Prof. Wladek Minor received his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of Warsaw in Solid State Physics. After moving to the United States in 1985 and working at Purdue University, he gradually switched to macromolecular crystallography. He joined the University of Virginia faculty in 1995. He was tenured in 1998 and promoted to full professor in 2003. In 2016, he became Harrison Distinguished Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics. He has been developing experimental protocols and computational methods for neutron scattering and X-ray diffraction since graduate school. After starting his independent career, he continued developing software within HKL, HKL-2000, and HKL-3000. He also worked on advanced solutions to other crystallographic problems: (a) Identification and refinement of metals in macromolecular structures; (b) Determination and analysis of macromolecular structures related to drug transport and drug discovery; (c) Reproducibility, ligand identification, and validation in structural biology; (d) Data mining, management, and access to primary experimental data; (e) Protocols and tools for more reliable structure determination, including the application of AI; (f) Analysis of COVID-19 structures and actions necessary to prepare for a possible future pandemic. He published more than 230 papers that have garnered more than 47,000 citations. He is a co-author of more than 450 Protein Data Bank deposits. Dr. Minor has trained over 110 people who are very successful in academia, industry, and medicine. Dr. Minor's research is often reported in general media outlets (https://minorlab.org/news), which helps taxpayers understand why investments in basic science are the best investments for the country's future.