The School of Science at MIT Appoints Five Women to Endowed Professor Positions

Nikta Fakhri was named the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor in the department of physics. She joined the faculty at the university in 2015. Dr. Fakhri completed her undergraduate degree at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. She holds a Ph.D. from Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Jacqueline Hewitt is the Julius A. Stratton Professor in Electrical Engineering and Physics. She conducts research on radio astronomy and the detection of transient astronomical radio sources. Dr. Hewitt joined the faculty at MIT in 1989. She holds a Ph.D. from MIT.

Gabriela Schlau-Cohen was appointed the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor in the department of chemistry. She uses single molecule and ultrafast spectroscopies to explore the energetic and structural dynamics of biological systems. Dr. Schlau-Cohen is a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Susan Solomon was named the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor in Environmental Studies in the department of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences. She explores atmospheric chemistry and climate change. Dr. Solomon joined the faculty at MIT in 2011. Professor Solomon is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Stefani Spranger is the Howard S. (1953) and Linda B. Stern Career Development Professor in the department of biology. Her research involves the interactions of cancer and the immune system. Dr. Spranger joined the faculty last fall. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany.