Research Faculty Excellence Senior Faculty Award Niles Lehman, Ph.D. NILES LEHMAN, professor of Chemistr:y, has served Portland State Universiry for 16 years. He leads the internationally renowned Lehman Lab, part of PSUs Center for Life in Extreme Environments; there, he and his team investigate the biochemical and genetic processes that drove the origins of life on Earth some four billion years ago and still drive the evolution of organisms today. Professor Lehman earned his Ph.D. in biology at the Universiry of California, Los Angeles. His thorough training and cxrensive experiencc in both chemistry and biology have distinguished his work from that of virtually every other researcher in the field. He is perhaps the first classically tra.ined evolutionary biologist to work with systems of catalytic RNA evolution, a distinction which, combined with the high caliber of his work, puts him at the cutting edge of a large and growing field. His research has garnered signi6cant support from distinguished sources such as NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the tmpleton Foundation. Prodigious in his research outpur, Professor Lehman has authored 67 peerreviewed research articles and 26 other reviews, book chapters, commen raries, t7 and editorials. His grour.rd-breaking work has been published in such esteemed scientific journals as Nature and the Proceedings of the Nationa/ Academy of Sciences. He has served on the editorial boards of the journals Astrobiology and Trends in Euolutionary Biology and is now editor-in-chief of the Journal of Molecular Euolution as wel] as editor-in-chief of the Chemistry Section ol Lie. In addition to distinguishing PSU through his research, professor Lehman is an outstanding member of PSUI teaching faculty. He has nvice won the John Elliot Allen Teaching Award for his classroom instruction in general chemistry, prebiotic chemistry, advanced biochemistry, and his general course on the Origins of Life on Earth. He is also highly regarded by the undergraduate and graduate students in his lab for his mentorship and training. The Senior Faculry Research Excellence Award is giver-r annually to a full professor whose important, original, and prolific research work consistently meets the highest academic standards. Recipients of this award exemplily PSUt commitmenr ro excellence and ro "let knowledge serve." l I I
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz