Normand M. Laurendeau is the Ralph and Bettye Bailey Professor of Combustion at Purdue University. He teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the areas of thermodynamics, combustion and engineering ethics. He conducts research in the combustion sciences, with particular emphasis on laser diagnostics, pollutant formation and flame structure. Dr Laurendeau is well known for his pioneering research on the development and application of both nanosecond and picosecond laser-induced fluorescence strategies to quantitative species concentration measurements in laminar and turbulent flames. He has authored or coauthored over 150 publications in the archival scientific and engineering literature. Professor Laurendeau is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for the peer-reviewed journal Combustion Science and Technology.