Dr. Madden is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada, and the Director of the Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory. He and his group are exploring actively contractile materials that function as “artificial muscle”, along with sensors and batteries that can be worn, or fit on a robot as an “electronic skin”. One of John’s particular interests is the ionic conductivity of materials. He developed the term “piezoionic” to describe the effect of applied pressure on movement of ions and generation of voltage. The group is also part of Mend the Gap – an international effort to use materials-based approaches to help spinal cord repair.