Professor Alice P. Gast became President of Imperial College London in September 2014.
Under her leadership, Imperial College London has strengthened its ties with policymakers, industry, philanthropists and alumni. As President, she has promoted collaboration and societal engagement and prioritised entrepreneurship and innovation.
Prior to her appointment at Imperial, Professor Gast was the 13th President of Lehigh University (2006-2014). Other leadership roles include serving as the Vice-President for Research and Associate Provost and Robert T. Haslam Chair in Chemical Engineering at the MIT (2001-2006), and being a faculty member at Stanford University (1985-2001).
Professor Gast is a member of several UK and international advisory committees and boards, including the League of European Research Universities and the Academic Research Council for the Singapore Ministry of Education. Professor Gast is a member of the World Economic Forum Global University Leaders’ Forum, Co-Vice-Chair of the Advisory Board for the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
She has been awarded honorary degrees by the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Pierre and Marie Curie, and the University of Western Ontario. In 2017 she received an honorary professorship from Tsinghua University.