Professor Mark Linne earned a Mechanical Engineering PhD at Stanford University in 1985 and as part of his thesis work he developed fiberoptic probes for laser-based absorption and fluorescence measurements of reactive species inside enclosed combustion reactors. He has been developing and using laser diagnostics for combustion, the atmosphere, and for electrochemistry ever since. He worked for 5 years as a laser development scientist at Spectra-Physics, the world's largest manufacturer of scientific lasers.