Blaine Brownell--an architect, educator, researcher, and former Fulbright scholar to Japan--has authored eight books on advanced and sustainable materials for architecture and design. He has written the Mind & Matter column for Architect magazine since 2009, and his work has been published in more than 70 architecture, design, science, and news journals including the New York Times, the London Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Nature. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he is Director of the David R. Ravin School of Architecture at UNC Charlotte.