Carbon co-founder Dr. Joseph DeSimone joins Stanford University faculty
As a pioneer in the AM space, Dr. Joseph DeSimone’s resume is already highly impressive. Not only is he the co-founder of innovative 3D printing company Carbon, but he has also enjoyed a 30-year career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NC State University. Now, Dr. DeSimone has revealed he has joined Stanford University’s faculty.
Dr. DeSimone stepped down as President and CEO of Carbon in November 2019 (former DuPont exec Ellen J. Kullman has taken the Carbon reins), but still holds the role of Board Chair for the AM company. He will continue in this position during his tenure at Stanford University.
At the top-ranking California university, Dr. DeSimone will hold three professorial titles in the Department of Radiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Stanford University School of Engineering, and in the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. In these diverse roles, he plans to establish an academic program that links medicine, engineering and business. DeSimone will also be a faculty member in the Molecular Imaging Program at the university.
“I’ve met so many amazing people already and am extremely humbled by the wealth of expertise in different disciplines and schools at Stanford,” he said. “Helping bridge these schools provides immense opportunity for new ideas and ways of translating research and discoveries into products that advance human health and well-being.”
Though his roles are not directly related to additive manufacturing, his expertise in the area will certainly inform and shape his academic work.
He explains: “We are already thinking about new ways to apply 3D printing to help babies with plagiocephaly and cleft palates and new ways to deliver advanced medicines and vaccines in a targeted fashion. We also want to examine the digital transformation in manufacturing, and what that means for supply chains and innovative products developed with the most revolutionary technologies out there.
“Being at the intersection of medicine and engineering, and joining research with efforts through GSB provides so much opportunity—this also includes connecting what we’re doing at Carbon with the talent and capabilities at Stanford to use 3D printing to advance what’s possible in medical technologies.”
In addition to his influential work at Carbon, Dr. DeSimone has had a prolific academic career. In his 30 years teaching at a university level in North Carolina, he has had over 80 PhD students under his mentorship and has taught thousands of students. He has also continually been a proponent for diversity in the AM and STEM segments. Notably, he has been recognized as the Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
