Researcher Receives Technology Medal From Obama
Joseph DeSimone’s scientific career has revolved around creating technology with real-world applications.
With every innovation — the engineering of a drug-eluding heart stent, the creation of new 3-D printing methods, revolutionizing the development of next-generation vaccines and medicines — the ability to make an impact on lives has always been the focal point.
“For us, it’s all about serving and doing,” said DeSimone, Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of chemistry. “You can do a lot of things in a laboratory, but if it doesn’t get outside the lab, it really doesn’t do anyone any good. So we’re very interested in trying to find better and more effective ways for taking what we do in the lab and trying to impact people, improve their lives and increase their livelihood and create jobs.”
On May 19, DeSimone’s years of work in material science was honored by President Barack Obama with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. DeSimone’s citation also recognized his innovation and inclusive leadership in higher education and entrepreneurship.
“It’s humbling and exciting,” said DeSimone, who is also William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering at N.C. State University and of chemistry at Carolina, as well as CEO and co-founder of Carbon3D, a Silicon Valley-based three-dimensional printing company. “It’s surreal. It certainly adds wind to the sail. I think there’s still so much to do, and this is not a point to look back.”
The country’s highest award for technology and innovation, the medal was created by statute in 1980 and is administered for the White House by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Patent and Trademark Office. The award recognizes those who have made lasting contributions to America’s competitiveness and quality of life and helped strengthen the nation’s technological workforce. An independent committee representing the private and public sectors submits recommendations to the president.
“As president, I’m honored to award each of you for your contributions to our nation,” Obama told the recipients. “As an American, I’m proud of everything you’ve done to contribute to that fearless spirit of innovation that’s made us who we are and doesn’t just benefit our citizens, but benefits the world. We’re very proud of what you’ve done.
“It’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl or the NCAA tournament that deserves a celebration,” Obama said. “We want the winners of science fairs, we want those who have invented products and life-saving medicines and who are engineering our future to be celebrated as well.”
UNC Chancellor Carol L. Folt with Joseph DeSimone at the White House after the medal presentation. (UNC photo by Brandon Bieltz)
UNC Chancellor Carol L. Folt attended the White House ceremony.
“As a scientist whose career has flourished both in the private sector and academia, Joe DeSimone embodies the very best of American ingenuity,” she said. “His innovations have begun to transform industries as varied as precision medicine, energy storage and advanced manufacturing — all made possible by his collaborations with faculty, students and industry. We congratulate him on this very fitting award.”
From inventing environmentally safe processes to making everyday materials such as detergents and dry cleaning to creating the world’s most sophisticated 3-D printer using light and oxygen to continuously fuse objects together from liquid materials, it has been through his expertise of polymer science — what he calls his “toolbox” — that has helped DeSimone develop and craft the technologies for which he was awarded.
But he is quick to note that he didn’t do it on his own. The award, he said, is a “huge testimony” to students in his lab, faculty colleagues and the entrepreneurial culture at Carolina.
“Carolina is a distinguished institution, and I don’t think this award elevates Carolina, it’s just consistent with Carolina,” he said. “I think it’s just consistent with who we are.”
Online: Joseph DeSimone was among researchers featured in the book Engines of Innovation: The Entrepreneurial University in the Twenty-First Century, by then-Chancellor Holden Thorp ’86 and Buck Goldstein, a senior lecturer in the economics department; read an excerpt in the September/October 2010 Carolina Alumni Review.
