Dr David C Johnston is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. He received his BA and PhD degrees in Physics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of California at San Diego, respectively. Prior to joining Iowa State University, he carried out research at the Corporate Research Laboratories of Exxon Research and Engineering Company in Annandale, NJ. His research area is experimental solid state physics, with an emphasis on the measurement and theoretical modeling of the electronic, magnetic, thermal and superconducting properties of solids. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a former Divisional Associate Editor of the journal Physical Review Letters.