Matthew Hull is Research Professor and Director for the Matter Labs within Virginia Tech’s Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS). His degrees include a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech (2011), an M.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech (2002), and a B.S. in Environmental Science from Ferrum College (2000). Previously, Hull served as Associate Director, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, for the NSF-funded US National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) and Virginia Tech’s NNCI node, NanoEarth. In 2007, Hull founded NanoSafe, Inc. and led the company to a successful exit in 2023. In 2014, Hull created the Nanotechnology Entrepreneurship Challenge (NTEC), which has supported more than 100 student- and postdoc-led teams across the US seeking to translate nano-enabled technologies to solve some of society’s greatest challenges.