AChristmasLetterDecember2019

MerryChristmasandHappyHolidayseveryone.Itwassuchafast-pacedyearwithmanyachievements.Katiahadafullyearincollege,AlexiisnowanEagle

Scout,Nicogotelectedto3moreAcademiesandLisababysatorfostered10catsandkittens.Familytravelwasmorelimitedthisyear.Allofusaren’tgettingawaytogetheruntilDecember29.That’sgoingtobeatripoverNewYear’stoPlayadelCarmenwithdivingandrelaxing.So,whatdideveryonedothisyear?

Katia had a full year at Carnegie Mellon

and spent the summer at home, working forSummerStockAustin. NicoandLisawere thrilledaswho knows when she will have a summer at homeagain.InthespringsemestershecostumedesignedforCarnegie Mellon’s student theatre group, Scotch ‘n’Soda’s,productionofMammaMiaalongwithafullloadof architecture studies. Her Spring Break was spenttakingarelaxingdrivingtripthroughtheAppalachianMountainswith stops in Charlottesville, VA, ChimneyRock and The Biltmore. She finished freshman year

after takingclasses indrawing, 3Dmodeling,andfinishing alightfixturedesignasherfinalarchitecturestudioproject.ShealsojoinedAlphaPhi in the springand isnowoneof the chairsof amusicalfundraiserputtogetherbyalltheGreekorganizationsatCMU.

ShegottospendthesummerathomeworkingforSummerStockAustin. ShewasAssistantCostumeDesigner forall threeshowsandwas theWardrobe Supervisorforthemainshow,HowtoSucceedin Business Without Really Trying.ShemanagedatriptoGeorgiaatthestart of the summer to see her bestfriend Mason star in Aladdin inThomasville and visit Will for hisbirthdayinAtlanta.

Don’tworry,shestillhadtimetohangoutwithStone,Jill,andBenPlattwhenshegotbacktoAustin.

For her sophomore yearshe moved slightly offcampus to an apartmentwith her best friends,MirandaandElizabeth.Inaddition to herarchitecture courseworkshetookaclassinthemedridedesignand,ofcourse,stayingactivewithScotch‘n’Soda.ShewasassistanttechnicaldirectorforCatchMeIfYouCaninthefall.Thissemesterherarchitecturework focusedon residential design in Pittsburgh,whichwas afunchallenge.DespitealltheschoolworkKatiaandWill used their long weekends to take trips to

FallingwaterandWashingtonDC.Katiaandherfriendsalsofoundtimetogoaxethrowing,asifschoolisn’tscaryenough.

SheismanagingtosneakinatriptoDisneyworldbetweenfinalsandChristmasandislookingforwardtoshowingWillallherfavoriteplacesaswellasexploringGalaxy’sEdgeforthefirsttime.

AlexispenthisSpringplanningforhisEagleScoutproject,gettingbetteratpolevaultandtravelingtoJapanwithNicoforSpringBreak.HehadagreattimeexploringthestreetsofTokyo,seeingthesightsonMountFuji,andenjoyingtheamazingcultureandtheJapanesetemples.

Just twoweeksafterSpringBreak,AlexiwasbackatBridgePointElementary refurbishingtheoutdoorfitnesstrailwithweeding,mulching(somuchmulch…)andaddingnewsigns(thatheandKatiadesigned)ashisEagleScoutProject..

ThenAlexispentthenextfewmonthsgettinggreatgrades,finishingtheEaglepaperwork,goingtotrackmeetsandcamping.Hissummerwasevenbusier that theschoolyear I think. HewenttoDuke forthreeweekstostudyscreenwriting.ThenhewentaweekofCampHalf Blood where he was Mythomagic Champion. He then gotcertified inscubadivingandtheverynextweek itwasofficial,hewasanEagleScout!Allthistimehewasalsopracticinghisdrivingand got anew car (HondaAcccord). Anotherweek at CampHalfBloodroundedoutthesummer.

Sophomore year at Westlake started smoothly and Alexi did not“Eagleout”ofscoutsbutinsteadtookontheleadershiproleofSeniorTroopGuide,workingtobringnewboysandgirlsintotheTroopandmentorthemoncetheyjoined.HisofficialEagleCourtofHonorwasinSeptemberandLisagothismentorpinforbeingsomuchhelptohimthroughoutscouting.(Hecalledme“themostcapablepersonheknows”,Ijustlovethat.)HehadjustonetripinthefalltoAtlantaforNicholas’sSigmaXiAwardandalsotohaveawonderfuleveningatthe Hinternhoff’s (Will’s parents). November brought his 16thbirthday,asuccessfuldrivingtestandadriver’slicense.

Nowcomesthesectionwithallthecuteness!!Lisaisstilltutoringat-riskandhomelessyouthinmathtohelpthempasstheirGED.Shealsoco-chairedtheCollegeFairatWestlakeHighSchoolwhereover140universitiescametovisitwiththestudentsinSeptember.ButshetendstoliveattheAustinPetsAlive!kittennursery.ThisMayitwasa40houraweekvolunteeractivityandshewouldnothavemissedaminuteofit.Shehadachancetohelporphanedkittensasyoungasadayold.Thenurserysavedover2,500kittensin2019.Shealsotrainedsomenewfeedersandalsoworkedinthepanleukward.Wefostered3pairsofkittensthisyear(onepairwiththeirMom),onemamacatandbabysatanotherpairofkittens.However,Lisagotmoreandmoreattachedtothekittensespeciallyassomestayedwithusformorethanamonth.Itwasreallyhardtoletthelastpairgoforadoptionandsowewilltryjustbabysittingnextyear.Wehaveenoughcatsinthefamilyalready.

Nico continues his research and teaching, now with a group of 20 to 30 researchers including postdocs, PhD students in chemical and biomedical engineering, undergraduates, visiting scientists from other countries as well as some high school students. In November Nico’s former students organized a special one-day event at Georgia Tech to celebrate his Monie Ferst Award from the Sigma Xi organization with a series of lectures by former students and a wonderful dinner. About 100 people showed up and Mark Byrne and others had organized a great day with many memories and the traditional book with many letters by those who could not come.

During the year Nico visited many places for business. This year United “inducted him” to the 3 million milers (which means his feat was announced in every flight with great embarrassment) and he succeeded in collecting another 300,000 miles for 2019. Global services perks come with a Mercedes car waiting to transfer him from one gate to another if the first flight is late. This is what happened in Houston in Nico’s and Alexi’s Spring break trip to Japan! Everything was arranged by Lisa for a first class week in Tokyo, Hakone, Mount Fuji and many other sites. Alexi was an expert with Japanese GPS and prepared to find all the gluten free restaurants in Tokyo. After a visit and a wonderful dinner with Dr. Nagai, they visited Tokyo tower, museums, several shrines and of course the Pokemon and Kirby stores. The excursion to Lake Hakone, Mount Fuji and surrounding areas was memorable as the boys reconstructed Lisa’s and Nico’s Japan trip to the same sites 23 years ago including the eggs cooked in volcanic ash.

Nico had five business trips to China. The first one was to Northwestern Polytechnic in Xi’an, where he enjoyed the famous terracota soldiers’ site and visited other museums. In the second trip he spoke in a Regenerative Medicine meeting in Wuhan, a city he adored and where he spent time visiting various sites and the most incredible in-water, in-theater show. In the third trip he went to Shenyang, the old Mukden and special city of the

Manchu dynasty, where he saw -among others- a fantastic show with a Manchu emperor marrying a Mongolian princess. In the fourth trip he visited Beijing, Hangzhou, and Dalian. In Hangzhou, in addition to an exceptional Nanotechnology meeting with Honggang Cui and Justin Hanes he went to the dreamy West Lake and attended the famous lake show. He could not avoid coming back with a Starbucks “Westlake” mug (for those who do not know, we live in Westlake, Austin). He also spoke to the Chinese Society for biomaterials meeting in

Dalian (known also as Darien and Port Arthur to the westerners). A truly magnificent city. And the organizers Drs. Fu and Zhang along with Qin Hua and Yilei Wang hosted a special birthday dinner for 20 with the most impressive birthday cake seen, and “Happy Birthday” in Chinese, Korean, Italian and English. The fifth trip was to Beijing for the Xiangshan Science Conference on Biomaterials, Biomedical Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. He was glad to enjoy this special meeting with his long-time friends Rena Bizios and Bill Wagner and his PhD students, now Dr. Marissa Wechsler.

In May Nico went to Santiago de Compostela, Spain where he and the Nobel laureate Feringa received honorary doctorates from that famous University in the presence of 100 friends from Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland and even Greece and many students. His good friend of 30+ years Maria José Alonso was the promoter and host of the whole event and both Maria and Nico recited in Latin through the ceremony. There were dinners, receptions, special events

with recorded greetings, etc. Truly memorable as well was the second honorary doctorate in early June at the Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki in Greece. It was a very special event with all the ChE faculty assisting and Michael Georgiadis being a great host. This was the first time in his life Nico had visited Greek Macedonia and the northern part of Greece.

In between these two celebrations, Nico spent a week in the Canary islands, Spain, where he gave a series of lectures at the University of La Laguna. Wonderful time especially with the great hospitality of his former student Edgar Perez Herrero who is a professor there now. The seaside fish restaurants will not be forgotten…

After a short trip to Duke University where he saw friends Jennifer West, Ravi Bellamkonda and Tosh Chilkoti in a special dinner, he spent some time with Alexi at Duke.

July saw a very special meeting that started with Munich, Germany where Nico had a legal case at the European Patent Office, and then to Valencia for the Controlled Release Society meeting with his friend Maria Vicent being an exceptional host showing him this magnificent city. Immediately after that he was in Berlin at the Annual IEEE/EMBS meeting where he received their highest award and had a magnificent dinner thrown by his friend UCSD professor Shankar Subramanian who was this Society’s President. There were also two new inductions to the Canadian Academy of Engineering in Quebec City and the European Academy in Barcelona, Spain in addition to his usual annual visits to NAE (where his former student Rob Scott was inducted as a member) and NAM (where his friend Jeff Hubbell was

inducted) in Washington DC. In addition, at the spring AIMBE meeting at the same building in Washington he welcomed new members and former students Ebru Oral and Tom Dziubla plus his good friend Thanassis Fokas. In September at Carnegie Mellon University at the Biomedical Forum he assisted in the induction of Rena Bizios and Ali Khademhosseini as new members of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering. The American Chemical Society, friends and students honored him in both ACS meetings with election as a Fellow of the Industrial Engineering Chemistry Division with Surya Mallapragada organizing a wonderful meeting and dinner in his honor in Orlando in April, and then with election as a Fellow by the Polymer PMSE Division and election as the recipient of the Herman Mark Award with Melissa Grunlan having put together another wonderful symposium in San Diego.

In July there was another great meeting in Thessaloniki on Nanotechnology. This was followed by two very special events. One day after the meeting his EMP classmate Anthony Zioudas (former professor in the US) and he went to Western Macedonia, great towns like Siatista, Tsotyli, etc. But the truly emotional part was his visit to Vogatsiko, the home town of his maternal grandfather Athanassios Rousopoulos who was born there under Ottoman occupation in 1823, studied in Athens and Constantinople, Leipzig and Heidelberg, got his doctorate form Göttingen and returned to

Greece in 1856 to become Professor of Archaeology at the University of Athens until 1898. It was Nico’s first visit and almost all inhabitants of the town (plus the mayor) were at the central square for the welcome, a greeting, a talk at the City Hall and then an open table with magnificent cakes, cookies, etc, from the region. A memorable visit including a visit to the lot where the family home used to be 195 years ago…. The day after this, Nico met with Archaeology Professor Ioannis Akamatis (of the University of Thessaloniki) who took him to a glorious tour of Yannitsa, Pella, the Macedonian tombs in the area, Skydra, the ancient Edessa, Aristoteles School outside of Naoussa, Veroia and then Vergina. Yannis and his wife Maria, both archaeologists, are two of the main archaeologists who work in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. What they have done must be seen to be believed. An incredible museum in Pella and some great books. Frankly, for Nico, Pella was much more satisfying than Vergina.

Towards the end of the year Nico had two days in San Antonio for the AAPS meeting and then a short (2 days) visit to Athens, Greece to see his sisters Louiza and Maria, his niece Alice, his first cousins Nico and Maria, his nephews and nieces including Margarita who, last week, gave us the latest niece in the family. And then a week later, Nico flew to Parma, Italy for Paolo Colombo’s 75th birthday event. It was magical with a great dinner, an incredible symposium with Patrick Couvreur, Maria Jose Alonso, Richard Guy, Andrea Gazzaniga

and so many others, and a great reception/buffet. Of course Nico saw Gaia, MT and Marcelo and enjoyed very much talking with them. The next day they went to Milan. December 7 is the St. Ambrose Day. He is the saint patron of Milan and it is on this time that the Scala of Milan opens… Nico thanks Ruggero Bettini and all those who found a ticket to the “prima” with Tosca of Puccini. Finally, this section of the letter was written in Maui where Nico is at the 15th US-Japan Drug Delivery meeting. Blessed to continue working in the field…

Ithasbeenafunyearwithlotshappening.

WehopethatthisSeasonfindsyouenjoying

specialtimeswithfamilyandfriends.

Merry Christmas

Lisa, Nico, Katia, Alexi, Artemis, Mittens, Melody, Bagheera