Dr. Freddie Witherden, assistant professor in the Department of Ocean Engineering at Texas A&M University, was named in the 2020 Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for Europe. He was honored in the Science & Healthcare category.
This internationally prestigious list includes the top bright young leaders in business and society and their achievements. From thousands of nominations, only 30 are chosen to be named on one of 10 lists covering industries from art and culture to finance to technology.
“It’s fantastic to be recognized like this,” said Witherden. “If someone had told me five years ago that my name was going to find its way onto the 30 Under 30 list, there is simply no way I would have believed them, those lists are for rock stars not quixotic graduates.”
On average, it takes researchers 15 clicks to access the full text of a journal article. Sometimes, that includes having to go through archives, like JSTOR, or pre-print repositories, such as arXiv, or institutional depositories. This rabbit hole not only leads to frustration, but also a loss of time and efficiency.
Which is where Witherden’s 30 Under 30 recognition comes into play.
To alleviate the frustration, Witherden co-founded Kopernio, a web browser extension that helps researchers access full published journal articles with a single click. It was featured in an article in The Guardian. Kopernio was co-founded by Dr. Ben Kaube, who was also named in the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for Europe.
“We decided to start Kopernio after finishing our Ph.D.s at Imperial College, London, where it became clear how much time we were spending trying to access journal articles,” said Witherden. “Around this time, it also became apparent to us that not all institutions can afford to subscribe to the vast number of journals, and so, obtaining an article may not be as simple as going to a publisher’s website.”
As Witherden explained, he and Kaube saw this as an opportunity to help the researching community at large by automating the procedure of finding articles.
“We are delighted, but not surprised, that Dr. Witherden was mentioned in this prestigious list,” said Dr. Sharath Girimaji, department head for the Department of Ocean Engineering. “It is a fitting recognition of his incredible talent and hard work. He brings the same level of creativity and intensity to the department every day. We have an excellent group of young faculty members and I look forward to exciting times ahead for the ocean engineering department.”