Nicholas Peppas, Showalter Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, has been chosen as the winner of the $3,000 Herbert Newby McCoy Award.

The award, presented at the University Honors Convocation on April 14, is given annually to the faculty member in the sciences who has made the greatest contribution of the year to scientific knowledge. The McCoy Award was established in 1964 through a bequest from Ethel Terry McCoy in memory of her late husband, an alumnus of the School of Science.

Peppas, a member of the Purdue faculty since 1976, was honored for contributions to the field of science for his research on therapeutic formulations for protein and drug delivery.

Peppas is internationally known for his pioneering work on the preparation, structure and properties of hydrogels. His research group is considered one of the leading groups on biomedical materials and controlled release/drug delivery applications of polymers. Also, he has done important theoretical work on liquid and solute transport in glassy polymers, polymerizations reaction engineering and biointerfacial phenomena.

Peppas is the director of a new graduate education and research program in biomedical engineering that is being funded by a $2.7 million Integrated Graduate Education, Research and Training grant from the National Science Foundation. Fellowships in therapeutic and diagnostic devices will allow graduate students with an interest in biomedical engineering to earn advanced degrees that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.