Lance Seefeldt

College Science

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Throughout his career, chemistry and biochemistry professor Lance Seefeldt has studied unusually broad topics in the area of nitrogenase research and has made valuable contributions to the discipline, as well as to Utah State University. His work has made him the world’s expert on nitrogenase enzymology, the molecular phenomena that accounts for crop production, on which the lives of two-thirds of Earth’s population depend on. Seefeldt created a new understanding of how a nitrogen molecule is reduced to yield two ammonia molecules by nitrogenase. For a long time, the mechanism of nitrogenase has remained elusive. Seefeldt’s research, however, contributed to the understanding of how nitrogen binds to the metal center of the enzyme. His research further provided significant insights into the step-by-step order of the electron transfer events during the chemical process. These results have changed the field’s thinking about how metalloenzymes activate inert, small molecule substrates, and this knowledge will further the search for artificial catalysts. Seefeldt received his doctorate in Biochemistry from University of California, Riverside in 1989. He held positions at the University of Redlands, University of California, Riverside, and University of Georgia before coming to Utah State in 1998. At USU, Seefeldt served as a professor at the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department since 2002. He is also the Director of Science at the USU BioEnergy Center. Seefeldt has been a prolific scholar, with nearly 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, which have been cited in the scientific literature more than 3,000 times. He has been awarded more than $4 million in extramural funding for his laboratory. His funders include National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Throughout his research career, Seefeldt has mentored 25 undergraduate research students, six doctoral students, four master’s students, and six postdoctoral fellows. As one of the founding members of the USTAR Biofuels team at USU, he has initiated a new research program in his laboratory on the feasibility of using algae as a source of biofuels such as biodiesel. Seefeldt’s productive and innovative discoveries in the field of computational chemistry, as well as his continued service to his department and students, set him apart as an exemplary researcher. He is well deserving of the 2012 D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award.