and Chemistry. His research is in materials and technologies for energy conversion focusing on electrocatalysis and bio-electrocatalysis, with applications in fuel cells, electrolyzers and bio-electrochemical systems. Atanassov is a fellow of The National Academy of Inventors, fellow of The Electrochemical Society and served as a vice-president of the International Society of Electrochemistry. Dr. Atanassov has 461 research items and over 10,000 citations on ResearchGate.