Dr. Vanessa Z. Chan is the Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions for the U.S. Department of Energy. She is responsible for advocating and advancing pathways for the commercialization of innovative technologies developed at DOE’s National Laboratories, sites, and facilities. Dr. Chan is an innovator who has worked across a wide range of ecosystems, from academia to Fortune 1000 companies to startups. She comes to DOE on a leave of absence from her position as Undergraduate Chair of the Materials Science & Engineering department at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.