Groundbreaking biotech leader Nina Tandon, PhD, will deliver a special address on the future of health technology and biology's industrial revolution Thursday, January 30, at 5:30 p.m. in the Hatfield Hall Theater. The event, which is free and open to the public, is being jointly presented by the Swearingen Leadership Series and the Rose Research Fellows Program. No advanced tickets are necessary. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Tandon is chief executive officer and co-founder of EpiBone, the world's first company to grow living human bone for skeletal reconstruction. Under her leadership, the company has achieved Federal Drug Administration approval for clinical trials of its revolutionary stem cell technology, which promises simplified surgery procedures, improved bone formation, and shorter recovery times for patients.

“Dr. Tandon is leading us into an exciting world where we could possibly create our own futures, using our own cells for our health and healing purposes,” said Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering Irene Reizman, PhD, creator of the Rose Research Fellows program, which is being supported by her term as the Alfred R. Schmidt Endowed Chair for Excellence in Teaching. “This will be an excellent opportunity for our students and others interested in science and scientific research from throughout the Wabash Valley to get insight about innovative biotechnology research from a pioneer in the field of cell biology.”

Tandon’s innovative research has focused on studying electrical signaling in the context of tissue engineering, and she has worked with cardiac, skin, bone, and neural tissue. This groundbreaking work in biomedical engineering has earned her recognition as one of Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, an Innovation Fellow by WIRED, and a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer. She co-authored “Super Cells: Building with Biology,” a book cataloguing the latest biotech inventions “using nature’s building block: the cell.”

The Swearingen Leadership Series brings speakers to campus to encourage development of future leaders in science, engineering, and mathematics to solve complex problems. It was established through support from John Swearingen, a 1981 Rose-Hulman chemical engineering alumnus, and his wife, Anne.

The Rose Research Fellows program introduces first- and second-year students opportunities to the fundamentals of research by completing a variety of projects, with faculty mentors, in science, engineering, and mathematics areas of interest. They also get opportunities to attend virtual and campus speaker events with Rose-Hulman alumni and other guests. Students then showcase their projects in a final formal presentation to the campus community at the end of the school year.