David Allan Atwood was born in 1965 in Urbana Illinois. At an early age David moved to Tuscaloosa Alabama where he grew up and ultimately attended college. After graduation from the University of Alabama he moved to Austin Texas to attend graduate school at the University of Texas with Richard Jones as his advisor. He graduated with his PhD (in Inorganic Chemistry) in the Spring of 1992 but stayed in Austin as a postdoctoral associate with Alan Cowley until his wife, Vicki Ossink Atwood, finished her PhD (also in Inorganic Chemistry). From UT he moved as an Assistant Professor to North Dakota State University as part of their new Center for Main Group Chemistry (of which he was co-director). In 1998 David Atwood joined the chemistry department at the University of Kentucky faculty as an Associate Professor. He now has over 160 publications, 10 patents, and serves on numerous editorial boards, including the Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry, a 10 volume set published in Fall 2005. He is the founding editor and editor-in-chief of Main Group Chemistry. His research interests include detection and removal of heavy metal contaminants such as mercury, cadmium and lead, from the environment, the preparation of nanoparticulate metal oxides, prevention of aluminum alloy oxidation, and the synthesis of new Lewis acid compounds to effect new reactions, such as the breaking of phosphate esters bonds like those found in nerve gas agents and pesticides and the destruction of methyl-t-butyl ether (MTBE) a widespread water contaminant.