Lisa Barsotti

Lisa Barsotti is a Senior Research Scientist and Associate Director at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. She specializes in gravitational-wave instrumentation, with particular emphasis on quantum measurement, precision optics, and the development of technologies that push the limits of laser interferometry.

Barsotti earned her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 2006. She joined the LIGO Laboratory at MIT in 2007, where she contributed to the design, construction, and commissioning of the Advanced LIGO detectors that made the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015. She later led the development and implementation of squeezed-light technologies that significantly enhanced the detectors’ sensitivity, enabling the observation of more distant and fainter gravitational-wave sources.

In 2019 she was awarded the New Horizons in Physics Prize for research on present and future ground-based detectors of gravitational waves. She now serves as Project Scientist for Cosmic Explorer, the next-generation U.S. gravitational-wave observatory designed to extend the reach of gravitational-wave astronomy. Lisa has held the role of MKI Associate Director since 2025.