Genevieve Dion Named 'Scientist of the Year' at 2014 Philadelphia Geek Awards

Genevieve Dion was recognized for her work in wearable technlogy and high-tech textiles at the 2014 Philadelphia Geek Awards.

Drexel University’s Genevieve Dion, an associate professor in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, was named “Scientist of the Year” at the 2014 Philadelphia Geek Awards in recognition of her groundbreaking work in developing wearable technology.

As director of the Shima Seiki Haute Technology Lab at Drexel’s ExCITe Center, Dion is involved in a number of cross-disciplinary collaborations. Her background in fashion design allows her to lend expertise to creating high-tech textiles using digital fabrication and computerized knitting machines.

Dion is part of a team that is developing a smart fabric belly band for use in fetal monitoring, she is also advising doctoral candidates who are creating textiles that can store energy. She presented her work at TEDxPhilly this year and was also named one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business.”

The awards, hosted by the Academy of Natural Science of Drexel University, have been presented annually by the blog Geekadelphia, since 2011 as a way to spotlight and celebrate Philadelphia’s vibrant “geek” culture. Described by Geekadelphia co-founder, Eric Smith, as “like the Oscars, but a lot sillier and a lot more fun,” this year’s Geek Awards recognized 14 winners in categories.

Drexel has been well represented at the Geek Awards since their inception. Frank Lee, PhD,  director of Drexel’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio, was named “Hacker of the Year”  and his project to create a 27-story game of Pong on the Cira Centre office building was deemed “Geek Story of the Year” in 2013; Greg Lobanov, an undergraduate in Lee’s game design program, took home “Indie Game of the Year” honors in 2013 for a game he created called “Perfection;” and Youngmoo Kim, PhD, director of the ExCITe Center, earned “Scientist of the Year” recognition in 2012.  

Lobanov was among the nominees again this year, earning a “Game of the Year” nod for his game “Coin Crypt.” Ted Daeschler, PhD, an associate professor in the College of Arts & Sciences and paleontologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences, was also among the nominees for “Scientist of the Year.” And a Rube Goldberg device created by undergraduate students in the College of Engineering to kick off the Philadelphia Science Festival, was in the running for “Story of the Year.”

For a full list of award winners, visit www.phillygeekawards.com.