The planning committee are proud to present the keynote speakers for WILU 2016!

Emily Drabinski

Emily Drabinski is Coordinator of Library Instruction at Long Island University, Brooklyn, in Brooklyn, New York. She is a co-editor of Critical Library Instruction: Theories and Methods (Library Juice Press, 2010) and sits on the board of Radical Teacher, a journal of feminist, socialist, and anti-racist teaching practice. Drabinski also edits Gender & Sexuality in Information Studies, a book series from Library Juice Press/Litwin Books. Her published work explores the politics of knowledge production, organization, and use. She argued for the value of contextually-informed teaching in her article, “Toward a Kairos of Library Instruction,” winner of the 2015 Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year Award. An adult-onset marathoner, Drabinski believes in developing a solid training plan and showing up each day to do the work.

E. Paul Zehr

E. Paul Zehr, PhD (neuroscience) is professor, author, and martial artist at the University of Victoria where he is Director of the Centre for Biomedical Research and head of the Rehabilitation Neuroscience Laboratory. His laboratory research focuses on the recovery of walking after neurotrauma and spans over 100 scientific publications. He has a passion for science communication using popular culture. His pop-sci books include Becoming Batman (2008), Inventing Iron Man (2011), Project Superhero (2014), and the forthcoming Something Superhuman (2017). Paul has been interviewed in Scientific American Online, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maxim, Popular Mechanics, Total Film, and Maclean’s magazines and featured on radio and television interviews around the world including NPR, CNN, BBC, CBC Radio’s “Quirks and Quarks”, CTV’s “Canada AM”, CBC TV’s “The National”, and CITY TV “Breakfast Television”. Paul has a popular neuroscience blog “Black Belt Brain” at Psychology Today magazine and writes for Scientific American and Discover. In 2012 he received the Craigdarroch award for research communication and in 2015 the Science Educator Award from the Society for Neuroscience. Project Superhero won the 2015 Silver Medal for Juvenile fiction from the Independent Book Sellers of North America.