Quick Facts on Nicholas A. Peppas

• Born and raised in Athens, Greece.

• Becomes opera fan while studying Byzantine music from 1964-1967 at the Hellenic Conservatory of Music of Athens; a baritone, he continues studies in classical voice.

• Earns degree in chemical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1971.

• Earns doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973.

• Accepts teaching position at Purdue University in 1976.

• Since 1976 publishes essays, analyses, and critiques, especially about Italian, French, and Romantic German opera.

• Active in international collaboration with major scientific research centers around the world. Since 1982 serves as a visiting professor at more than a dozen institutions, including the University of Geneva; the California Institute of Technology; the University of Paris; the Hoshi University of Tokyo; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; the University of Naples, Italy; the University of Athens, Greece; the Free University of Berlin; and the Nanyang University of Singapore.

• Receives honorary doctorates from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and the University of Parma, Italy, both in 1999, and from the University of Athens, Greece, in 2000.

• Joins the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin in 2003 as professor of biomedical engineering, chemical engineering and pharmaceutics; directs the Laboratory of Biomaterials, Drug Delivery, Bionanotechnology, and Molecular Recognition.

• Elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of France (Pharmacy).

• Recognized as the father of modern drug delivery; receives international media attention for continued development of an insulin capsule to replace painful insulin injections for people with diabetes.

• Other devices he has developed, patented or commercialized include: intraocular lenses for cataract patients; improved materials for cartilage replacement; new materials for artificial heart linings; materials for vocal cord replacement/reconstruction; and bio-gels for epidermal release of growth factors to improve wound healing.

• With the help of Emergent Technologies, Inc., of Austin founds three biotech companies in Austin to commercialize some of his new biomaterials and drug-delivery systems.

• Publishes more than 1,025 refereed publications, 350 proceedings, and 320 abstracts; is the inventor of 35 U.S. and international patents.

• Supervises the theses of more than 130 graduate students and visiting scientists, including 73 PhDs, of which 33 are now professors in other universities.

• Publishes two books in 2008: “Vasso Argyris: The Great Greek Tenor of the Interwar Years,” and “Greek Light Music of the 1935-1975 Period.”

• Elected in 2008 to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences, becoming the first faculty member from The University of Texas at Austin to receive this honor — the highest recognition a scientist or engineer in the medical sciences can receive in the United States.