Expert in Biomedicine to Speak at Founders’ Day Convocation
Jan. 7, 2022
BLOOMINGTON, ILL. – A prolific researcher in biomedical engineering and 1998 Illinois Wesleyan University graduate, William Murphy, will deliver the 2022 Founders’ Day Convocation keynote address titled “Mimicking Nature to Create New Technology.”
Due to event restrictions caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Founders’ Day Convocation will be live-streamed at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, at www.iwu.edu/live and viewable on demand after the event.
The ceremony will include an invocation given by University Chaplain Walt Wiltschek,
remarks from President S. Georgia Nugent, an introduction of the keynote speaker by
Provost and Dean of Faculty Mark Brodl and the keynote address by Murphy. 
After graduating from Illinois Wesleyan in 1998 with a double major in physics and math, Murphy completed his M.S. and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan. His post-doctoral research was completed in the department of chemistry at the University of Chicago. He established a legacy at Illinois Wesleyan by creating the Bill and Katie Murphy Research Fellowship.
Murphy is the Harvey D. Spangler Endowed Professor of biomedical engineering/orthopedics & rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also serves as the principal investigator of the Murphy Group Bioinspired Materials Laboratory, which seeks to build innovative biomaterials to address significant challenges in biology and medicine. His research has produced 180 journal publications and 23 U.S. Patents. He also has an additional 30 pending U.S. Patents and has founded four start-up companies.
He continues to innovate in the field of bioinspired materials and regenerative medicine, exploring ideas such as using mineral-based materials that can deliver proteins, DNA and RNA to potentially combat a range of human diseases.
Read more from the Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine (Spring 2018).
In addition to Murphy’s virtual address, he will conduct a student Q&A session with multi-majors, meet with recipients of the Murphy Research Fellowship and will lead a talk during Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics Christopher Nelson’s class, Physics for Pre-Meds.
By Julia Perez