Wunmi Sadik, New Jersey Institutes of Technology
SNO Inaugural President and Co-Founder
Omowunmi "Wunmi" Sadik is a Distinguished Professor and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), where she serves as Director of the BioSMART Center. With a career spanning over three decades, including 23 years at SUNY-Binghamton, Dr. Sadik has established herself as a global leader in surface chemistry, electrochemical sensing, and sustainable nanotechnology. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wollongong and conducted postdoctoral research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with subsequent appointments at Harvard, Cornell, and the Naval Research Laboratory.
A prolific inventor, Dr. Sadik holds five U.S. patents and is best known for the Ultra-Sensitive Portable Capillary Sensor (U-PAC). This fully autonomous, remotely operated device represents a paradigm shift in environmental monitoring and food safety, translating fundamental biosensor research into a field-ready tool for identifying pathogens and contaminants. Her "safety-by-design" philosophy ensures that nanotechnological advancements provide societal benefits—ranging from pain management to counter-terrorism—without unintended environmental costs. Her work was notably recognized by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of "10 Research projects meant to keep you safer".
Dr. Sadik has published over 220 peer-reviewed papers in premier journals such as JACS, ACS Nano, and Biosensors & Bioelectronics. She has delivered more than 450 invited lectures worldwide, including the upcoming ACS Fall 2026 "Chemistry is Everything we Eat" symposium. Her numerous accolades include the 2024 Wallace Coulter Lifetime Achievement Award, the Jefferson Science Fellowship, the National Institute of Health Outstanding Scientific Achievement & WALS Lectureship, the SUNY’s Award for Outstanding Inventor, Chancellor’s Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities, NSF’s Discovery Corps Senior Fellowship and the Harvard Radcliffe Fellowship. She was the first female scientist to receive the Nigerian National Order of Merit, her home country's highest academic honor. She holds five US patents for her work on biosensors and nanostructured membranes.
Sadik is a fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Sadik has mentored 41 graduate students, 16 postdoctoral fellows, and ~120 undergraduate students, and many of those have gained employment in academia, government labs, and industry. As the Founding President of the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO) and the Inaugural Chair of the ACS AGFD Sustainability and Green Technology Subdivision, Dr. Sadik continues to shape international policy and mentor the next generation of scientists, ensuring that chemistry remains a transformational force for global food security and environmental health.