List of institute professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Institute professor is the highest title that can be awarded to a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is analogous to the titles of distinguished professor, university professor, or regents professor used at other universities in recognition of a professor's extraordinary research achievements and dedication to the school. At MIT, institute professors are granted a unique level of freedom and flexibility to pursue their research and teaching interests without regular departmental or school responsibilities; they report only to the provost.[1] Usually no more than twelve professors hold this distinction at any one time.[1]
The title of Institute professor is an honor bestowed by the Faculty and Administration of MIT on a faculty colleague who has demonstrated exceptional distinction by a combination of leadership, accomplishment, and service in the scholarly, educational, and general intellectual life of the Institute or wider academic community.[1]
— MIT Policies and Procedures: Special Professorial Appointments, Institute Professor
Institute professors are initially nominated by leaders representing either a department or school. The chair of the faculty then consults with the Academic Council and jointly appoints with the president an ad-hoc committee from various departments and non-MIT members to evaluate the qualifications and make a documented recommendation to the president. The final determination is made based upon recommendations from professionals in the nominee's field. The case is then reviewed again by the Academic Council and approved by the executive committee of the MIT Corporation.[1] The position was created by President James R. Killian in 1951, and John C. Slater was the first to hold the title.[2]
List of institute professors
Current
Name | Department | Elected | Notability | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Daron Acemoglu | Economics | 2019 | Author of Why Nations Fail; John Bates Clark Medal (2005) | [3] |
Suzanne Berger | Political Science | 2019 | Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; chevalier of France's Legion of Honour (2009) | [4] |
Arup Chakraborty | Chemical Engineering | 2021 | Fellow of all three United States National academies; founding director of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science | [5] |
Sallie W. Chisholm | Civil and Environmental Engineering | 2015 | Discovery and biology of the Prochlorococcus marine cyanobacteria | [6] |
Ann Graybiel | Brain and Cognitive Sciences | 2008 | Expert on the basal ganglia; National Medal of Science (2001) | [7][8] |
Paula T. Hammond | Chemical Engineering | 2021 | Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and all three United States National academies | [5] |
Robert S. Langer | Chemical Engineering & Biological Engineering | 2005 | Drug delivery and tissue engineering; youngest person to be elected to all three United States National academies; Millennium Technology Prize (2008), National Medal of Science (2007), Draper Prize (2002), and Lemelson-MIT Prize (1998) | [9] |
Thomas Magnanti | Mechanical Engineering | 1997 | Operations research; Dean of Engineering (1999–2007) | [10] |
Marcus Thompson | Music and Theater Arts | 2015 | Artistic director of Boston Chamber Music Society | [6] |
Former
Name | MIT department | Current institution | Elected | Notability | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
David Baltimore | Biology | Caltech | 1995 | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1975) | [11] |
Emeritus
Name | Department | Elected | Notability | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Emilio Bizzi | Brain and Cognitive Sciences | 2002 | Motor control; President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006–2009) | [12] |
Noam Chomsky | Linguistics and Philosophy | 1976 | Generative grammar; Kyoto Prize (1988); political activist and one of the most widely cited scholars alive[13][14] | [15] |
John M. Deutch | Chemistry | 1990 | Director of Central Intelligence (1995–1996); Deputy Secretary of Defense (1994–1995); Provost of MIT (1985–1990) | [16][17] |
Peter A. Diamond | Economics | 1997 | Social Security reform; Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2010) | [10] |
Jerome I. Friedman | Physics | 1991 | Quantum chromodynamics; Nobel Prize in Physics (1990) | [18] |
John Harbison | Music and Theater Arts | 1995 | MacArthur Fellow (1989); Pulitzer Prize for Music (1987) for The Flight into Egypt | [11] |
Barbara Liskov | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | 2008 | Contributions to data abstraction and programming languages; Turing Award (2008) and John von Neumann Medal (2004) | [19] |
John D.C. Little | Management | Little's law and Branch and bound; contributions to
marketing and e-commerce |
[20] | |
Joel Moses | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | 1999 | Algebraic manipulation algorithms and MACSYMA; Provost of MIT (1995–1998); Dean of Engineering (1991–1995) | [21] |
Ron Rivest | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | 2015 | Co-inventor of the RSA algorithm; founder of Verisign and RSA Security | [6] |
Phillip Sharp | Biology | 1999 | RNA interference and splicing; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1993) | [22] |
Robert M. Solow | Economics | 1973 | National Medal of Science (1999), Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (1987), and John Bates Clark Medal (1961) | [23] |
Sheila Widnall | Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering | 1998 | Secretary of the Air Force (1993–1997); first woman to chair the MIT faculty; first MIT alumna appointed to MIT engineering faculty | [24] |
Deceased
References
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- "Slater Takes New Post as Roving Physics Professor" (PDF). The Tech. September 18, 1951. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
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- "Paula Hammond and Arup Chakraborty named Institute Professors". MIT News Office. May 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
- "Chisholm, Rivest, and Thompson appointed as new Institute Professors". Retrieved 2015-06-29.
- "Ann Graybiel named institute professor". MIT News Office. November 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
- "MIT's Ann Graybiel awarded national medal of science". Retrieved 2008-03-04.
- Elizabeth A. Thomson (March 2, 2005). "Bob Langer named an Institute Professor". MIT News Office. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
- "Diamond, Magnanti and Molina are Institute Professors". MIT News Office. June 4, 1997. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
- "Baltimore, Harbison, Wang elevated to ranks of Institute Professors". MIT News Office. June 7, 1995. Archived from the original on 2007-02-12. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
- Elizabeth A. Thomson (June 5, 2002). "Bizzi is named an Institute Professor". MIT News Office. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
- "Chomsky Is Citation Champ". MIT News Office. April 15, 1992. Retrieved 2007-03-26.
- "According to a recent survey by the Institute for Scientific Information, only Marx, Lenin, Shakespeare, Aristotle, the Bible, Plato, and Freud are cited more often in academic journals than Chomsky, who edges out Hegel and Cicero." Samuel Hughes, The Pennsylvania Gazette Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, July/August, 2001
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- "MIT Physics Faculty". Retrieved 2007-03-26.
- Longtime Engineering Authority Eden Mourned, at NIH record, October 2, 2020
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- Azaroff, L. V. J. Appl. Crystallogr. (1986) 19, 205-207.
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- P.L. Thibaut Brian. "Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, Volume 1 (1979)". National Academies Press. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
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