DeSimone

Joseph M. DeSimone, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received this year’s O. Max Gardner Award, the highest faculty honor presented by the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina system. DeSimone was honored for his pioneering research that uses carbon dioxide as a replacement for water

and solvents in a variety of synthetic and manufacturing processes.

The Gardner Award, given annually since 1949, was established by the will of Gov. Oliver Max Gardner to recognize faculty who have "made the greatest contributions to the welfare of the human race." It is the only award for which all faculty members of the 16 UNC campuses are eligible. Recipients are nominated by their chancellors and selected by the Board of Governors. The 2000 award carries a $10,000 cash prize and was presented by UNC Board of Governors Chairman Benjamin S. Ruffin, UNC President Molly Corbett Broad, and Gardner Award Committee Chairman Teena S. Little.

DeSimone is the fifth consecutive NC State faculty member to win the Gardner Award. It was awarded last year to Dr. Jim E. Riviere, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Distinguished Professor and a leading veterinary pharmacologist; in 1998 to Dr. B. Jayant Baliga; Distinguished University Professor of engineering; in 1997 to Dr. Wayne R. Skaggs, William Neal Reynolds Professor and Distinguished University Professor of biological and agricultural engineering; and in 1996 to Dr. Ernest Hodgson, William Neal Reynolds Professor of toxicology.

A member of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty since 1990 and the NC State faculty since 1995, DeSimone’s research is revolutionizing a number of manufacturing processes, including those in the dry cleaning industry.

In 1995 he founded Micell Technologies, which commercialized his patented, heat-free dry cleaning process. This groundbreaking method uses detergents that dissolve in carbon dioxide rather than in harsh chemicals such as perchloroethylene. In addition to the economic benefits for the dry cleaning industry, DeSimone’s process is proven to be safer for the environment and easier on clothing than standard dry cleaning processes.

Co-director of the nonprofit Kenan Center for the Utilization of Carbon Dioxide in Manufacturing, DeSimone is also director of the National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes. Chemists and engineers from UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State, NC A&T State University, and the University of Texas at Austin partner in the center’s efforts and share in the cooperative agreement. The five-year, $18 million NSF grant is the largest award ever received by UNC researchers.

A 1986 graduate of Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, DeSimone received his doctorate in 1990 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Recipient of the 1997 Governor’s Award for Excellence and the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence, he has received numerous national awards for his contributions to the profession. Honored several times by the White House, he received the 1997 Presidential Green Chemistry Award and was named a Presidential Faculty Fellow in 1993.

In 1999 he was honored with the American Chemical Society’s Carl S. Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award, and in 1998, along with his colleagues at Micell Technologies, he received an R&D 100 Award. He was the first North Carolina scientist to receive the national Phi Lambda Upsilon Fresenius Award established to honor high scholarship and original investigations in pure and applied chemistry.

DeSimone’s citation reads in part: "His research into the chemistry of carbon dioxide is having an enormous impact on our nation’s environment and our state’s economy. His synthesis of fluoropolymers, such as Teflon", launched a research partnership with scientists and engineers at DuPont that culminated last summer in DuPont’s decision to invest $275 million in a Teflon" manufacturing plant located in eastern North Carolina. … A local newspaper characterized him as a 'hero' in the eastern part of the state."