Mark T. Kortschot is the Chair of the Division of Engineering Science at the University of Toronto and is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. He obtained his B.A.Sc. (1984) and M.A.Sc.(1985) degrees in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 1989. Professor Kortschot is interested in both the design of materials and design with materials. His academic research has focussed on the relationship between microstructure and properties in fibrous materials and he has more than 60 refereed journal publications. He is one of the teaching team that created the Faculty’s flagship first year design course, and a co-author of “Designing Engineers”, published by Wiley. He is also an active designer, inventor and entrepreneur with expertise in materials selection, manufacturing, and intellectual property. He is a co-founder of Légère Reeds Ltd., which makes premium synthetic saxophone and clarinet reeds that are used in the world’s leading orchestras, and is the inventor of the Sole Skate™, a compact skateboard chosen as one of TIME’s Top 10 toys of 2011.