Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering
Professor of Chemical Engineering,
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Departments of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School
Professor, Department of Surgery, Dell Medical School
Professor Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, College of Pharmacy
Nicholas A. Peppas is a distinguished chaired professor in Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Pediatrics, Surgery and Molecular Pharmaceutice=s at the University of Texas at Austin. Over 50 years his group has set the fundamentals of molecular structures of networks and hydrogels, analyzed the solute transport in complex networks, studied molecular recognition in complex biological fluids, and developed new intelligent biomaterials, nanodevices, and therapeutic agent delivery systems for delivery of biological compounds. Thus in turn, has created an independent field of regenerative engineering. His group has published 37 books and 1,800 publications, with an impact factor of H=230 (250,000 citations). 100 US and international patents have been issued or are pending, and 3 companies have started.
His awards include the NAE Founders (Ramo) Award, the NAM Adam Yarmolinsky Award, the AAPS Pharmaceutical Global Leader and Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Awards, the Elsevier Biomaterials Global Leader Award. Last month he received the Kabiller Award, the highest recognition In the bionanotechnology field. Peppas has been the recipient of several AIChE Award including the AIChE Founders Award, the William Walker Award, the Warren K Lewis Award, the Food, Pharmaceuticals and Bioengineering Award, the CMA Stine Materials Award and inclusion into the 100 Chemical Engineers selected for the AIChE Centennial in 2008.
Peppas is a member of nineteen national academies including the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Inventors, European Academy of Sciences, Academia Europaea, Canadian Academy of Engineering, Indian National Academy of Engineering, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Korean Academy of Science and Technology, National Academy of France, Royal Academy of Spain, Academy of Athens, Greece, Romanian Academy of Scientists, and others. He is the author of the 3-volume 1987 classic on Hydrogels in Medicine and Pharmacy. He is an inspirational speaker and teacher and has supervised more than 200 PhDs and postdocs who have worked in his labs.
He has been President of the Controlled Release Society, the Society for Biomaterials, AAAS Engineering and Sigma Xi. He has also served as editor of Biomaterials, Science Advances, and Regenerative Biomaterials. He holds a Dipl. Eng. from NTU of Athens (1971), a Sc.D. from MIT (1973) and is the recipient of fifteen honorary doctorates and professorships in the USA, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia, Greece, Israel and China. His honors include the Giulio Natta Medal from Italy, the APV Medal from Germany and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the USA.