The School of Engineering at MIT Hires Five Women to Its Faculty

The School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge has announced the hiring of 18 new faculty members. Some are currently teaching and others will be joining the faculty in 2016. Five of the new hires are women.

Irmgard Bischofberger will join the department of mechanical engineering in January. She has been conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago. Dr. Bischofberger’s research is focused on fluid dynamics and soft-matter physics. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

Betar Gallant was appointed an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and will begin teaching in January. She has been serving as a Kavali Nanoscience Institute postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology. Her research involves the development of materials and devices for environmental cleanup projects. Dr. Gallant holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering, all from MIT.

Julia Ortony will join the faculty in the department of materials science and engineering for the spring semester.  For the past four years, she has been conducting postdoctoral research at Northwestern University. Dr. Ortony is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in materials chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ellen Roche will join the faculty in the department of mechanical engineering in the summer of 2016. She will also be a member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science. Dr. Roche has been conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Galway in Ireland. Dr. Roche is a graduate of the National University of Ireland in Galway and holds a master’s degree in bioengineering from Trinity College Dublin. She earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering at Harvard University.

Caroline Uhler is a new assistant professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer science. She was an assistant professor at the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria. Dr. Uhler holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and master’s degrees in mathematics and mathematics education from the University of Zurich in Switzerland. She earned a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley.