Lars Bildsten Joins Simons Foundation Board of Trustees

The Simons Foundation welcomes astrophysicist Lars Bildsten to its board of trustees. As a board member, he will provide strategic vision, oversight and stewardship to support the foundation’s mission to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.

Bildsten is a theoretical astrophysicist and the director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he also holds the Frederick W. Gluck Chair in Theoretical Physics. His research centers on the life and death of stars, with a particular focus on stellar structure, nuclear burning and the violent explosions that mark the end of a star’s life.

He previously held research and faculty positions at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley. Since becoming director of KITP in 2012, Bildsten has overseen one of the most vibrant international hubs for scientific collaboration, fostering breakthroughs across the spectrum of theoretical physics. He is a winner of the Bruno Rossi Prize, the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics and the Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Bildsten joins fellow Simons Foundation trustees Cori Bargmann, a neurobiologist and geneticist; physician-scientist Emery Brown; mathematician and physicist Ingrid Daubechies; mathematical physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf; mathematician David Eisenbud; investor and business leader Bill Ford; organizational advisor and investment professional Andrew Golden; evolutionary biologist Hopi Hoekstra; mathematician Jill Pipher; computer scientist William H. Press; investor and philanthropist Nat Simons; financial executive Ellen Taus; molecular biologist and vice chair Shirley M. Tilghman; and co-founder and chair Marilyn H. Simons.