Lemke is President of Aerolift, Inc., an R&D holding company of San Diego. He is the inventor of approximately 50 patents and has founded three successful high-technology companies based on his patents. He is Chairman and CTO of Recording Physics, Inc. of San Diego and Adjunct Professor at UC San Diego, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, 1986-present. His honors and awards include Member of the National Academy of Engineering; Fellow of the IEEE; Member of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science; recipient of the Reynold B. Johnson Storage Award of IEEE, Magnetic Society, 1995; and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecturer, 1992.

Dr. Lemke has a B.S. degree in physics (with distinction) from Illinois Institute of Technology, a M.S. degree in physics from Northwestern University (Woodrow Wilson Fellow), and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.