Jacqueline N. Hewitt

Jacqueline N. Hewitt is the Julius A. Stratton Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), affiliated with the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. She has been a faculty member since 1989 after completing her Ph.D. at MIT and postdoctoral appointments at MIT's Haystack Observatory and Princeton University. From 2002 to 2019, she served as Director of MIT's Kavli Institute.

Her research focuses on radio astronomy techniques applied to fundamental astrophysical problems. She pioneered wide-area radio surveys leading to the discovery of the first Einstein ring gravitational lens. Current investigations include low-frequency studies of the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization through leadership roles in the Murchison Widefield Array (Australia) and Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (South Africa) projects.

Major Awards:

• American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow (2016)
• Time Magazine's 25 Most Influential People in Space (2012)
• American Physical Society Fellow (2004)
• Maria Goeppert Mayer Award (1995)
• Presidential Young Investigator Award (1991-1996)

She leads the Hewitt Research Group exploring radio instrumentation and observational cosmology, with recent work measuring intergalactic medium heating from the first stars using novel radio telescope arrays.