American Energy & Manufacturing

Competitiveness (AEMC) Summit

Dr. Laurie A. Leshin President Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Dr. Laurie Leshin is the 16th and first woman President of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. She is dedicated to leveraging WPI’s distinctive approach to project-based education to elevate both the institution and the quality of life for those it serves in communities worldwide through over 40 project centers. She also seeks to elevate WPI’s rapidly expanding research enterprise through focus on grand challenges with an eye towards impact.

Leshin was formerly the Dean of the School of Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where she led the School’s scientific academic and research enterprise. Prior to joining Rensselaer, Dr. Leshin spent 6 years at NASA in several senior executive roles including the Deputy Head of the future Human Spaceflight Program at NASA Headquarters, and Deputy Director for Science and Technology of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. While working in the Human Spaceflight Program she oversaw the planning and execution of the next generation of human exploration systems, and was engaged in initiating the development of commercial human spaceflight capabilities to low earth orbit. At NASA Goddard, she oversaw Earth and Space science activities at NASA’s largest science Center.

Before joining NASA, Dr. Leshin was the Dee and John Whiteman Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences, and Director of the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University. Dr. Leshin received her Ph. D. in Geochemistry in 1994 from Caltech. Her scientific expertise is in cosmochemistry and planetary science. She is interested in deciphering the history of water 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.

Dr. Leshin has received many honors for her contributions to space science and exploration. In 2004, she 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. In 2013, President Obama appointed her to the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. And, the International Astronomical Union recognized her contributions to planetary science with the naming of asteroid 4922 Leshin.