Pakistan-born astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala has been appointed the new Dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) School of Science.
Mavalvala will be the first woman to serve as dean of the university's School of Science, according to MIT News.
Professor of astrophysics is known for her pioneering work in the detection of gravitational waves, which she performed as a leading member of LIGO, the laser interferometer gravitational wave observatory.
Mavalvala has received numerous awards and accolades for her research and teaching and has been deputy chief of MIT's physics department since 2015.
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"Nergis' genius as a researcher and educator speaks eloquently for itself," said MIT President L. Rafael Reif. “What excited me about her appointment as Dean are the qualities I saw in her as a manager: she is a skilled, collaborative problem solver, a wise and generous colleague, an incomparable mentor and an advocate for integrative expertise.
As we prepare for the start of this most unusual year of college, I take comfort in the knowledge that the School of Science will remain in such capable hands. "
“I have had the privilege of working with great people,” Mavalvala said of his time as an assistant manager. She is a tribute to the many students and colleagues with whom she has worked closely, especially [department head] Peter Fisher: "It was through him that I learned about leadership with compassion and heart."
As with almost everything she takes on, Mavalvala is energetic and optimistic about the future role, while recognizing the unprecedented challenges facing the school in these changing times.
Born in Lahore and raised in Karachi, Mavalvala, who was a hobby by nature, often stood with grease on her elbows as she delved into the mechanics of bicycle repair.
She became interested in math and physics at school early on, and her parents, strong supporters of the education of her two daughters, encouraged her to study abroad.
She received a bachelor's degree in physics and astronomy from Wellesley College in the United States before moving to MIT in 1990 for a Ph.D. in physics.
After completing his Ph.D. at MIT, Mavalvala joined Caltech in 1997 as a postdoc, studying the cosmic microwave background. In 2000 she worked as a research assistant at the LIGO laboratory, where researchers built the LIGO detectors together with the Weiss group at MIT.
She spent two years on the Caltech team before accepting a position that brought her back to MIT, where she joined the faculty as an assistant professor of physics in 2002.
Since then she has helped set up the MIT LIGO group, where she designed and improved various parts of interferometers. She also led a team of researchers who developed tools to study and manipulate the barely discernible quantum effects on LIGO's massive detectors.
Mavalvala has received numerous accolades and awards, including the MacArthur Fellowship in 2010. In 2015, she was awarded the Special Breakthrough Prize in Basic Physics as part of the LIGO team.
In 2017 she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. That same year, New York's Carnegie Corporation recognized Mavalvala as a major winner of the Immigrant Awards.
Pakistani-American Nergis Mavalvala was one of 38 immigrants to be awarded the Grand Immigrant Prize from the Carnegie Corporation in New York.
The pea for the "big immigrant" goes to the recognition of neutralized citizens who make America strong. Carnegie Corporation has recognized contributions from naturalized citizens every year since 2006.
The award winners was represented more than 30 different countries of origin, a wide variety of personal immigration stories and a high level of professional leadership in various fields.
She is also the first recipient of the Lahore Technology Award, presented by the Information Technology University in Lahore.
