Dr. Pekala is Chief Technology Officer for ENTEK International LLC. He has a B.S. degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University and a Sc.D. degree in polymeric materials from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Pekala began his career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where he worked for 11 years in the Materials Science Department on sol-gel chemistry and organic-based aerogels. In 1999, Dr. Pekala joined ENTEK where he helped to commercialize new products such as lithium-ion battery separators, Pb-acid battery separators, and waterproof breathable membranes. Dr. Pekala has over 100 technical publications, 2 R&D 100 awards, and 33 patents.