Norman Pace, one of the world's leading experts on molecular evolution and molecular microbiology, will leave the University of California-Berkeley July 1 to join the University of Colorado at Boulder biology faculty.
Pace, known for his studies on ribonucleic acid, or RNA, also is a leading authority and explorer regarding the evolution of primitive underwater life forms in deep-sea thermal vents. In addition to his tenured position in ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä's molecular, cellular and developmental biology department, he will be working with ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder's Astrobiology Center, founded last year by NASA with a $5 million grant.
"This is a major coup for ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder," said Leslie Leinwand, chair of MCD biology in the College of Arts and Sciences. "In addition to his first-rate research, Norman Pace has a significant reputation for his outstanding teaching skills."
Pace's tenured position in MCD biology will allow him to work closely with departmental experts in RNA science as well as experts in the chemistry and biochemistry department, said Leinwand. "He bridges a number of interdisciplinary areas and will bring together a number of ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder faculty."
"I look forward to coming back to Colorado, which was my home for 15 years," said Pace. "Boulder is the center of the 'RNA World,' and I look forward to contributing to that research area as well that at the new Astrobiology Center."
Pace is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. Including Pace, ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder will have 15 faculty members in the National Academy of Sciences and 12 members in the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, five of whom have appointments in MCD biology.
"Norman Pace is not just a famous RNA researcher, he's also a popular undergraduate teacher and explorer," said Tom Cech, a ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder chemistry and biochemistry professor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Nobel laureate. "In terms of research at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä, he adds to our strength in the RNA and ribozyme area but, perhaps more importantly, brings in strength in astrobiology, microbiology, and microbial evolution."
Pace currently is supported by four research grants, including two from the National Institutes of Health, one from the U.S. Department of Energy and one from the National Science Foundation. The NIH grant is a MERIT Award that provides 10 years of financial support without competitive reapplication.
"Professor Pace characterizes the quality of faculty that ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder strives to recruit," said Chancellor Richard Byyny. "He is a world-class researcher who is known equally well in academic circles for his tremendous teaching skills."
One of Pace's primary interests is the evolution of life in extreme conditions. Pace has worked as a scientist aboard Alvin, a research submarine operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts that dives as deep as 14,000 feet to collect biological samples with a mechanical arm and use video and still cameras to record observations.
Because of his interest in primitive forms of live evolving in deep-sea vents, Pace's collaboration with ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä's Astrobiology Center should be a tremendous asset, said center director Bruce Jakosky, also a research associate at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä was selected by NASA in 1998 as one of 11 members of NASA's Astrobiology Institute.
The new NASA institute will be "virtual" in the sense that all participating scientists and students will remain at their home organizations and collaborate electronically with each other, said Jakosky, also an associate geological sciences professor. The NASA initiative will allow scientists from many disciplines to work together on the complex issue of possible life in the universe and its implications for humans.
Pace received his bachelor's degree with honors from Indiana University and his doctorate from the University of Illinois in Urbana. He has held a number of academic positions, including an assistant professorship in biophysics and genetics at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä's Health Sciences center from 1969 to 1974, an associate professorship there from 1975-1982 and a professorship at HSC from 1982 to 1984. Prior to that he was a faculty member at the University of Indiana.
In addition to his elections to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Pace also has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Society for Microbiology.