Dr. James A. Bain received his B.S. (1988) in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.S. (1991) and Ph.D. (1993), also in Materials Science and Engineering, from Stanford University. He is a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department of Carnegie Mellon University. He also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and is associate director of the Data Storage Systems Center (DSSC). These departments and the DSSC are part of the College of Engineering at CMU. Dr. Bain's research interests are in the areas of thin film magnetic materials and devices, and magnetic recording systems. He currently leads the tape recording research thrust within the DSSC. Dr. Bain has co-authored more than 40 papers in the field of magnetic thin films and magnetic recording. He is a member of the Materials Research Society and the IEEE Magnetics Society.