UNC’s DeSimone receives American Chemical Society honor

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Chemist Joseph DeSimone, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been honored by the American Chemical Society for his outstanding contributions to chemistry research.DeSimone received the Harrison Howe Award, named for one of the founders of the society’s Rochester section. Howe was the founding editor of Chemical and Engineering News and a champion of industrial research and development.

The award recognizes early career researchers who have the potential for further exceptional achievements. Forty percent of its winners have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

A polymer expert, DeSimone has developed groundbreaking solutions in green manufacturing and promising applications in gene therapy, drug delivery and medical devices.

In 2008, DeSimone won the Lemelson-MIT Prize, known as the “Oscar for inventors,” and received a National Institutes of Health Pioneer Award in 2009.

DeSimone is the Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences and the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University.

He is also a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the pharmacology department in the School of Medicine; founding director of the UNC Institute for Advanced Materials, Nanoscience and Technology, and the UNC Institute for Nanomedicine; and co-principal investigator of the Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.