David Prendergast is a staff scientist at The Molecular Foundry, one of five US Department of Energy Nanoscale Science Research Centers. These are National User Facilities for Nanoscience which serve academic, government and industrial research with their multidisciplinary expertise and capabilities.His current research focuses on developments and applications of first-principles electronic structure theory in the context of energy-relevant phenomena in materials and chemistry. He has particular expertise in the simulation and interpretation of synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy measurements as a means of connecting characterization of complex interfacial systems to atomistic or molecular scale structural and dynamical models.