Rebecca Richards-Kortum is the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University, Houston, where her research group is currently developing miniature microscopes and low-cost imaging systems to enable early detection of precancerous changes in living tissue. In collaboration with colleagues at Rice University and the Texas Medical Center, she has developed a four-year multi-disciplinary education and training program that promotes engineering and engineering technology on a global scale. Prior to working at Rice University, Dr Richards-Kortum was Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where she was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and received the Chancellor's Council Outstanding Teaching Award. She has also received many other awards, including being named a Piper Professor for excellence in teaching by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation in 2004, and receiving the Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering (2004) and the Chester F. Carlson Award (2007) from the American Society for Engineering Education. In 2008, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.