Atherton Professor and Eberly Chair in Chemistry

The Pennsylvania State University
Department of Chemistry
414 Wartik Laboratory
University Park, PA 16802
Fax: (814) 865-2973
Phone: (814) 865-2882
Email: sjb1@psu.edu

Stephen J. Benkovic was born in Orange, NJ. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry and A.B. degree in English Literature from Lehigh University, and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Cornell University. After a period as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he joined the Chemistry Department at Penn State University in 1965 and became a Full Professor of Chemistry in 1970, followed by recognitions as an Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry in 1977 and the holder of the Eberly Chair in Chemistry in 1988. His work has been recognized by awards, fellowships, and election to memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Benkovic’s recent work has focused on the assembly and kinetic characteristics of the enzymatic machinery that is responsible for DNA replication and DNA repair in T4 phage and human cells; and the assembly, disassembly, and function of an intracellular complex, the purinosome, that consists of the enzymes involved in de novo purine biosynthesis.

Awards and Fellowships:

• Magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa (Lehigh University)
• Teeple Fellow, 1960‑61 (Cornell University)
• NIH Predoctoral Fellow (Cornell University)
• Eastman Kodak Scientific Award, 1962‑63 (Cornell University)
• Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1968‑74 (The Pennsylvania State University)
• NIH Career Development Award, 1969‑74 (The Pennsylvania State University)
• Guggenheim Fellowship, 1976
• Pfizer Enzyme Award, 1977
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1984
• University Chair in Biological Science, 1984‑86
• National Academy of Sciences, 1985
• Gowland Hopkins Award, 1986
• Fellow of the American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1987
• Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, 1988
• NIH Merit Award, 1988
• Repligen Award for Chemistry of Biological Processes, 1989
• Bicentennial Scientific Achievement Award, 1990 (City College of New York)
• Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, 1994
• Alfred Bader Award, 1995
• Honorary Doctorate of Science , 1995 (Lehigh Univ.)
• Wellcome Visiting Professorship, 1996 (Massachusetts Med. Ctr.)
• 1998 Chemical Pioneer, The American Institute of Chemists, 1998
• Christian B. Anfinsen Award, 2000
• American Philosophical Society, 2002
• ASBMB-Merck Award, 2002
• Nakanishi Prize (ACS), 2005
• Royal Society Centenary Lecturer, 2006
• Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, 2009
• Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry, 2010
• National Medal of Science, 2009
• National Academy of Science Award in Chemical Sciences, 2011