KARL H. SCHOENBACH received the Diploma degree in physics and the Dr.rer.nat. degree in physics in 1966 and 1970, respectively, from the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (THD), Germany.  From 1970 to 1978, he was working at the THD in the areas of high pressure gas discharge physics and on the dense plasma focus. From 1979 to 1985, he held a faculty position at Texas Tech University, where he was involved in research on fast opening switches, especially electron-beam and laser controlled diffuse discharge opening switches. In 1985, he joined Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. He served as Director of the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics from 2002 to 2008. He was active in research on photoconductive switches until 1993, and has now concentrated his research efforts on high-pressure glow discharges, glow (streamer) discharges in liquids, and on environmental and medical applications of pulse power technology, and continues to be actively involved in bioelectrics research. He has chaired a number of workshops and conferences, among them the 1991 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science, and the First International Symposium on “Nonthermal Medial/Biological Treatments Using Electromagnetic Fields and Ionized Gases” (ElectroMed99) in 1999. He was elected Fellow of IEEE in 1994 for “contributions to the research and development of very-high-power electronic devices”, and received the 2000 High Voltage Award sponsored by the Dielectric and Electrical Insulation Society of the IEEE, and the Peter Haas Pulsed Power Award in 2007. He has published close to 400 papers in refereed journals and in conference proceedings and holds 15 patents. He has been an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science since 1989, guest editor of the IEEE Transactions on Electron-Devices (1990), the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (1999), the IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation (2003). He is co-editor of books on “Low Temperature Plasma Physics” (2001 and 2007 (2^nd edition)), and on “Atmospheric Pressure Air Plasmas” (2004).