Professor David G. Castner received a B.S. in Chemistry from Oregon State University in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1979.

After spending seven years as a Research Chemist at the Chevron Research Company, Dave moved to the University of Washington (UW) as the Scientific Research Coordinator for NESAC/BIO. In 1990 he joined the College of Engineering faculty and became an NESAC/BIO Investigator. In 1996 Dave assumed his current role of NESAC/BIO Director. He is also a Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the UW. Dave was Director of the UW Center for Nanotechnology from 2004 to 2005 and served on the AVS Board of Directors from 2005 to 2007. He is an AVS Fellow and a Biomaterials Science and Engineering Fellow. He received the Clemson Award for Basic Research in 2004 and the Excellent in Surface Science Award in 2003.

Prof. Castner has an active research program in the areas of surface analysis, surface modification, biomaterials and organic thin films. He has co-authored more than 150 refereed publications. In addition to overall scientific responsibility for all NESAC/BIO projects, Dave is the primary NESAC/BIO investigator on selected core and collaborative projects. He is also responsible for supervision of the center staff, post-docs, and students.

When he has some free time, Dave can be found working on one of his classic cars (1965 Mustang Fastback and 1967 Mercury Cougar) or fishing for steelhead and salmon.