Frances S. Ligler (NAE) is the Lampe Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at North Carolina State University and UNC-Chapel Hill. From 1986 to 2013, she worked for the US Naval Research Laboratory, where she developed biosensors to detect biothreat agents, infectious disease, explosives, drugs of abuse, food contaminants, and environmental pollutants. Her research dramatically improved the effectiveness of biosensors while reducing their size and increasing automation. In 2017 she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.