"I always thought of myself as a scientist by day, and dancer by night."
Jeffrey at his lab bench at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center
Jeffrey Vinokur, 20 years old, was born in River Vale, NJ and was unofficially self-diagnosed with a rare condition called “Mad Scientists Syndrome” and claims this is the reason for his passion for science since birth.
Science has always been Jeffrey’s passion starting from catch bugs as a kid, to mixing household chemicals during middle school, building robots in high school, and now striving to solve America’s oil crisis by studying alternative biofuels at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jeffrey is so crazy about science he received a Biochemistry textbook for his 18th birthday and an embroidered lab coat for his 19th birthday. In the future he hopes to get a PhD in Biochemistry from one of the nation’s Top Graduate schools and become a renowned professor & researcher.
In 2007, Jeffrey found dance when hard times at home lead him to watch YouTube videos and learn a few dance moves to relieve stress. The dancing caught on and Jeffrey began practicing daily in his house, dancing to express the difficult times he was going through. Three years later he now has over 10.0 million YouTube views, the #1 most watched popping tutorials in the world, teaches his own classes, runs a dance crew, performs regularly on the college circuit, and released his own instructional DVDs!
Prior to January 2010, Jeffrey was “Scientist by day, and dancer by night.” However, this all changed when an airplane ride next to a talkative stranger helped him realize that he could spread his scientific message by combining science & dance into a high energy performance. Jeffrey worked with distinguished UW-Madison chemistry demonstrator Jim Maynard to transform his ideas into reality, and the rest is history! Jeffrey is currently spreading his message that science can be cool and fun by taking his one of a kind performance, "So You Think You Can Do Science" across the nation's middle schools, high schools, and science centers thanks to a generous sponsorship from FOTODYNE INC.
Science has always been Jeffrey’s passion starting from catch bugs as a kid, to mixing household chemicals during middle school, building robots in high school, and now striving to solve America’s oil crisis by studying alternative biofuels at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jeffrey is so crazy about science he received a Biochemistry textbook for his 18th birthday and an embroidered lab coat for his 19th birthday. In the future he hopes to get a PhD in Biochemistry from one of the nation’s Top Graduate schools and become a renowned professor & researcher.
In 2007, Jeffrey found dance when hard times at home lead him to watch YouTube videos and learn a few dance moves to relieve stress. The dancing caught on and Jeffrey began practicing daily in his house, dancing to express the difficult times he was going through. Three years later he now has over 10.0 million YouTube views, the #1 most watched popping tutorials in the world, teaches his own classes, runs a dance crew, performs regularly on the college circuit, and released his own instructional DVDs!
Prior to January 2010, Jeffrey was “Scientist by day, and dancer by night.” However, this all changed when an airplane ride next to a talkative stranger helped him realize that he could spread his scientific message by combining science & dance into a high energy performance. Jeffrey worked with distinguished UW-Madison chemistry demonstrator Jim Maynard to transform his ideas into reality, and the rest is history! Jeffrey is currently spreading his message that science can be cool and fun by taking his one of a kind performance, "So You Think You Can Do Science" across the nation's middle schools, high schools, and science centers thanks to a generous sponsorship from FOTODYNE INC.