Hamsa Balakrishnan, an alumna of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been appointed Associate Dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) School of Engineering.

As Associate Dean, she will “focus on efforts to attract, retain, and support top talent across all academic levels in the School of Engineering,” said a statement by the university.

Balakrishnan served as the associate department head in Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT from 2018 to 2021.

In addition to her roles at MIT, Balakrishnan also Co-founded Lumo, which uses data and analytics to predict flight delays. She currently serves as the company’s Chief Scientist.

Lauding her achievements, the IIT Madras Alumni Association (IITMAA) shared a post on social media platform X.

“Congratulations to Hamsa Balakrishnan, IIT Madras alumna, on being appointed Associate Dean of MIT's School of Engineering! Her innovation and leadership continue to inspire,” the post read.

The association IITMAA represents 50,000 alumni of IIT Madras around the world.

Balakrishnan earned her bachelor's degree from IIT Madras and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University. Before joining MIT, she worked as a principal development engineer at the University Affiliated Research Center at UC Santa Cruz and at NASA Ames Research Center’s Terminal Air Traffic Management Concepts Branch.