Jessica Larsen, the Carol and John Cromer Endowed Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering at Clemson University, will deliver the Henry and Linda C. Pownall Lecture in Chemistry at Wilkes University at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 22, in Stark Learning Center 105.
The lecture, “Leveraging Chemistry to Overcome Biologic Barriers in Neurologic Disease Treatment,” is free and open to the public.
Larsen earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia and her doctorate from Auburn University. Her research focuses on polymer-based nanotechnology to enable treatment of neurologic conditions, delivering drugs across the blood-brain and blood-nerve barriers.
Larsen leads a research team of 25 students and staff. She received the Phil and Mary Bradley Award for Mentoring in Creative Inquiry for her undergraduate mentoring efforts.
She was selected as the 2021 Outstanding Faculty Woman at Clemson University. Larsen also received the NSF CAREER Award and the Governor’s Young Scientist Award for Excellence in Scientific Research in 2022. She has been an invited speaker at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the World Biomaterials Congress.
Most recently, Larsen was recognized as a 2025 NIH Director’s New Innovator. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and multiple disease-specific foundations.
The Pownall Lecture in Chemistry was established thanks to Henry J. and Linda C. Pownall. Henry Pownall, PhD, graduated from Wilkes College in 1967 with a master’s degree in chemistry. He earned his doctorate from Northeastern University in physical chemistry with postdoctoral fellowships in molecular spectroscopy at the University of Houston and biochemistry at Baylor College of Medicine with an emphasis on lipid metabolism.
For more information, visit wilkes.edu/pownall.