Meet the 2024 Global Impression Award Finalist: Sven Nelson
After receiving nineteen commendable nominations for this year’s Global Impression Award (GIA), our GIA Committee at The International Center has thoughtfully narrowed down the nominations to three remaining finalists: Svitlana Ramer, Sven Nelson, and Najia Hoshmand. Each of these finalists have made significant contributions and impacts to the global community in Indiana.
Sven Nelson, Ph. D.
Dr. Nelson has an extensive history of different educational and professional experiences. He currently holds the title of Senior Vice President of Research at anu™ (previously gropod) and is one of the three managing partners at anu. In this role, he develops and implements innovative agricultural technologies for Controlled-Environment Agriculture (CEA) to address global food security and sustainability. He and others at anu use a technology they developed called Rotary Aeroponics® to make CEA more water- and energy-efficient to improve accessibility of fresh produce to communities worldwide. He has been instrumental in the development of the compostable seed pods used in every anu device which remove single-use plastics from the growing process. Dr. Nelson has fostered international collaborations through his work both locally and abroad. Some of his recently published research includes a study of the mechanisms that regulate how seeds transition from a dormant state to a seed that is ready to germinate. This valuable research is part of an international collaboration and is related to improving germination rates of crops with high seed dormancy, as well as preventing premature sprouting of grain on the mother plant in crops where dormancy is easily broken.
Dr. Nelson has worked on many impactful projects across the country and world. His work at anu has supported outreach efforts in Africa to set up simplified, solar powered versions of the anu growing systems in the mountain country of Lesotho to combat food insecurity. He works with the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS), which is a Japan government agency, in many ways equivalent to the US National Science Foundation (NSF), as a member of the Board of Directors for the US and Canada JSPS Alumni Association and the Chair of the IT Committee. In these roles, he strives to promote research collaborations between Japanese and American scientists.
From cultural outreach and teaching English to the community in Japan to presentations on “Biohacking 101” to high school and college students to share plant molecular biology experiments that students can do at home using household materials, Dr. Nelson has shown a passion for serving the community through education. He has a strong personal philosophy based around the importance of communicating science to non-scientists and has served as a guest speaker to courses that promote development of soft skills among graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in science and engineering. Anu has built connections with Purdue University, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, the University of Evansville, and the University of Southern Indiana, which has allowed Dr. Nelson to engage students and researchers to solidify Indiana’s position as a hub for agricultural innovation. Similarly, he has also participated in countless workshops and seminars to share agricultural research or aimed at educating the public about sustainable agriculture practices and the importance of local food production. In his spare time, he volunteers for a program called PlantingScience (https://plantingscience.org/), where he serves as a scientist mentor to assist classrooms of students with plant-focused scientific investigations on topics such as the Power of Sunlight and the Wonder of Seeds.
Some of Dr. Nelson’s recognitions and accomplishments include leading research projects funded by the NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I and II and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture SBIR Phase I grants, being nominated for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce Work-Based Learning Supervisor of the year, and being part of the team at anu to win the Agrinovus 2024 HungerTech Challenge Award. On top of all his academic and professional contributions, Dr. Nelson actively supports underrepresented groups through mentorship and professional development within the scientific community.
Join us on October 24th as we celebrate the GIA finalists at the International Citizen of the Year event. Click here for more information or to buy tickets.
