Dr. Joseph DeSimone, the serial entrepreneur and world-class researcher at NCSU and UNC-Chapel Hill, is launching a new 3D printing venture in Silicon Valley. But he also keeps adding honors, the newest one being election to the Institute of Medicine.

DeSimone has taken a sabbatical from his teaching posts at the Triangle universities to launch Carbon3D in Silicon Valley.

He’s dropped a few hints lately about the new venture and his new home.

Moore’s Law doesn’t apply to 3D printers as it does to seminconductors, he says.

And a photo shows redwood trees as seen from his back porch.

Little else is known about the new venture at this point, although another photo shows DeSimone at a San Francisco 49ers game posing with an investor. Whether the investort is involved in DeSimone’s latest venture, he doesn’t say.

Apparently DeSimone is on to something hot, though.

“Carbon3D is developing a new 3D printing technology invented by DeSimone and colleagues, which can fabricate objects significantly faster than current state-of-the-art 3D printers,” UNC-Chapel Hill disclosed Monday in the announcement about DeSimone’s latest academic honor.

DeSimone has developed a habit of inventing technology and then turning that tech into new companies. And he enjoys being an entrepreneur.

“The best part of creating a company is building a team that can do hard things & the culture that emanates from that,” he posted in a Tweet last month.

DeSimone and students invented in 2005 technology yo create nano-size particles, and that led to the launch of Liquidia. The patented PRINT (Particle Replication in Non-wetting Templates) technology is now being used on multiple fronts, including new means of delivering medicine with GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) signed on as a huge partner.

Other ventures included technology used to make degradable stents and a green alternative to traditional dry cleaning among others.

His New Honor

To use a baseball analogy, DeSimone is batting a 1.000, having now been selected to all three branches of the National Academies.

Monday’s news about the Institute of Medicine selection follows his naming to the National Academy of Engineering (2005) and the National Academy of Sciences (2012).

His triple honor is a rarity, too. UNCX notes that “fewer than 20 people in history have achieved election to all three U.S. National Academies.”

In accepting the honor, DeSimone noted: “It is humbling to join such an elite group. This is a tribute to my students at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State whose research at the intersection of diverse fields enables us, as a team, to create significant impact in and beyond medicine.”

DeSimone has taught at both UNC and NCSU over the past 24 years, serving as William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at NCSU and as a chemistry professor at UNC. 

UNC Chancellor Carol Folt praised DeSimone in Monday’s announcement, stating: 

“Dr. DeSimone is a renaissance scientist. He was the first to successfully adapt manufacturing techniques from the computer industry to make advances in medicine, including next-generation approaches to cancer treatment and diagnosis. It’s a beautiful example of how transcending disciplines can revolutionize science and open up entirely new fields of study. We are very proud of what Dr. DeSimone and his students have accomplished. He is a gifted and talented teacher and amazing University citizen.”