Laurie Leshin

Laurie Leshin
Citizenship	United States
Fields	Chemistry Geochemistry Planetary Science
Institutions	Worcester Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Arizona State University NASA
Alma mater	Arizona State University California Institute of Technology

Dr. Laurie Leshin is the 16th President of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and is the first female president in the Institution's 150-year history. Leshin is an accomplished academic and administrative leader, geochemist, and space scientist.

At the helm of WPI since June 1, 2014, President Leshin is focused on elevating the impact of this “technological university with a human heart and a global reach,” believing passionately that the way WPI approaches STEM learning and discovery is the way it should be approached.

Education

Leshin earned her B.S. degree in Chemistry from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, and her M.S. (1989) and Ph.D. (1994) in Geochemistry from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.

Career

Prior to joining WPI, Leshin served as Dean of the School of Science and Professor of Earth & Environmental Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she led the scientific academic and research enterprise. Leshin’s scientific expertise is in cosmochemistry, and she is primarily interested in deciphering the record of water on objects in the Solar System

Leshin served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate where she played a leading role in NASA's future human spaceflight endeavors. Her duties included oversight of the planning and execution of the next generation of human exploration systems, as well as the research, robotic and future capabilities development activities that support them. She was also engaged in initiating the development of commercial human spaceflight capabilities to low earth orbit. Prior to joining NASA Exploration, Leshin was the Deputy Director for Science and Technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She oversaw strategy development at the Center, leading an inclusive process to formulate future science and technology goals, and an integrated program of investments aligned to meet those goals. With other NASA Goddard senior managers, she was responsible for effectively executing the Centers’ $3B in programs, and ensuring the scientific integrity of Earth observing missions, space-based telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope, and instruments exploring the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, comets and more. At NASA Goddard she also served as Director of Sciences & Exploration, overseeing science activities at NASA's largest science Center.

Before coming to NASA in 2005, Leshin was The Dee and John Whiteman Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences, and the Director of the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University. At ASU, she directed research, education, and curation activities in the Center for Meteorite Studies, which houses the largest University-based meteorite collection in the world. She also spearheaded the formulation of a new School of Earth and Space Exploration, combining Earth, planetary and astrophysical sciences with systems engineering in a nationally-unique interdisciplinary academic unit.

In 2004, Leshin served on President Bush’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, a nine-member commission charged with advising the President on the execution of his new Vision for Space Exploration. President Obama recently appointed her to the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and she was appointed by former Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to the Advisory Board of the US Merchant Marine Academy. She serves on the United States National Research Council's Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science, and as Chair of the Advisory Board for the Thriving Earth Exchange of the American Geophysical Union. She has published approximately 50 scientific papers.

In 2014, Leshin was named the 16th president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.^[1]

Awards

Leshin received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2004 for her work on the Presidential Commission and the Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2011 for her work at NASA. In 1996, she was the inaugural recipient of the Meteoritical Society's Nier Prize, awarded for outstanding research in meteoritics or planetary science by a scientist under the age of 35. The International Astronomical Union recognized her contributions to planetary science with the naming of asteroid 4922 Leshin.

References

External links

• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Science Web Page
• AGU Planetary Sciences Section Web Page
• Laurie Leshin’s Profile in NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Web Page
• Tempe Diablos Success Story: Laurie Leshin