Lester B. Lave
Lester Lave was a visionary researcher and Carnegie Mellon University icon. One of the nation’s leading environmental economists, he was the Tepper School of Business’ Harry B. and James H. Higgins Professor of Economics, professor of engineering and public policy, founder and director of the Green Design Institute, and co-founder and co-director of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center.
Throughout his career, he advanced environmental science, policy, and regulatory approaches, applying economic and risk analysis to problems affecting the lives of millions.
Lave earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Reed College and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Except for five years as a senior fellow with the Brooking Institution, he spent his career on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon, which he joined in 1963.
He published or contributed to 400 publications and 28 books, including the influential “Air Pollution and Human Health,” written with doctoral student Eugene Seskin.
A beloved teacher and respected administrator, Lave spent eight years heading CMU’s Department of Economics, was an acting dean at the Tepper School. His appointments spanned the Tepper School, the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, and the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management. He was the primary mentor to 40 doctoral students.
Among his many honors, Lave was elected to the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine and both chaired and served on numerous study committees.
He received the prestigious Richard Beatty Mellon Environmental Stewardship Award from the Air and Waste Management Association and the Society for Risk Analysis awarded him its 1998 Distinguished Achievement Award.
In 1987, CMU honored Lave with its George Leland Bach Teaching Award.