Summer 2025
Dear friends,
As I look forward to fall, I’m struck yet again by the incredible opportunities available to the students who will be flocking back to campus in the weeks ahead. This year, for the first time, students will be able to engage in the 6A-Entrepreneurship track, which will guide them all the way from idea and prototype through a development process with the expectation that they will be ready to launch their venture upon graduation with their MEng degree. Our new flagship degree in electrical engineering, 6-5, has drawn great interest in the first year of its launch, reflecting the deep care and thought that went into its curriculum and design. The first recipients of our Transformative Research Funds–grants designed to “place necessary bets on novel ideas and explore exciting, untested directions”–have been hard at work creating audacious solutions to complex problems. And of course, our new crop of faculty, whose cutting-edge research you’ll learn about below, promises many exciting developments to come. I hope you’ll read on, and share in the promise of a new school year.
–Asu Ozdaglar, Department Head, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
MathWorks Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Deputy Dean of Academics, MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing
Departmental News
Twenty Years of New Women in EECS
The seminar’s effects on the community and its graduates have been profound.
An Art Form Of Its Own: Teaching Assistants in EECS.
Three students who have been recognized as exemplary TAs share their perspectives on the challenges and rewards of a job guiding their peers.
Henry Corrigan-Gibbs, Yoon Kim, Jelena Notaros, Tess Smidt, Dylan Hadfield-Menell, Anand Natarajan, Negar Reiskarimian, Mohammad Alizadeh, Ruonan Han, Thomas Heldt, and Alfred Spector received promotions and appointments effective July 1, 2025.
Department of EECS Announces Promotions to Associate Professor With Tenure
Connor Coley, Mohsen Ghaffari, Song Han, Kaiming He, Phillip Isola, Jonathan Ragan-Kelley, and Arvind Satyanarayan gained tenure, effective July 1, 2025.
The Department of EECS is proud to announce the following promotion, effective September 1, 2025:
Cheng-Zhi Anna Huang SM ’08, who joined EECS in a shared position with Music and Theater Arts in September, has been promoted to Associate Professor Without Tenure.
Education Initiatives
“Biomedical lab in a box” empowers engineers in low- and middle-income countries
A team at MIT have created a “lab kit in a box” made of locally sourced and easily replaced materials for biomedical students working in Kenya and Uganda, where supply chain and environmental issues can compound technological problems with medical equipment.
Pennes, Shen Highlighted for Innovative Use of Digital Technology in Teaching
The student-nominated and student-judged Teaching with Digital Technology Awards honor MIT faculty and instructor innovations in education.
Research
Collaborating to advance research and innovation on essential chips for AI
MIT and GlobalFoundries (GF), a leading manufacturer of essential semiconductors, have announced a new research agreement to jointly pursue advancements and innovations for enhancing the performance and efficiency of critical semiconductor technologies.
Hopping gives this tiny robot a leg up
MIT engineers developed an insect-sized jumping robot that can traverse challenging terrains and carry heavy payloads.
New algorithms enable efficient machine learning with symmetric data
This new approach could lead to enhanced AI models for drug and materials discovery.
New system enables robots to solve manipulation problems in seconds
Researchers developed an algorithm that lets a robot “think ahead” and consider thousands of potential motion plans simultaneously.
Faculty Spotlights and Awards
3Qs: Caroline Uhler on biology and medicine’s “data revolution”
Next year, Uhler will deliver a sectional lecture to the International Congress of Mathematicians at their annual congress in Philadelphia. “I’ll use this talk to explain the rich and deep mathematical problems that underlie the causal prediction problem.”
Sara Beery streamlines data collection for improved salmon population management
The EECS assistant professor is using automation to improve monitoring of migrating salmon in the Pacific Northwest.
Professor Emeritus Hank Smith honored for pioneering work in nanofabrication
Longtime MIT electrical engineer receives SPIE Frits Zernike Award for Microlithography in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in microlithographic technology.
2024-25 EECS Faculty Award Roundup
This ongoing listing of awards and recognitions won by our faculty is added to all year, beginning in September.
Student Spotlights and Awards
PhD student Sarah Alnegheimish makes machine learning systems accessible.
Her objective: an anomaly detection framework anyone can use.
Student Spotlight: Aria Eppinger
Aria Eppinger graduated with her undergraduate degree in 6-7 Computer Science and Molecular Biology in spring of 2024. This spring, she completed her MEng in 6-7.
