Now Playing Tracks

Fem Phys Friday: Nergis Mavalvala

pheministphysicists:

image

The second one is Dr. Nergis Mavalvala. A Pakistani-born astrophysicist, Mavalvala came to the US to attend Wellesley College, and all women’s college is Massachusetts where she graduated in 1990 already with a publication in Physical Review B: Condensed Matter. Afterwards, she joined the graduate program at MIT where she met Dr. Rainer Weiss beginning her career in astrophysics. Weiss accepted Mavalvala as his student because of her practical skills in machining, electronics and work with lasers.

image

Her graduate research started as a proof-of-concept: building table-top interferometers designing an automatic alignment system which would be needed for the experiment on a march larger scale. Eventually, her work was incorporated in the design of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, also known as LIGO, which is used to detect the presence of gravitational waves using two mirrors and the idea that a gravitational wave will contract one of the arms, causing a miss-match in phase for a beam that has been split along the two arms.

image


She joined the faculty at MIT in 2002 where she acknowledges the importance of mentoring students, recalling her supportive chemistry teacher in Pakistan who let her work with chemical reagents in the lab outside of school. She has passing her excitement of science to her own students. Dr. Mavalvala continues to be recognized for her amazing work by being named one of 23 McArthur Fellows, an unrestricted award given to those who are creative, have significant accomplishments and have prospect for future advancements, in 2010. She then was also recipient of the Joseph F. Keithley Award for Advances in Measurement Science in 2013

image


A self-described “out, queer person of color,” Dr. Mavalvala describes her relationship with her partner as organic and has said that her department has been supportive. They now have a  young daughter. She was a speaker at National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals’ (NOGLSTP) Out to Innovate™ 2014 joint with the 4th Annual oSTEM National Conference which is  and recipient of NOGLSTP’s LGBTQ+ Scientist of the Year award.


References:
http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2012/06/just-herself
http://web.mit.edu/physics/people/faculty/mavalvala_nergis.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIGO
http://www.noglstp.net/outtoinnovate/
http://ligonews.blogspot.com/2010/10/ligo-scientist-nergis-mavalvala-named.html
 

**edited because of a huge typo

839 notes

via Mehreen Kasana.
  1. pyromon reblogged this from thecalendarwomen
  2. thecalendarwomen reblogged this from pheministphysicists
  3. solar-cryptid reblogged this from annathecatladywitch
  4. annathecatladywitch reblogged this from fuckyeahhomomatriarchy
  5. fuckyeahhomomatriarchy reblogged this from redtent
  6. redtent reblogged this from pheministphysicists
  7. iamsmallcinnamoncat reblogged this from desharbaby
  8. desharbaby reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  9. destroyingenjoying reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  10. surdelfrontera reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  11. blueinthefaceangel reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  12. childproofnuclearweapons reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  13. gaudiness reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  14. toastyslayingbutter reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  15. corset-combat reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  16. feydakeen reblogged this from defnsanity
  17. chloenightsstanskaldur reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  18. defnsanity reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  19. mia-renee reblogged this from alanaldi
  20. astreetsideprophet reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  21. steggellettea94 reblogged this from takingbackourculture
  22. pheministphysicists posted this
We make Tumblr themes