Laurie A. Leshin, Ph.D.

Dr. Laurie Leshin is the Dean of the School of Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where she leads the scientific academic and research enterprise at the nation’s first technological University. With a long tradition of collaboration spanning fundamental science to high value applications, Rensselaer is a true pioneer in interdisciplinary and translational research in Biotechnology, Nanoscience, Energy, Data Science, and Astrobiology.

Prior to joining Rensselaer, Dr. Leshin served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate where she played a leading role NASA's future human spaceflight endeavors. In this role, she oversaw 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 her work in NASA Exploration, Dr. Leshin served as Director of Science and Deputy Center Director for Science and Technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where she oversaw Earth and Space science activities at NASA’s largest science Center.

Dr. Leshin’s scientific expertise is in cosmochemistry. She is primarily interested in deciphering the record of water on objects in our solar system. Dr. Leshin is a member of the science team for the Mars Curiosity rover mission, currently roaming the surface of Mars. She has published over 40 scientific papers, and was the inaugural recipient of the Meteoritical Society’s Nier Prize in 1996 for her work.

In 2013, President Obama appointed Leshin to the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. In 2004, Dr. 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 Space Exploration. She received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2004 for this work, and the Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2011 for her work at NASA. The International Astronomical Union recognized her contributions to planetary science with the naming of asteroid 4922 Leshin. 

Dr. Leshin received her B.S. in Chemistry in 1987 from Arizona State University, and her Ph. D. in Geochemistry in 1994 from California Institute of Technology.