Dr. James Hedrick is currently the CEO and co-founder of Azul 3D which is commercializing the first 3D printing technology capable of competing with the speed, strength, and economy of scale of injection molding.

Dr. Hedrick started his first company at the age of 16. The profits paid for his college tuition at MIT, where he was also a NCAA student athlete.

He went on to receive his PhD at Northwestern University with Professor Mirkin, during which he developed seminal technology at the core of Azul 3D.

Dr. David Walker is the CTO and co-founder of Azul3D. He has over a decade of research expertise in the fields of nanotechnology and physical chemistry, and is one of the inventors on the seminal technology at the core of Azul 3D.

Prior to co-founding Azul 3D, Dr. Walker completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at Northwestern University studying interfacial-phenomena and nano-scale materials. For his PhD work in nanotechnology, Dr. Walker was awarded the Foresight Institute’s 2013 Feynman Student Award. Following his PhD, Dr. Walker was an IIN post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Prof. Chad Mirkin and an Adjunct Professor within the NU Chemical & Biological Engineering Department.

After pioneering new research directions in 3D-printing, Dr. Walker transitioned to the role of Entrepreneur in Residence within the IIN to commercialize this research, co-founding Azul 3D.

Dr. Chad A. Mirkin, co-founder of Azul 3D, is the Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and the George B. Rathmann Prof. of Chemistry. He is also a Prof. of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Prof. of Biomedical Engineering, Prof. of Materials Science & Engineering, and Prof. of Medicine at Northwestern University.

He is a chemist and a world-renowned nanoscience expert, who is known for his discovery and development of spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) and SNA-based biodetection and therapeutic schemes, the invention of Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN) and related cantilever-free nanopatterning methodologies, On-Wire Lithography (OWL), Co-Axial Lithography (COAL), and contributions to supramolecular chemistry and nanoparticle synthesis. He is the author of over 740 manuscripts and over 1,100 patent applications worldwide (over 330 issued), and the founder of multiple companies, including AuraSense, Exicure, TERA-print, and Azul 3D.

Mirkin has been recognized for his accomplishments with over 210 national and international awards. He served as a Member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (Obama Administration) for eight years, and he is one of very few scientists to be elected to all three US National Academies (Medicine, Science, and Engineering). Mirkin has served on the Editorial Advisory Boards of over 20 scholarly journals.