Norma A. Alcantar, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering at the University of South Florida, currently on assignment as a Program Director in the Startups and Small Businesses Division of the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships at the National Science Foundation. From 2021 to 2026 she served as Associate Dean for Research in USF's College of Engineering, where she led research development and pre-award strategy, oversaw the college's core research facilities, and built institutional readiness for large-scale, interdisciplinary proposals. Supporting nearly 190 faculty and researchers, she strengthened research competitiveness while easing administrative burden. She also directs USF's Water, Health, and Sustainability Graduate Certificate. An internationally recognized innovator, Dr. Alcantar develops nature-inspired technologies for environmental, medical, and industrial systems. Her expertise spans interfacial phenomena, biomimetic membranes, drug-delivery platforms, green chemistry materials, water purification, nanoparticles, and organic-inorganic thin films. She is best known for inventions that expand access to clean drinking water in underserved communities, advance environmental remediation and aquaculture systems, and open new therapeutic approaches to Alzheimer's disease and cancer. She holds 25 U.S. patents. Dr. Alcantar is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Academy of Inventors, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and an Honorary Fellow of the International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability. A Core Fulbright Scholar, she was inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame in 2021 and the Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine of Florida (ASEM-FL), and received the Florida Academy of Sciences Medal in 2026. She serves as Membership Engagement Chair for the AAAS Engineering Steering Group and as a Board Director for ASEM-FL and the Conn Memorial Foundation, and previously served on the AIChE Board of Directors (2022-2025). She earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her B.S. from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).