Massachusetts Institute of Technology Prof. Chris A. Kaiser, who headed the universitys biology department for eight years, has been selected as its new provost, according to president-elect L. Rafael Reif.

Kaiser succeeds Reif, who has served as MITs provost since 2005. Both will assume their new positions on July 2. Reif takes over the campus presidency from Susan Hockfield who announced earlier this year she was stepping down from the position.

Kaiser, 55, a cell biologist and biology professor, has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1991. He chaired the Department of Biology from 2004 until earlier this year.

A distinguished scholar and a master teacher in his field, he has also played a key role on a number of Institute-wide committees, advancing the broader mission of MIT with curiosity, creativity, empathy and a marvelous sense of humor, Reif said. I have no doubt that he will thrive as provost.

The provost is MITs senior academic and budget officer, responsible for the Institutes educational programs, and the recruitment, promotion and tenuring of faculty.

The campus said Kaiser managed the appointment of 14 new junior faculty in the biology department and in affiliated research institutions, including the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, the Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research, and the Broad Institute, while as biology department head.

Kaiser earned a bachelors degree in biochemistry from Harvard University in 1980, and a PhD in biology from MIT in 1987. He did postdoctoral research as a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley before joining MIT as an assistant professor of biology in 1991.

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MIT names Kaiser as new provost