Purdue professor named PopTech Science Fellow

Jonathan Wiler  Download Photo

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A Purdue University professor has been tapped to become an "ambassador of science" as one of the 2013 class of PopTech Fellows.

PopTech, a global community of innovators from a broad range of fields including science, technology, design, civic leadership, and the arts and humanities, has named Jonathan Wilker one of 10 new science fellows.

The science fellows are chosen for their talent, passion for asking big questions, commitment to innovating within their field, interest in communications and leadership, and collaborative spirit.

Wilker, a professor of chemistry and materials engineering, will give a presentation at 4:30 p.m. today (Oct. 25) as part of the 2013 PopTech annual conference in Camden, Maine. The presentation can be watched live at http://new.livestream.com/PopTech/SparksofBrilliance and will be made available on the website after the session concludes.

Wilker's research focuses on understanding and mimicking the adhesives produced by oysters, mussels and barnacles in order to create new materials including wet-setting adhesives for use in medicine and construction and materials to keep boat hulls clean without harming the environment.

The science fellows program is designed to help promising scientists become more effective communicators, collaborators and leaders and to develop a corps of highly visible and socially engaged scientific leaders, according to PopTech.

The fellows are chosen through an invitation-only nomination process and selection by the program's advisory board, which includes science and communications leaders and working scientists.

PopTech is a nonprofit thought-leadership network that includes science fellows and social innovation fellows programs, conferences and events, laboratories and projects. The organization's mission is to accelerate the positive impact of world-changing people, projects and ideas, and to foster unconventional collaborations that tackle some of the world’s most significant challenges and lead to real and lasting change.

Additional information is available at http://poptech.org  

Writer: Elizabeth K. Gardner, 765-494-2081, ekgardner@purdue.edu