Joseph M. DeSimone
The information listed below is current as of the date the transcript was finalized.
Interview Details
Interview Sessions
Abstract of Interview
Joseph DeSimone began his childhood in Norristown, Pennsylvania, one of three children. His father, an Italian immigrant, was a tailor; his mother was an accountant; there was a large Italian extended family. DeSimone attended St. Teresa of Avila Elementary School; when not in school he and friends were outside playing. Education was important in the family. The children attended the Catholic school until about junior high school, when the family moved to Collegeville, Pennsylvania. DeSimone was in gifted classes. High school brought discovery of programming and interest in solar architecture. He had typical science classes and labs, but in summer he was selected for a Lebanon Valley College project. He also attended Ursinus College for math classes, resulting in a scholarship to Ursinus.
At Ursinus, DeSimone felt academically challenged for the first time. He conceived a love for polymers and was recruited by Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) for graduate school. After his PhD he intended to return to Philadelphia, but University of North Carolina persuaded him to join their faculty. There he began work with supercritical fluids. He published many papers, obtained grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Naval Research, and was granted tenure early. He became the first Kenan Professor of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University, eventually establishing an NSF Science and Technology Center. His next interest was supercritical CO2, with which he replaced water to manufacture surfactants. He won a Presidential Green Chemistry Award; founded dry cleaning soap company, Micell Technologies; and developed dry cleaning equipment. DeSimone found further use for supercritical CO2, producing bioabsorbable stents with Richard Stack, and founding another company, whose stents are in clinical trials around the world. He met Stephen Quake and changed the direction of the STC from CO2 to more microfluidics, inventing “liquid Teflon,” then molds. He and his students invented PRINT (Particle Replication in Non-Wetting Templates), which allowed them to make uniform colloidal particles for the delivery of nucleic acids and medicines, and founded, Liquidia Technologies.
DeSimone established the Institute for Advanced Materials, Nanoscience, and Technology, increasing knowledge in medicine and energy. Because of PRINT’s nanotechnology DeSimone was asked to establish the Carolina Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, using funding from the National Cancer Institute. He is affiliated with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He has been elected to National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. He is now the Director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC.
DeSimone concludes his interview with some general thoughts. He says his wife and son are his present mentors; he credits earlier mentoring and friendship from Chad Mirkin, Robert Langer, and Edward Samulski. He says he is currently working on grants and renewals.
Education
Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
---|---|---|---|
1986 | Ursinus College | BS | Chemistry |
1990 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute | PhD | Chemistry |
Professional Experience
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
North Carolina State University at Raleigh
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Honors
Year(s) | Award |
---|---|
1992 | National Science Foundation Young Investigator, Division of Materials Research |
1993 | Philip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement |
1993 | Presidential Faculty Fellow Award, National Science Foundation |
1995 | Finalist, Discovery Award for Technological Innovation |
1995 | Charles H. Stone Award |
1995 | Waldo Semon Award Lecturer, University of Akron |
1997 | Chancellor’s Award for Excellence |
1997 | Governor’s Award for Excellence |
1997 | Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award |
1998 | R&D Award with Micell Technologies |
1998 to 2001 | Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship |
1999 | Honorary Doctorate of Science from Ursinus College |
1999 | Carl S. Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award |
1999 | Fresenius Award of the Phi Lambda Upsilon Honorary Chemical Society |
2000 | Oliver Max Gardner Award from the University of North Carolina |
2001 | Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the Virginia Tech Alumni Association |
2001 | Esselen Award |
2001 | Governor's Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award for Micell Technologies |
2001 | Inventor of the Year Award from the Triangle Intellectual Property Law Association |
2001 | Ernst & Young 2001 Entrepreneur of the Year in Technology (Carolinas) |
2002 | Wallace H. Carothers Award from the Delaware Section of the American Chemical Society |
2002 | Engineering Excellence Award by DuPont |
2002 | John Scott Award presented by the City Trusts, Philadelphia |
2005 | American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention |
2005 | Entrepreneurial Excellence Award for Life Science Spin-out of the Year for Liquidia Technologies |
2005 | Member of the National Academy of Engineering |
2005 | Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences |
2006 | Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) |
2006 | H.F. Whalen, Jr. Award for Entrepreneurship by ACS Division of Business Development & Management |
2006 | Elected, College of Fellows, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering |
2007 | Collaboration Success Award from The Council for Chemical Research |
2008 | Inductee into the Order of the Golden Fleece |
2008 | Business Leader Magazine’s 2007/2008 Impact Entrepreneur of the Year for the Triangle |
2008 | Named one of the “One Hundred Engineers of the Modern Era” by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers |
2008 | Tar Heel of the Year, Raleigh News & Observer |
2008 | Recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize |
2009 | Alexander M. Cruickshank Award, Gordon Research Conferences |
2009 | Distinguished Graduate Alumni Achievement Award, Virginia Tech |
2009 | North Carolina Award |
2009 | NIH Director’s Pioneer Award |
2009 | Tar Heel of the Year, Undergraduates at the school newspaper selection of the Person of the Year |
2010 | Founding POLY Fellow, Division of Polymer Chemistry, American Chemical Society |
2010 | AAAS Mentor Award |
2011 | PMSE Fellow, Division of Polymeric Material Science and Engineering, American Chemical Society |
2011 | Harrison Howe Award by the Rochester Section of the American Chemical Society |
2011 | Mendel Medal from Villanova University |
2012 | Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Drug Carriers in Medicine and Biology |
2012 | Fellow, American Chemical Society |
2012 | Walston Chubb Award for Innovation, presented by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society |
2012 | Named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International |
2012 | Member of the National Academy of Sciences |
2013 | National Academy of Inventors |
Table of Contents
Family life. Education. Move. Developing passion for science. Sports. Work. Hobbies. High school sweetheart.
Ursinus College; major chemistry. Ronald Hess, Ray Schultz, and Victor Tortorelli. Labs. Polymers. James McGrath and Virginia Tech recruitment. Plans for industrial polymer chemistry. Marriage. Move to Blacksburg, Virginia. Adjustment to graduate school. Summer internships, Bellcore and ARCO. Work on e-beam resists for computer chips. Obtained PhD. Jobs interviews.
Offer from UNC. Edward Samulski’s work. Work and family. Composition of first lab. Learning to write successful grants. Early tenure. Kenan Professorship. Supercritical fluids, Val Krukonis, and CO2. Patents.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Solvent replacement for tetrafluoroethylene (TFE). Presidential Green Chemistry Award. Surfactants. Micell Technologies. Rollie Tillman, Jr.; Allen Mebane; Kenneth Langone. Business decisions. Richard Stack and Bill Starling. Bioabsorbable stent business. DARPA, microfluidics, Stephen Quake. Invention of “liquid Teflon”. Changed direction at STC. Invention of PRINT; Liquidia Technologies. Increased interest in life sciences.
Scholarly pursuits. Competition for funding. Expansion goals. Faculty member of Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and co-PI, Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence James Bear, Shelton Earp, Rudolph Juliano. National Cancer Institute. Collaborations. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for nanomedicine. National Academy of Sciences.
Liquidia changes; new CEO, Neal Fowler; vaccines. Obtained Gates Foundation money. Respiratory products for GlaxoSmithKlein; ophthalmology and oncology. Director of Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC.
Wife and son his present mentors. Son’s own business. Earlier mentoring and friendship from Chad Mirkin, Robert Langer, and Edward Samulski. New printer company with Samulski. Family life. Inspiration by example. Success from hard work, excellent assistance in labs. Working on grants and renewals.
About the Interviewer
David J. Caruso earned a BA in the history of science, medicine, and technology from Johns Hopkins University in 2001 and a PhD in science and technology studies from Cornell University in 2008. Caruso is the director of the Center for Oral History at the Science History Institute, president of Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region, and editor for the Oral History Review. In addition to overseeing all oral history research at the Science History Institute, he also holds an annual training institute that focuses on conducting interviews with scientists and engineers, he consults on various oral history projects, like at the San Diego Technology Archives, and is adjunct faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching courses on the history of military medicine and technology and on oral history. His current research interests are the discipline formation of biomedical science in 20th-century America and the organizational structures that have contributed to such formation.
Jody A. Roberts is the Director of the Institute for Research at the Science History Institute. He received his PhD and MS in Science and Technology Studies from Virginia Tech and holds a BS in chemistry from Saint Vincent College. His research focuses on the intersections of regulation, innovation, environmental issues, and emerging technologies within the chemical sciences.