Dr. Omowunmi “Wunmi” Sadik, New Jersey Institutes of Technology
SNO Inaugural President and Co-Founder
Dr. Sadik is a Distinguished Professor and Chair in the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences at the New Jersey Institutes of Technology (NJIT). Until recently, Sadik was a Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Center for Research in Advanced Sensing Technologies & Environmental Sustainability at SUNY-Binghamton. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wollongong in Wollongong, Australia and was a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before joining SUNY Binghamton in 1996. She has held appointments at Harvard University, Cornell University and the Naval Research Laboratory. Her research areas include surface chemistry, sensors, energy, and the environment, along with new measurement approaches and their application to solving problems in biological systems.
Sadik holds five U.S. patents and has been recognized for research innovation in biosensors and sustainable nanotechnology. Her group focuses on the understanding of interfaces, in particular, electrochemical interface and how to use this knowledge in the pursuit of innovative bio (analytical) sensing technologies for improving human health and the environment. She has led her team in translating basic research in biosensors to a portable, fully autonomous, and remotely operated sensing device known as an Ultra-Sensitive Portable Capillary Sensor, or U-PAC. Professor Sadik has published over 180 peer-reviewed works and has given over 400 invited lectures and conference contributions worldwide. She has secured over $7 million in research grants and contracts from government agencies and private sector institutions such as the NSF, EPA, DOD, Procter & Gamble, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Sadik has been honored by a number of professional organizations and scientific academies, including being named as a Fellow of each of the African Academy of Sciences (2018), the UK’s Royal Society of Chemistry (2010) and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (2012). Her notable career highlights include receiving the Australian Merit Scholar Award (1991), the National Academy of Sciences Collaboration in Basic Science & Engineering Fellowship (2000), the SUNY Research Foundation’s Award for Outstanding Inventor (2002), Harvard University’s Radcliffe Fellowship (2003), the National Science Foundation’s Discovery Corps Senior Fellowship (2005) and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Research (2011). Sadik serves on the advisory board of South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology and on the board of the NSF/EPA-funded Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology.
Sadik was the inaugural chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Environmental Nanotechnology and has served as the Nanotechnology Editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Journal of Environmental Science Processes and Impact. She co-edited the American Chemical Society’s Symposium Series on environmental sensors, and has organized and chaired 28 symposia/workshops at various national and international conferences. As the Co-Founder and inaugural past president of the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (www.susnano.org), Professor Sadik continues to build support for science while promoting the understanding of its broader relevance to society.