Eric Breitung, Research Scientist, specializes in modern preservation materials and museum environment issues in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Scientific Research. His work includes the development of advanced analytical test methods for assessing commercial materials used to store, display, and transport art. After earning a PhD in physical organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he worked in the Polymer Materials Laboratory at General Electric’s R&D Center during which he spent 1 year as a Mellon Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He then studied Ikat textile dyes at the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian and continued as senior scientist at the Library of Congress where he focused on modern materials and development of materials analysis tools.