Elham Fini is the director of the International Innovation Network for Construction Materials, Methods and Management (ICM3), senior sustainability scientist and, associate professor of School of Sustainable Engineering and Built Environment at Arizona State University. She is also J. W. Fulbright Scholar of Aalborg University of Denmark. Her research focuses on bio-based construction geared toward synthesis, characterization and application of biomaterials for sustainable development. She is currently serving as an AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador working to promote culture of invention and innovation in academia. She is also the co-founder of Bio-Adhesive Alliance Inc., a spin-off company from her research group. She received her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been a research affiliate at MIT’s Center for Materials Science and Engineering and an Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Materials. She has served as the president of ASCE’s North Carolina Northern Branch and a program director of the National Science Foundation. She has been an invited speaker at Kavli Frontiers of Science at the National Academy of Science. Her achievements were recognized via multiple awards including an NSF CAREER award, ASEE Gerald Seeley award, BEYA Emerald STEM Innovation award, and NC BioTech Research Excellence award.