Imperial College appoints its first woman President

Imperial College London today (3rd January 2014) announced that Professor Alice P. Gast, currently President of Lehigh University and former Vice President for Research and Associate Provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will succeed Sir Keith O’Nions FRS as President of the college from September 2014. She will be the 16th head of Imperial, and the first woman and first appointment from overseas to lead the College.

As President, Professor Gast will lead the College’s strategy, including the development of its new 25 acre campus Imperial West, and its links to government, industry, philanthropists and alumni. Professor James Stirling became Provost in August 2013 and concentrates on the College’s core academic mission of education, research and the translation of research results into practical outcomes.

About Professor Alice Gast

An internationally renowned scholar in the field of chemical engineering and a leader in higher education, Professor Gast has served as President of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania since 2006. At Lehigh she has focused on the quality of undergraduate and postgraduate education and their integration with research. She also led a campus-wide strategic planning and implementation process; concluded a $500 million fundraising campaign and helped to raise an additional $225 million; expanded the university’s international presence; oversaw a 47% increase in the size of the campus estate, and launched major initiatives in sustainability, inquiry-based learning, neighbourhood revitalization and campus master planning.

Before Lehigh University, Professor Gast was Vice President for Research and Associate Provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and held the Robert T. Haslam chair in chemical engineering. She was previously at Stanford University from 1985 to 2001 as a professor of chemical engineering and as affiliated faculty at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory. She has been a US Science Envoy to Central Asia and is currently a Board Director of the Chevron Corporation and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.