Jennifer Lewis, One of 2015's Most Creative People in Business
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Materials scientist and 3D printing pioneer Jennifer Lewis, Sc.D., who is a Wyss Core Faculty member and the Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is among Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People of 2015. Selected by Fast Company's editors, the 100 Most Creative People are individuals changing the world and inspiring new ideas to move business into the future.
Lewis is shifting paradigms in the 3D printing industry with the development of new classes of printable materials and solid free–form fabrication techniques. She has pioneered the 3D printing of functional and biological inks at the microscale, opening new avenues for fabricating novel devices such as 3D antennas, electronic sensors, and rechargeable microbatteries as well as vascularized living tissues. To date, Lewis has authored over 130 papers and is an inventor on 26 issued and pending patents.
But it's her entrepreneurial acumen that makes Lewis a standout on Fast Company's list. The magazine is recognizing Lewis as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business for her new company Voxel8, Inc., a startup she founded in 2014 to commercialize the world's first multi–material 3D printer for fabricating embedded electronics and other novel devices.
"Ultimately, our technology pipeline will enable the mass customization of electronics and other finished products," said Lewis. "We're bringing together designers and engineers to integrate form and function in 3D objects."
Lewis and 2015's cohort of 100 Most Creative People were honored in Los Angeles on May 6 and 7 at FC/LA, a Creativity Counter–Conference by Fast Company that was dubbed "a meeting of the most creative minds". Keynote speakers included Jessica Alba, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Honest Company; LeVar Burton, Actor and Producer of Reading Rainbow; and Rainn Wilson, Actor and Co–Founder of SoulPancake. As part of the 2015 elite list, Lewis will join the Most Creative People 1000, a community of individuals that Fast Company calls the world's most innovative and intriguing people.
"We're proud to have a pioneer like Jennifer on our Wyss team – her materials expertise has allowed her to invent new ways of manufacturing electronics, sensors, and even living tissues using 3D printing," said Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. "It's tremendous to see the business community honoring her for the impact of her innovative work."
