Division of the Physical Sciences Dean Appointment

From: President Paul Alivisatos and Provost Katherine Baicker
Subject: Division of the Physical Sciences Dean Appointment
Date: June 5, 2023

We are pleased to announce that Angela V. Olinto, the Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, and the Enrico Fermi Institute, has been reappointed dean of the Division of the Physical Sciences.

Since being appointed dean in 2018, Angela has expanded the number, breadth, and diversity of the division’s faculty, while spearheading several new research and teaching initiatives. During her term, she helped launch the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation, the Data Science Institute, and new academic programs in data science including a PhD program, two MS programs, and a major and minor in the College. In addition, Angela is supporting new initiatives in the origins of life, plant biology, climate and life, and biological physics. Under her direction, the division has experienced a substantial increase in undergraduate enrollment, accompanied by a significant surge in applications to its PhD and MS programs.

During Angela’s tenure as dean, the division received more than $125 million in gifts and research grant awards surpassed $540 million. In partnership with multiple leaders across campus, she led the development of a new research infrastructure for engineering and science units resulting in the construction of the High Bay Research Building, a world-class facility for physical science research and large-scale instrument fabrication. Angela also helped create the first annual South Side Science Festival, which was held last fall and drew more than 2,500 community members to campus to learn about science.

Angela is a leading scholar in astroparticle physics and cosmology and has made significant contributions to the study of the structure of neutron stars; primordial inflationary theory; cosmic magnetic fields; the nature of the dark matter; and the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays, gamma-rays, and neutrinos. She is the principal investigator of the Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics space mission and the Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon mission, and was a member of the Pierre Auger Observatory, all designed to discover the origin of the highest energy cosmic particles, their sources, and their interactions. Last month, Angela’s team launched a pioneering NASA sub-orbital mission designed to study the highest energy universe with novel technologies.

A faculty advisory committee played a critical role in Angela’s reappointment. We are thankful to the committee members for their substantial input in this process.

We are confident that Angela’s strong leadership will continue stewarding the division’s legacy of shaping and defining fields in the physical and mathematical sciences. Please join us in congratulating her on this reappointment.