Jignesh M. Patel is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1998. Right after graduation, he worked with NCR Corp. on commercializing his thesis project on parallel object-relational database systems. From 1999-2008 he was a faculty member at the University of Michigan. In 2008 he returned back to Wisconsin, this time as a student. A major focus of his current research is on developing database management techniques for life sciences applications. He is the recipient of an NSF Career Award, multiple Microsoft eScience Awards, and multiple IBM Faculty Awards.