Reinhard Boehler, formerly a Director of the Max Planck Institut für Chemie, Mainz, Germany, joined the Geophysical Laboratory as a Senior Scientist, and will work on a broad range of problems in high-pressure science and technology, particularly those related to major energy challenges. Prior to joining Carnegie, Reini was Head of the High Pressure Group at the Max Planck Institut für Chemie, and is currently President of the International Association for the Advancement of High Pressure Science and Technology (AIRAPT). He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Louis Néel Medal from the EGS in 1997. His research interests focus on the thermal properties of materials at very high pressure, the adiabatic gradient, and the thermal expansivity of simple metals as well as Earth mantle and core materials. He conducted the first direct high-pressure measurements at temperatures above 4000 K, as well as the first melting experiments on iron at core conditions, and developed models of thermal expansivity in the Earth's interior. Reini has also developed a number of high-pressure techniques, including laser-heated methods and novel diamond anvil cells now used around the world.