Alice Gast

Dr. Alice P. Gast has recently been named the vice president for research and associate provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an achievement in engineering and academia that should serve as an inspiration to all USC engineering students and alumni.

In addition to her administrative positions, Gast is the Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering. Prior to accepting the position at MIT, Gast was the associate chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University.

At MIT, Gast coordinates policy regarding research and graduate education and oversees the Institute’s large inter-school laboratories. She also reports to Chancellor Phillip L. Clay on matters of graduate education policy.

Formative Experiences at USC

Recently, Dean C. L.Max Nikias had the pleasure of speaking and exchange e-mails with Dr. Gast, and took the opportunity to ask about her experiences at USC. She shared some vivid memories of her time at USC, memories that will undoubtedly be appreciated by many alumni readers.

“I was blessed by excellent teachers, progressive educational opportunities, and forward-thinking leaders in the School,” Gast said. Among those inspirational leaders was Dean Zohrab Kaprielian who, Gast believes, “had a wonderful influence over the School and the University during my student years.” Gast mentioned that she was “also in awe of John Marburger, Dean of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, partly because he was a physicist who could play the harpsichord.”

Of her studies at the School of Engineering, Gast said that “among my best courses were the graduate transport phenomena course taught by Joe Goddard, the polymer science courses taught by Ron Salovey, the kinetics and reactor design course taught by Theodore Tsotsis–I taught this course myself for seven years at Stanford–and the materials science laboratory where we got to play with a real electron microscope!”

Beyond engineering, Gast mentioned that she was significantly influenced by the chemistry faculty and a wonderful curriculum ranging from freshman chemistry with Otto Schnepp, to graduate quantum mechanics with David Dows. “The great mentoring by Joe Goddard and Victor Chang convinced me that I could pursue the research I wanted as an engineer rather than a chemist,” she said. “I have always been extremely grateful for that advice, and while I work closely with chemists, I am very happy to be an engineer.

“Another engineer and physicist who had a great influence on me is Bob Hellwarth, who let me into his lab to work with lasers on nonlinear optics for my project on piezoelectric polymers with Victor Chang. I remember the day I met Bob by knocking on his door to apply for a Rhodes scholarship, though it was probably good that I didn’t win. Pursuing a research project with Victor in the laboratory of Bob Hellwarth was a great step toward my graduate studies. It gave me the confidence to pursue my PhD in a rather competitive environment my first year at Princeton.”

The flexibility of her coursework at USC helped shape her career. “The School of Engineering Honors Program run by Willard Rush had a big impact on me. It brought excellent speakers that I still remember, and it allowed me to rearrange my schedule to follow my love of chemistry. I managed to substitute the graduate quantum class I took for my engineering economics, and to duck out of circuits to take the graduate transport class. As a student taking qualifying exams at Princeton and later in my own lab, I had to make up these deficits in my curriculum, but I was always grateful for the mathematics those two classes taught me in a way that no pure math class could.”

Gast pursued the sort of well-rounded, interdisciplinary studies considered crucial in a USC education. “Outside science,” she said, “I must mention three other people at USC who had a big influence on me. Doyce B. Nunis, whose constitutional history class gave me a great appreciation for our constitution and the law. His lectures were an absolute inspiration.

“Thom Mason, my music teacher, was also important. His class on the history of jazz probably had the largest impact on my life and continuing love of jazz.

“And Dick Caldwell’s classics and Greek language course on the island of Skopelos was a life-changing event. Epharisto!”

She also mentioned Joan Schaeffer, the mentor of Mortar Board.Mortar Board, Inc. is a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for distinguished ability and achievement in scholarship, leadership, and service. “That experience gave me much needed contact with other brilliant women.”

At MIT

Dr. Gast’s new employers are singing the praises of this distinguished member of the Trojan Family. “Alice is a renowned researcher, scholar, educator, and a tremendous advocate for research,” said MIT Provost Robert A. Brown in announcing her appointment. “She will add a wonderful perspective to the leadership of MIT in these and other important areas.”

MIT President Charles M. Vest added, “Alice Gast has an ideal background, interests, and skills to foster interdisciplinary research at MIT. Her own work has been at the interface of science and engineering. She has thought deeply about how to create supportive environments and facilities for faculty who want to pursue research and education that cross traditional boundaries. I very much look forward to working with her.”

Gast, who joined the Stanford faculty in 1985 after earning her masters in 1981 and PhD in 1984 from Princeton University, is an expert on complex fluids and colloids. Her research explores the frontiers of the chemical physics of colloidal and polymer solutions, polymer absorption, and most recently proteins, using experimental scattering methods and statistical mechanics. She is the co-author of a classic textbook on colloid and surface phenomena. Her achievements have been recognized with an array of honors, including a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award, and the Allan P. Colburn Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering last spring.

On April 26th, the USC School of Engineering will honor Dr. Gast at the 24th Annual Engineering Awards Luncheon in Los Angeles. She will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award in Academia. This year marks the inauguration of the award, which recognizes an alumnus or alumna who has excelled in a leadership role within higher education. Dr. Gast’s accomplishments have certainly helped to define this new honor.