The tenured engineers of 2024

In 2024, MIT granted tenure to 11 faculty members across the School of Engineering. This year’s tenured engineers hold appointments in the departments of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS, which reports jointly to the School of Engineering and MIT Schwarzman College of Computing), Mechanical Engineering, and Nuclear Science and Engineering.

“My heartfelt congratulations to the 11 engineering faculty members on receiving tenure. These faculty have already made a lasting impact in the School of Engineering through both advances in their field and their dedication as educators and mentors,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, chief innovation and strategy officer, dean of engineering, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

This year’s newly tenured engineering faculty include:

Adam Belay, associate professor of computer science and principal investigator at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), works on operating systems, runtime systems, and distributed systems. He is particularly interested in developing practical methods for microsecond-scale computing and cloud resource management, with many applications relating to performance and computing efficiency within large data centers.

Irmgard Bischofberger, Class of 1942 Career Development Professor and associate professor of mechanical engineering, is an expert in the mechanisms of pattern formation and instabilities in complex fluids. Her research reveals new insights into classical understanding of instabilities and has wide relevance to physical systems and industrial processes. Further, she is dedicated to science communication and generates exquisite visualizations of complex fluidic phenomena from her research.

Matteo Bucci serves as the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Associate Professor of nuclear science and engineering. His research group studies two-phase heat transfer mechanisms in nuclear reactors and space systems, develops high-resolution, nonintrusive diagnostics and surface engineering techniques to enhance two-phase heat transfer, and creates machine-learning tools to accelerate data analysis and conduct autonomous heat transfer experiments.

Luca Carlone, the Boeing Career Development Professor in Aeronautics and Astronautics, is head of the Sensing, Perception, Autonomy, and Robot Kinetics Laboratory and principal investigator at the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems. His research focuses on the cutting edge of robotics and autonomous systems research, with a particular interest in designing certifiable perception algorithms for high-integrity autonomous systems and developing algorithms and systems for real-time 3D scene understanding on mobile robotics platforms operating in the real world.

Manya Ghobadi, associate professor of computer science and principal investigator at CSAIL, builds efficient network infrastructures that optimize resource use, energy consumption, and availability of large-scale systems. She is a leading expert in networks with reconfigurable physical layers, and many of the ideas she has helped develop are part of real-world systems.

Zachary (Zach) Hartwig serves as the Robert N. Noyce Career Development Professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, with a co-appointment at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. His current research focuses on the development of high-field superconducting magnet technologies for fusion energy and accelerated irradiation methods for fusion materials using ion beams. He is a co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a private company commercializing fusion energy.

Admir Masic, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, focuses on bridging the gap between ancient wisdom and modern material technologies. He applies his expertise in the fields of in situ and operando spectroscopic techniques to develop sustainable materials for construction, energy, and the environment.

Stefanie Mueller is the TIBCO Career Development Professor in the Department of EECS. Mueller has a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and is a principal investigator at CSAIL. She develops novel hardware and software systems that give objects new capabilities. Among other applications, her lab creates health sensing devices and electronic sensing devices for curved surfaces; embedded sensors; fabrication techniques that enable objects to be trackable via invisible marker; and objects with reprogrammable and interactive appearances.

Koroush Shirvan serves as the Atlantic Richfield Career Development Professor in Energy Studies in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. He specializes in the development and assessment of advanced nuclear reactor technology. He is currently focused on accelerating innovations in nuclear fuels, reactor design, and small modular reactors to improve the sustainability of current and next-generation power plants. His approach combines multiple scales, physics and disciplines to realize innovative solutions in the highly regulated nuclear energy sector.

Julian Shun, associate professor of computer science and principal investigator at CSAIL, focuses on the theory and practice of parallel and high-performance computing. He is interested in designing algorithms that are efficient in both theory and practice, as well as high-level frameworks that make it easier for programmers to write efficient parallel code. His research has focused on designing solutions for graphs, spatial data, and dynamic problems.

Zachary P. Smith, Robert N. Noyce Career Development Professor and associate professor of chemical engineering, focuses on the molecular-level design, synthesis, and characterization of polymers and inorganic materials for applications in membrane-based separations, which is a promising aid for the energy industry and the environment, from dissolving olefins found in plastics or rubber, to capturing smokestack carbon dioxide emissions. He is a co-founder and chief scientist of Osmoses, a startup aiming to commercialize membrane technology for industrial gas separations.