Rice University expert named International Society for Computational Biology fellow

Luay Nakhleh, professor of computer science and of biosciences, and the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering, has been elected a fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB).

Nakhleh’s citation reads: “A central contributor to computational phylogenetics, including gene/genome phylogenetics as well as cancer phylogenetics, and is one of the world leaders in the field of phylogenetic networks.” His research interests include developing new methodologies and software for studying the history of specific genes and entire genomes, and the genetic links between species.

He works in the areas of combinatorial optimization, statistical inference and their applications to biological problems. Nakhleh studies phylogenomics, population genomics and cancer genomics.

His research has been recognized with several top awards, including the Department of Energy Early Career Award, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the John P. Simon Guggenheim Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan fellowships.

In 2004, Nakhleh earned his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin and joined the Rice faculty that same year. He was named chair of the computer science department in 2017 and dean of engineering in 2021.

Nakhleh and 14 other newly elected fellows will be formally recognized during the 2023 ISMB/European Conference on Computational Biology conference to be held July 23-27 in Lyon, France.