William C Stwalley is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Connecticut at Storrs as well as Affiliate Professor of Chemistry and member of the Institute of Materials Science. He has a BS degree in Chemistry from Caltech and a Ph D in Physical Chemistry from Harvard. He next spent 25 years at the University of Iowa, where he rose through the ranks to the George Glockler Professor of Physics and Chemistry. In 1993, he became Department Head of the Physics Department at UConn, serving in that capacity until 2011. His primary interest has been atomic and molecular interactions, which he has studied theoretically and experimentally throughout his career, emphasizing the determination of potential energy curves out to long range and the use of laser spectroscopy. In addition to fellowship in the American Association for Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America, major awards received include the Meggers Award for Spectroscopy of the Optical Society of America and the Connecticut Medal of Science.