University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Norman Pace has been named winner of the 2001 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology by the National Academy of Sciences, considered the nation聮s highest award in microbiology.
Pace was cited by the National Academy of Sciences "for revolutionizing microbiology by developing methods by which microorganisms can be directly detected, identified, and phylogenetically related without the need for cultivation in the laboratory."
Pace came to CU-Boulder聮s molecular, cellular and developmental biology department in 1999 from the University of California-Berkeley. He is one of 17 CU-Boulder faculty who have been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences and one of 14 faculty elected to the equally prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
"I聮m very pleased to be included with the previous winners of the Waksman Award," said Pace. "I believe the work we are doing is helping us to begin to understand the role played by microbial organisms in their natural environment."
"Professor Pace characterizes the quality of faculty that CU-Boulder strives to recruit," said CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard L. Byyny. "He is a world-class researcher who is known equally well in academic circles for his tremendous teaching skills."
Pace, well known for his studies on ribonucleic acid, or RNA, also is a leading authority on diverse kinds of microbes in deep-sea thermal vents.
CU-Boulder Nobel laureate and faculty member Tom Cech, who also is president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Md., said Pace has been a fine addition to the CU-Boulder faculty.
"Norman Pace is not just a famous RNA researcher, he's also a popular undergraduate teacher and explorer," said Cech. "In terms of research at CU, he adds to the strength in the RNA and ribozyme area but, perhaps more importantly, brings in strength in astrobiology, microbiology and microbial evolution."
Pace's research currently is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and NASA聮s Astrobiology Institute. The NIH grant is a MERIT Award that provides 10 years of financial support without the need for competitive reapplication.
"In addition to his first-rate research, Norman Pace has a significant reputation for his outstanding teaching skills," said Leslie Leinwand, chair of MCD biology. "His tenured position in the College of Arts and Sciences allows him to work closely with departmental experts in MCD biology as well as faculty in other departments. He bridges a number of interdisciplinary areas and brings together a number of CU-Boulder faculty."
One of Pace's primary interests is the origin and 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 uses video and still cameras to record observations.
He also has worked at Yellowstone National Park, and his laboratory has discovered hundreds of new microbial species. Pace and his colleagues also apply new molecular methods to studies of human inflammatory diseases such as Crohn聮s disease and tuberculosis.
Pace聮s work with extreme organisms has been featured in several television documentaries, including a "Scientific American Frontiers" production on the origin of life, filmed with actor Alan Alda in Yellowstone. A segment of the four-part science documentary series "Intimate Strangers" that featured Pace also recently aired.
Because of his interest in extreme forms of life, Pace's collaboration with CU's Astrobiology Center is a tremendous asset, said center Director Bruce Jakosky, also a research associate at CU's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. CU was selected by NASA in 1998 as one of 11 members of NASA's Astrobiology Institute.
Pace received his bachelor's degree with honors from Indiana University and his doctorate from the University of Illinois in Urbana. He was a faculty member at CU's Health Sciences Center in Denver from 1969 to 1984.
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.