Dr. Filpponen received his master's degree (2003) from the University of Helsinki majoring in organic chemistry, and his doctoral degree in wood & paper science (2009) from the North Carolina State University (NCSU) at Raleigh, United States. After a short postdoctoral period in NCSU he joined Aalto University at 2010. He has authored and co-authored nearly 30 peer-reviewed papers, 50 conference contributions and 2 book chapters. His present research is focused on the chemical modification of cellulosic substrates to produce new and advanced functional bio(hybrid)materials.