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Stephen Washburn, ’11, has been named a New Jersey Teaching Fellow for 2016 by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Washburn will attend Rutgers University-Camden for his teaching fellowship. Before law school at IU McKinney, he received a bachelor of science degree in health science from Purdue University. He worked for several years in the clinical health care field as a perfusion technician in a Detroit, Michigan, area hospital. “Basically, I operated various medical devices used in heart and trauma surgery and cardiac catheterization procedures,” Washburn said. “It was a wonderful experience and I learned a great deal; however, my aspirations of attending law school remained.”

He chose IU McKinney because of the intellectual property program and the many IP course offerings. “I think I took nearly all of them!” Washburn said. “Intellectual property was a good area of the law for me because it allowed me to utilize my knowledge of science within the context of practicing law.”

After law school, Washburn worked in litigation for several prominent firms in the Chicago area, has worked as a solo practitioner counseling clients on intellectual property issues, and been retained by other patent attorneys to draft United States Patent and Trademark Office action responses for patent prosecution.

The great teachers Washburn has learned from inspired him to alter his career path. “I'm hoping my educational and professional background might bring a unique perspective to the classroom and inspire students to pursue a career in science,” he said.

The teaching fellows program is part of New Jersey’s effort to prepare excellent science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers for careers in the state’s high-need schools. Launched in 2014, the highly competitive program recruits both recent graduates and those changing careers who have strong STEM backgrounds and prepares them specifically to teach at the secondary education level.

Indiana also is among the five states that offer the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship Program.