For Joseph DeSimone, Ph.D., the path to an extraordinary career began close to home.
Raised in Norristown, DeSimone grew up in a blue-collar family where college wasn’t often discussed – even if it was quietly expected. His father worked as a tailor at JCPenney, and his mother worked in accounting, but DeSimone would become the first in his family to graduate from college.
Today, nearly four decades later, DeSimone has made a $250,000 gift, which will be used to support local students through the recently announced America250PA Tuition Promise for Montgomery County.
For DeSimone, the Sanjiv Sam Gambhir professor of translational medicine and chemical engineering at Stanford University, and co-founder, board chair, and former CEO of the additive manufacturing company Carbon, the gift is deeply personal.
“I didn’t grow up in a family that talked about the ins and outs of college. But going to college was expected, as it was a big deal,” he says quietly, pausing for a moment to reflect on the memories of his hard-working father. “He was such a supporter,” DeSimone says. “Such a cheerleader. And mom was always right there, too, supporting me, and still does to this day!”
As a student at Perkiomen Valley High School, DeSimone was in the National Honor Society and a gifted program that allowed him to take classes at Ursinus. One of them was calculus, giving him an early introduction to the campus.
“That gave me a jump start,” he recalls. “There was already some familiarity with the campus.”
In fact, Ursinus was the only college he applied to.
Once he arrived, the transition wasn’t easy.
“I enrolled at Ursinus, and it was hard,” he recalls.
To help pay for school, DeSimone worked two jobs — at Marzella’s Pizza and at the Acme supermarket in East Norriton. After joining the union at Acme, he earned time-and-a-half pay on Saturdays and double time on Sundays.
“At the time, I thought I’d never have more money than that,” he says with a laugh.
He also volunteered with the Collegeville Fire Department, sometimes leaving class to respond when alarms sounded.
Academically, the early courses were challenging. Integrated calculus and physics pushed him, and freshman chemistry didn’t come easily.
But everything changed when he took organic chemistry with Professor Ron Hess.
“I fell in love with it,” he says.
Courses with Professor Ray Schultz in physical chemistry and Professor Vic Tortorelli in advanced chemistry deepened that interest. DeSimone soon began undergraduate research —sometimes driving to Norristown to pick up dry ice for experiments. “I just fell in love with research,” he says.
Originally on a pre-med track, DeSimone discovered another path during a conversation with Tortorelli.
“He told me you could get paid to go to graduate school,” he says. “He said, ‘you won’t make a lot of money, but you don’t have to pay for it.’ I thought, wow — that’s amazing.” For a first-generation college student working two jobs, that revelation was transformative.
Encouraged by his professors, he applied to graduate school at Virginia Tech. “That put me on a Ph.D. trajectory,” he says.
Looking back, DeSimone credits Ursinus with opening doors he never knew existed.
“The liberal arts education was foundational,” he says. “The communication, writing, and analytical skills you develop — those are essential to what I do today.”
As a scientist, entrepreneur, academic, and innovator, his career has taken him to the highest levels of science and technology leadership, but the lessons he learned at Ursinus remain central.
“At places like Stanford, when engineering students reach the highest levels, the focus shifts to the softer skills – communication, leadership, and adaptability,” he says. “Those are the skills you get at Ursinus from the beginning.”
In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, DeSimone believes those abilities are more important than ever.
“With AI leveling the playing field, ideas are free,” he says. “The real challenge is discernment — choosing the right path and leading others there.”
That conviction inspired his recent gift supporting the America250PA Tuition Promise.
For a first-generation student from Montgomery County, he says, access to Ursinus can change a life.
“Ursinus changed the trajectory of mine,” he says. “The world is going to need more Ursinus students than ever before.”
To learn more, visit Ursinus College.
