Omowunmi Sadik

Omowunmi "Wunmi" A. Sadik (born 19 June 1964) is a Nigerian-American professor, chemist, and inventor working at New Jersey Institute of Technology. She has developed microelectrode biosensors for detection of drugs and explosives and is working on the development of technologies for recycling metal ions from waste, for use in environmental and industrial applications. In 2012, Sadik co-founded the non-profit Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization.

Early life and education Sadik was born in 1964 in Lagos, Nigeria. Her family included a number of scientists, who supported her interests in physics, chemistry, and biology. She received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Lagos in 1985, and went on to receive her master's degree in chemistry in 1987.

Career A postdoctoral fellowship from the National Research Council supported her as a researcher at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1994 to 1996. She has also served as a visiting faculty member at the Naval Research Laboratory, Cornell University, and Harvard University. In 2024, she was appointed as the inaugural Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at NJIT.

Sadik studies surface chemistry, with particular emphasis on the development of biosensors for use in environmental chemistry. She has developed microelectrode biosensors sensitive to trace amounts of organic materials, technology which can be used for drug and bomb detection. She is also studying detoxification mechanisms of wastes such as organochlorine compounds in the environment, with the purpose of developing technologies for recycling metal ions from industrial and environmental waste. Sadik is credited with more than 135 peer-reviewed research papers and patent applications. She holds U.S. patents on particular types of bichair oors. In 2012, Sadik and Barbara Karn co-founded the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization, a non-profit, international professional society for the responsible use of nanotechnology worldwide.

Sadik is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2010), the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2012), the American Chemical Society (2023), and the National Academy of Inventors (2024). She is involved with the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation, and was part of the National Institutes of Health Study Panel on Instrumentation and Systems Development. 2001, Chancellor's Award for Research in Science and Medicine, SUNY 2002, Chancellor's Award for Premier Inventors, SUNY 2005–2006, NSF Discovery Corps Senior Fellowship 2016, Nigerian National Order of Merit Award (NNOM) 2017, Jefferson Science Fellow Australian Merit Award 2024, The Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement, Pittcon