Richard Lenski

Richard Lenski is the John Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbial Ecology and a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. He did his undergraduate studies at Oberlin College, majoring in biology, and received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, where he did ecological research on insects. Wanting a system with which to study evolution in action, Prof. Lenski switched to microbiology for a postdoc at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He joined the faculty at the University of California, Irvine, in 1985, before moving to Michigan State in 1991.

Prof. Lenski is best known for the Long-Term Evolution Experiment that he started in 1988, and which continues to this day. He and his team have studied 12 populations of E. coli as they have been evolving for over 80,000 generations. The experiment offers a unique record of evolution, providing insights into the dynamics of adaptation by natural selection, the tempo and modes of genome evolution, the repeatability of evolution, and even the origin of new functions. Samples from throughout the experiment are stored in a freezer, and the organisms that lived in different generations can be revived and directly compared—in effect, allowing time travel. In addition to his research on bacteria, Prof. Lenski has also studied digital organisms in the form of computer programs that can self-replicate, mutate, compete, and evolve the ability to solve problems.

Prof. Lenski is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (elected in 2006), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 1998), the American Academy of Microbiology (selected 1997) and the American Philosophical Society (elected 2018). He has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1991) and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (1996). He is past President of the Society for the Study of Evolution (elected 2011), and he co-founded the NSF-funded BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action (2010-2022) to bring together biologists, computer scientists, and engineers to illuminate and harness the power of evolution. He received a Friend of Darwin award (2017) from the National Center for Science Education for his public-facing work on evolution and its importance.

Last, but not least, Prof. Lenski has mentored some 30 graduate students and postdoctoral scientists who are now on the faculties of universities around the world.

###Links
* [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=wjPrcoUAAAAJ)
* [ORCiD](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1064-8375)