Keynote Speaker
Rebecca D. Klaper is the Dean of the University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean and Environment. Dean Klaper studies focus on the potential impact of emerging contaminants, such as nanoparticles and pharmaceuticals on aquatic life and how we may design these chemicals to have the least environmental impact. She uses cell phenotypic profiling as well as genomic technologies to determine how these chemical stressors may impact organisms and how the biochemical response may dictate sensitivity or resistance to stressors. Dr. Klaper was previously the dean of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, School of Freshwater Sciences. She is a member of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and has received a Fulbright Scholarship (U.K., 2017-2018) and a AAAS-Science and Technology Policy Fellowship (2001-2003). She has served as an invited scientific expert to the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, the International Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development, and the International Joint Commission regarding the potential impacts of nanomaterials, pharmaceuticals and personal care products and other emerging contaminants and served on the U.S. EPA Board of Scientific Counselors committee on Chemical Safety and Sustainability. She has also served on several National Academies Panels on and Panel on the Environmental Impact of Currently Marketed Sunscreens and Impacts of Sunscreen on the environment and national strategies for nanomaterial research. Prof. Klaper received her Ph.D. in Ecology from the Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia.
