Professor Silberg obtained Bachelor's degrees in both Chemistry and Biology at the University of California Irvine, as well as a PhD in the Department of Biophysics. He pursued postdoctoral research in Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. He then began his independent research group at Rice University in 2004, where he is now the Stewart Memorial Professor of Biochemistry with appointments in the Departments of Biosciences, Bioengineering, and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. He is also director of the Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology doctoral program and a NSF Research Traineeship in Bioelectronics. His laboratory applies synthetic biology at the cell/material interface to create useful living electronics that communicate with our digital devices and to understand and control cellular processes within environmental consortia situated in natural materials likes soils, sediments, and sludge.