Anneila I. Sargent

Broader Impacts Champion

California Institute of Technology

Anneila I. Sargent is past Vice President for Student Affairs and Ira S. Bowen Professor of Astronomy Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Her research has largely focused on the earliest stages of star and planetary system formation, using high-resolution millimeter-wave observations of the gas and dust disks that surround very young sun-like stars. As Director of Caltech’s Owens Valley Radio Observatory, she led the development of increasingly powerful arrays of telescopes to probe the universe at millimeter wavelengths. Between 2011 and 2022, Dr. Sargent was a member of the National Science Board, chairing its Oversight Committee from 2018 to 2022.  She is a former President of the American Astronomical Society, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society and was awarded the NASA Public Service Medal in 1995. 

Sargent has chaired the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) Board of Physics and Astronomy, NASA’s Space Science Advisory Committee, and served on a variety of other NSF and NRC committees. Born in Scotland, she holds B.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees from the University of Edinburgh and received her doctorate from Caltech, where she is a Distinguished Alumnus.