Dr. Martin Richardson is Director of the Townes Laser Institute, Professor of Optics, Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering, a Trustee Chair, Pegasus Professor and the Northrop-Grumman Professor of X-ray Photonics at UCF. Educated at Imperial College and London University, he previously held positions at National Research Council-Canada and the University of Rochester. He is a world expert in the field of lasers, having spent most of his career working on high power lasers, laser-plasmas and applications of lasers. Dr. Richardson has established strong collaborations and serves on boards in many countries and has held visiting appointments in Germany, France, Japan, UK, Australia, Qatar and the former Soviet Union. A proponent of international science education, he has created several international degree programs. On joining UCF, Dr. Richardson established the Laser Plasma Laboratory specializing in the development of high power lasers, ultrafast lasers and their applications to laser-plasmas, X-ray and Extreme UltraViolet radiation sources, laser materials processing, and industrial, medical and defense applications of lasers. Dr. Richardson has directed several major national laser research programs including two Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative programs, has supervised ~70 MS and PhD students from many universities, has published over 430 scientific articles in professional scientific journals, and has presented numerous invited and plenary talks. He has written over a dozen book chapters and holds ~25 patents, with several pending and has chaired many international conferences including IQEC, ICHSP, and several SPIE meetings. He is a former Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, and serves on the Editorial Board of the LIA “Journal of Laser Applications”. He is a recipient of the Schardin Medal, awarded by the German Physical Society, the Harold E. Edgerton Award of SPIE and is a Fellow of OSA, IEEE, APS and SPIE. In December 2013 Dr. Richardson was honored with the ‘Docteur Honoris Causa’ of the University of Bordeaux in recognition of his distinguished career in lasers and photonics