Hello, my name is Dr. Nicholas (Nick) Rigas. This is my third year at Asheville High School teaching Engineering. A little about myself. I was born in Athens, Greece many years ago. My parents brought me to the states when I was 3 yrs. old and was raised in St. Louis, MO. Ever since I can remember I have had a passion for science, the outdoors, and building things. My counselor in high school encouraged me to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering because of my interest in science and math. At the time, I had no idea what an engineer was or did. I quickly found engineering exciting and fun since I was always designing and building new things. Upon graduating with my BS in Chemical Engineering from the Missouri Institute of Science and Technology, I landed my first job at Texas Instruments in Dallas as a process engineering in their semiconductor division. After two years, I returned back to school obtaining my MS in Chemical Engineering from Kansas State University and my PhD from Washington University. Upon graduation I spent 16 years at the FMC Corporation. I then joined Clemson University in 2006 spending 13 years working on many exciting research projects. My career has taken me around the world where I have worked on a variety of research and manufacturing related projects. After 30 plus years, I decided to retire early to my farm just north of Weaverville. After 6 months of retirement, I was given an opportunity to come and teach engineering at Asheville High School. My goal it to use my knowledge, experience, and passion for engineering to motivate the engineers and scientists of the future.
I have two children, Lydia and Alex who are both married. I moved to North Carolina in 1992. During my first year, I discovered Asheville and the mountains of North Carolina. I fell in love with the beauty of the region and the great people who lived here. I bought an old abandoned tobacco farm years ago and began to renovate it with the plan of eventually living here full time. The original house was built in 1917 and there was an old tobacco barn in the back of the property. Since then I added another barn, two poultry coops, woodworking shop, guest cottage, and a manger. I have Shetland Sheep, Nubian Goats, English Dorkings, French Marans, Australorpes, Pilgrim Geese, Kentucky Bourbon Red Turkeys, and 10 bee hives. And then there is Luka, my 3 year old, 110 lb. Italian Maremma who watches over the farm and the life stock. I named the farm Buzzing Saw Farm since I love to design and build furniture in my woodworking shop .
Another passion of mine is hiking. I have done many hikes over the years throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. I not only enjoy the challenge of hiking but also meeting great people and discovering the natural wonders across the globe.
Banff National Park
Glacier National Park
Clemson University's Dominion Energy Innovation Center
I started working for Clemson University in 2006. From 2009 and 2016, I served as the Director and led the development of Clemson University's Charleston Engineering Campus at the Old Navy Base focused on the development of sustainable technologies. In 2009 Clemson University received a $98M grant from the US Department of Energy that I had co-authored. This public/private project led to the development and construction of the largest wind turbine testing facility in the world. It was soon followed with the building of the Duke Energy Electric Grid Research, Innovation and Development (eGRID) lab focused on testing and developing new technologies for the electrical grid. Finally, the Zucker Family Graduate Education Center was built to house Clemson's engineering programs in Charleston. All in all during my tenure at the Charleston Campus, I oversaw over $140M of new projects and investment. My final position at Clemson University was the Director of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research. All of my 13 years at Clemson University were full of exciting challenging engineering projects.
Deep Orange 9 Project
Clemson Engineering Team
Wind turbine being tested
After receiving my PhD in Chemical Engineering, I went to work for FMC Corporation in 1991. I started out as a plant engineer and eventually worked my way up to the Director of Manufacturing and Technology of the Lithium Division of FMC Corp. One of the highlights of my 16 years at FMC was managing the lithium facility located in the high Andes of Argentina near Salta. We extracted lithium salts from the high plane and used solar evaporation to concentrate them. They were eventually used for the manufacturing of batteries, pharmaceuticals, and for other applications. During my time at FMC, I traveled the globe and oversaw operations in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Without my engineering degrees, I would have never been able to see as many places as I did.