Harvard Professor, Innovator to Share Expertise at Upcoming Ashland Lecture Series

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 11, 2016) — The University of Kentucky College of Engineering continues its tradition of bringing the top intellectual minds to campus with the 2016 Ashland Inc. Distinguished Lecture Series, which will feature innovator and Harvard Professor David A. Edwards, as he delivers his lecture “Sensory Delivery for Better Health.”

The lecture will be held from 10-11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 14, in Room 220 of the Multidisciplinary Science Building.

David Edwards received his doctoral degree in chemical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1987. He is a scientist, inventor and innovator working at the intersection of art, science and design as Harvard Professor of the Practice of Idea Translation.

As founder of Le Laboratoire, a cultural center in Paris, and now Cambridge, Edwards has pioneered new food and sensorial innovations, such as edible packaging, breathable food and digital scent.

“Dr. Edwards is an engineer and entrepreneur applying drug delivery principles in highly innovative ways to medical, environmental and societal problems," said Daniel Pack, Ashland Inc. Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering. "He was a pioneer in the development of inhaled insulin. More recently he is working on unconventional, out-of-the-box ideas like edible packaging for foods, delivering scents from books and inhalable nutrition. His ideas are absolutely fascinating.”

Edwards has started multiple drug delivery companies and nonprofits in addition to his food innovation work; is the author of two seminal textbooks in applied mathematics as well as several works of non-fiction and fiction; and is a member of the American and French National Academies of Engineering and the U.S. National Academy of Inventors. He has won many international awards and honors, including his nomination as Chevalier of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture.

In January 1999, Ashland Inc. funded the Ashland Inc. Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering, currently held by Daniel Pack, who came to UK after serving as professor of chemical and bio-molecular engineering at the University of Illinois from 1999- 2012. Among his many honors, he received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 3M Investigator Award and numerous other awards for excellence in teaching, advising and research.

As part of their commitment to bring the best intellectual minds and research creativity to the University of Kentucky, the Ashland Inc. Distinguished Lecture Series was established in 2006. The UK Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering is grateful to Ashland Inc. for its vision and support of this lecture series.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, go to: uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Harder, 859-323-2396, whitney.harder@uky.edu