Tips for introducing a speaker I will introduce a well-known speaker who will give a lecture in his work in neurobiology in front of a large student audience. What is a good introduction and followup? 

I have noticed people often give what I consider trivialities like the year he received his PhD degree and spend a long time listing their awards. I am planning to talk about his recent papers briefly, his areas of research, and just briefly mention his position now and who he worked with as a postdoc.

I would appreciate any input, particularly from profs on how they like to be introduced.
The long and boring introductions that you've noticed are probably due to people simply reading off the "speaker biography" paragraph that is typically included with a talk announcement.  That, in turn, is usually prepared with little thought by the speaker, often by grabbing a recent bio blurb from a proposal or their website.  Thus: boring list of dates and awards.

My personal preference is to ask the speaker how they would like to be introduced and to keep things quite short: any good speaker will begin their talk with a high-level perspective on their technical vision and work in any case.