George McLendon is the Howard R. Hughes Provost

Provost (education)

A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....

 and Professor of Chemistry at Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

. McLendon holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at El Paso

University of Texas at El Paso

The University of Texas at El Paso is a four-year state university, and is a component institution of the University of Texas System. Its campus is located on the bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. The school was founded in 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy,...

 and a doctorate from Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

. He assumed the role of provost in 2010 after serving as Dean of Trinity College of Arts and Science

Trinity College of Arts and Sciences

Trinity College of Arts and Sciences is the undergraduate liberal arts college at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The college is currently one of two undergraduate divisions at Duke, the other being the Edmund T...

 at Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

. Prior to his tenure at Duke, McLendon was the R.W. Moore Professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

.

McLendon’s research is focused on inorganic and physical biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

.  He has published over 200 peer reviewed papers and received national research awards, including the American Chemistry Society Pure Chemistry Award, the Eli Lilly Award in Ecochemistry, Sloan Dreyfus Award, and Guggenheim Fellowships.  His publications range from solar nanotechnology to cell death pathways.  His most recent research has direct implications for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases.  He has been involved in launching several biotech startups, including Tetralogic Pharmaceuticals.

As provost, McLendon outlined a broad strategy called "The Rice Initiatives." The initiatives encompass three main areas of focus: bioscience and health, energy and the environment, and international strategy. He is also pursuing an international strategy for expanding Rice's image abroad.