Nicholas Leventis received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Athens, Greece (1980) and his Ph.D. from Michigan State University with The Late Peter J. Wagner in organic chemistry/photochemistry (1985). He was a postdoctoral associate with Mark S. Wrighton at MIT (1985–1988). In 1992, he completed Harvard University’s One-Year Graduate Program in Administration and Management and received the Katie F. Young Award.

Dr. Leventis started his independent career in the private sector (1987–1994). He joined the Chemistry Department at Missouri University of Science and Technology (MS&T) in 1994 as an Assistant Professor, advancing to Associate Professor (1999), Professor (2007), and Curators’ Distinguished Professor (2010). In 1998 he was a Senior Faculty Fellow at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C. During a leave from MS&T (2002–2006), Dr. Leventis served as a GS-14 Civil Servant (2002-2005), advancing to GS-15 (2005-2006) at the Polymers Branch, Materials Division of the NASA Glenn Research Center, where he established the aerogel research program. In the period 2014-2017 he held a Professor of Materials Science position at the University of Patras, Greece.  Dr. Leventis retired from MS&T in June 2019 and served as Director of Research at Aspen Aerogels, Inc. in Northborough, MA until May 2025.

In 1992, Dr. Leventis received the Arthur K. Doolittle Award from the Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering Division of the American Chemical Society for his work on electrochromic polymers. In 2005, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (under the auspices of the President) for “groundbreaking research in the development of polymer cross-linked aerogels.” He has also received the Society for American Military Engineers Award (2008), and the Nano50™ Award twice - first in 2005 for “Reinforced Aerogels,” and again in 2007 for “Mechanically Strong, Polymer Crosslinked Aerogels.” In 2010, he was named Curators’ Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri.

Beyond nanotechnology, Dr. Leventis’ interests span physical organic chemistry, electrochemistry, and polymeric and inorganic materials. He has published over 215 research articles in all major areas of chemistry. He has authored or co-authored 19 book chapters, and he is a co-editor of the “Springer Handbook of Aerogels” (Springer 2023 - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-27322-4) and of the “Aerogels Handbook” (Springer 2011 - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4419-7589-8, Chinese Translation 2014 - https://www.etaoyo.com/Item/3633475?utm_source=chatgpt.com). He has been awarded 44 U.S. Patents (12 since 2020), he is a co-inventor on 33 pending & published patent-applications (27 since 2020), and he has served as an expert witness in the Federal Court of the District of Delaware (2019) and in the International Trade Commission (2017). His publications and patents have received over 13,300 citations. His h-index is 61.