Bruce Parkinson received his BS in chemistry at Iowa State University in 1972 and his PhD from Caltech in 1977 under the guidance of Professor Fred Anson. After a year of post-doctoral studies at Bell Laboratories with Adam Heller he was a staff scientist at the Ames Laboratory. He then became a senior scientist at the Solar Energy Research Institute (now known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory) in Golden, Colorado. He then joined the Central Research and Development Department of the DuPont Company in 1985. In 1991 he became Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University until his recent departure to join the Department of Chemistry and the School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming. His current research covers a wide range of areas including materials chemistry, UHV surface chemistry and photoelectrochemical energy conversion.