Prof. T. Randall Lee hails from the small town and football powerhouse of Daingerfield, Texas.  He earned a earned a B.A. degree in Chemistry from Rice University (Magna Cum Laude) and a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University before pursuing an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech.  Currently a member of the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Houston, he holds the title of Cullen Distinguished University Chair, where his research focuses on nanomaterials, including nanoscale surface coatings that inhibit corrosion and resist biofilm formation and nanoparticles for biomedical and energy applications.  Additionally, Prof. Lee serves as the Associate Dean of Research for the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Houston.  After eight years as an Associate Editor for ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, he is now the Deputy Editor for ACS Applied Nano Materials.

Prof. Lee has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers and 8 patents/applications while mentoring 26 postdoctoral fellows, 64 graduate students, 92 undergraduate researchers, 38 visiting scientists/scholars, and 18 high school students.  His awards include the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award (1993), NSF CAREER Award (1995), UH Research Excellence Award (1999), UH-Enron Teaching Excellence Award (1999), HAO Outstanding Faculty Award (2000), UH Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award (2006), and National Science Council of Taiwan Visiting Scholar (2010 & 2016).