Research Faculty Excellence Senior F'aculty Award Niles Lehman, Ph.D. NILES LEHMAN, professor of Chemistry, has served Portland State Universiry for 16 years. He leads the internationally renowned Lehmar-r Lab, part of PSUI 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 rraining arrd extensive experience in both chemistry and biology have distinguished his work from that of virtually every other reseatcher in the field. He is perhaps the first classically trained 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 significant support from distinguished sources such as NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Templeton Foundation. Prodigious in his research output, Professor Lehman has authored 67 peerreviewed research articles and 26 other reviews, book chaptert. commenraries. and editorials. His ground-breaking work has been published in such esteemed scier-rtific journals as Ndture and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has served on the editorial boards ofthe journals Astrobiology and Trends in Euolutionary Biology and is now editor-in-chief of the Journal of Molecular Euo/ution as well as editor-in-chieFof the Chemistry Section of Lfe. In addition to distinguishing PSU through his research, Professor Lehman is an outstanding member of PSUI teaching faculty. He has twice won the John Elliot Allen Teaching Awald For hir classloom instrucrion 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 lor his mentorship and training. The Senior Faculry Research Excellence Award is given annually to a full professor whose important, original, and prolific research work consistently meets the highest academic standards. Recipients of this award exemplifi' PSUI commitment to excellence and to "let knowledge serve."
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