Before assuming the position of Director of Sciences and Exploration at NASA Goddard in August, 2005, Dr. Leshin was The Dee and John Whiteman Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences, and the Director of the Center for Meteorites Studies at Arizona State University. She recently completed service 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 for American Space Exploration. She received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2004. In 1996, she was the inaugural recipient of the Meteoritical Society's Nier Prize, awarded for outstanding research in meteoritics or planetary science by a scientist under the age of 35. The International Astronomical Union recognized her contributions to planetary science with the naming of asteroid 4922 Leshin. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from Arizona State University, and her Ph.D. in Geochemistry from California Institute of Technology.