Graduate Student Selected for Meeting with Nobel Laureates

Eric Wisniewski, a graduate student in chemistry at Penn State, was one of 36 graduate students from across the United States selected to attend the 50th anniversary meeting of Nobel laureates, scheduled 26 to 30 June in Lindau, Germany.

Each year since 1951, Nobel laureates have met to discuss major issues of importance in their scientific fields with students from around the world. This year, through a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, 36 student participants were selected from the United States.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it's a great honor to be selected by the Department of Energy to represent Penn State to attend the 50th anniversary meeting of the Nobel laureates," Wisniewski said. "I am very excited about the prospect of meeting the brightest minds in the field of science."

After being selected by the Vice President for Research at Penn State, Wisniewski's nomination was forwarded to the Department of Energy, where he was selected as one of the 36 U.S. representatives. A total of about 600 graduate students from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America will attend the week-long session, hear lectures, and participate in daily small-group sessions with the Nobel Prize winners.

"The Department of Energy has supported the research of more Nobel laureates than any other organization, so we feel a special tie to this prestigious meeting," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. "Science is an increasingly international effort, so it is essential that our researchers who are just starting their scientific careers have opportunities to meet their counterparts and learn from those whose discoveries have profoundly affected all our lives."

Wisniewski, from Hagerstown, Maryland, earned his bachelor's degree from Shepherd College with a major in chemistry and a minor in engineering. At Penn State, he is working with A. Welford Castleman Jr., Holder of the Eberly Family Distinguished Chair in Science and Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and Physics.