Wilhelm Pfleging is Head of the group Laser Materials Processing at the Institute of Applied Materials (IAM-AWP) which is part of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). He has more than 20 years of experience in Laser Materials Processing. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals, books and conference reports. He has three patents granted and one patent on pending. His work until 1997 at the Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology (Germany) was in the field of electron spectroscopy, pulsed laser deposition and laser micromachining with applications in thin film technology and microsystem technology. From 1997 up to 2009 and from 2009 to 2010 he was research scientist and principal investigator for Laser Technology at the Research Center Karlsruhe GmbH and at KIT, respectively. Since 2011 he is Group Leader of Laser Materials Processing at the Institute for Applied Materials - Applied Materials Physics (IAM-AWP) at KIT. At KIT he initiates and manages several industrial collaborative research and development projects on laser applications with emphasis on laser ablation, surface modification and welding on micro-meter and nano-meter scale. Main application fields are biological surfaces, microfluidics and lithium-ion batteries. Currently his research is focused on the development of ultrafast laser-assisted processes for surface functionalization. Since 2002 he is member of programme committees in several international laser conferences. From 2007 up to 2012 he was general chair of the conference” Laser-based Micro- and Nanopackaging and Assembly LBMP“ and editor of the corresponding SPIE-Proceeding (“SPIE Photonics West“, San Francisco, CA, USA).