Astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala is going to replace Michael Sipser as dean of MIT’s School of Science in the United States. Sipser will return to the faculty as the Donner Professor of Mathematics after six years.

Nergis Mavalvala was born in Lahore and has spent a lot of her time in Karachi. She belongs to a Parsi family. She has bagged loads of awards for her research and teaching. She is famous for her pioneering work in gravitational-wave detection, which she conducted as a leading member of LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. She is associated head of the Department of Physics since 2015. She will become the first woman to serve as dean of the school.

“Nergis’s brilliance as a researcher and educator speaks eloquently for itself,” says MIT President L. Rafael Reif. “What excites me equally about her appointment as dean are the qualities I have seen in her as a leader: She is a deft, collaborative problem-solver, a wise and generous colleague, an incomparable mentor, and a champion for inclusive excellence. As we prepare for the start of this most unusual academic year, it gives me great comfort to know that the School of Science will remain in such capable hands.”