This list of Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni includes students who studied as undergraduates or graduate students at MIT's School of Engineering; School of Science; MIT Sloan School of Management; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; School of Architecture and Planning; or Whitaker College of Health Sciences. Since there are more than 120,000 alumni (living and deceased), this listing cannot be comprehensive. Instead, this article summarizes some of the more notable MIT alumni, with some indication of the reasons they are notable in the world at large. All MIT degrees are earned through academic achievement, in that MIT has never awarded honorary degrees in any form.
The MIT Alumni Association defines eligibility for membership as follows: The following persons are Alumni/ae Members of the Association:
All persons who have received a degree from the Institute; and All persons who have been registered as students in a degree-granting program at the Institute for (i) at least one full term in any undergraduate class which has already graduated; or (ii) for at least two full terms as graduate students.
As a celebration of the new MIT building dedicated to nanotechnology laboratories in 2018, a special silicon wafer was designed and fabricated with an image of the Great Dome. This One.MIT image is composed of more than 270,000 individual names, comprising all the students, faculty, and staff at MIT during the years 1861–2018. A special website was set up to document the creation of a large wall display in the building, and to facilitate the location of individual names in the image.
Politics and public service United States Name Degree Degree year Notability Notes Lt. Gen. James Alan Abrahamson (USAF Ret'd) B.S. – Aeronautical Engineering 1955 Director of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense InitiativeUS Air Force general Jason E. Bartolomei US Air Force general Ben Bernanke PhD – Economics 1979 Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank Samuel Bodman ScD – Chemical Engineering 1965 Secretary of Energy (2005–2009) Jun Choi B.S. – Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering 1994 Mayor of Edison, New Jersey Henry Cohen M.S. – Urban Planning 1949 Director of Föhrenwald displaced persons camp in the American sector of post-World War II Germany Leighton I. Davis M.S. – Aeronautical Engineering 1941 US Air Force general John M. Deutch B.S. – Chemical Engineering, PhD – Chemistry 1961 1966 Director of Central Intelligence and US deputy secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton Jimmy Doolittle M.S., DSc – Aeronautical Engineering 1924 1925 US Air Force general T. Coleman du PontUS senator from Delaware Herbert W. Ehrgott B.S. – Mechanical Engineering 1930 US Air Force general Luis A. Ferré B.S., M.S. – Mechanical Engineering 1924 1925 3rd governor of Puerto Rico Julius A. Furer M.S. – Naval Architecture 1905 US Navy admiral J. Michael Gilmore B.S. – Physics Director of the Operational Test and Evaluation Directorate Jonathan Gruber B.S. – Economics 1987 Director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, professor of economics at MIT Kathleen Hicks Ph.D. – Political science 2010 US deputy secretary of Defense (2021–2025)Jenn HillMember of the Michigan House of Representatives from the 109th districtCarl HostickaPh.D. – Political science1977Member of the Oregon House of Representatives and the Portland Metro CouncilChrissy HoulahanM.S. – Technology and Policy1994US representative from Pennsylvania's 6th districtMarcy KapturPhD – Urban Planning1981US representative for Ohio's 9th district Frank Kowalski M.S. – Mechanical Engineering 1937 US representative from Connecticut Jon C. Kreitz US Navy admiral John M. Loh M.S. – Aeronautical Engineering 1973 Retired four-star general in the US Air Force; last served as commander, Air Combat Command; 24th vice chief of staff of the Air Force Herbert B. Loper B.S. – Civil Engineering 1922 US Army general N. Gregory Mankiw PhD – Economics 1984 Chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisors William F. MartinM.S. – "Without Course"1974Deputy secretary of Energy (1968–1988), executive secretary of National Security Council, special assistant to President ReaganThomas MassieB.S. – Electrical Engineering M.S. – Mechanical Engineering 1993 1996Member of the US House of Representatives from Kentucky's 4th district Mark McClellan PhD – Economics 1993 Head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Katharine Dexter McCormick B.S. – Biology 1904 Suffragette, funded research for the Pill Lansing McVickar1918 Career officer with the United States Army Bruce Morrison B.S. – Chemistry 1965 US representative for Connecticut David Nolan B.S. – Political Science 1965 Founder of United States Libertarian Party John Olver PhD – Chemistry 1961 US representative for Massachusetts John Birdsell Oren M.S. – Marine Engineering US Coast Guard admiral Alex PadillaB.S. – Mechanical Engineering1994US senator from California, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom after Kamala Harris was elected vice president Luz Maria Rivas B.S. – Electrical Engineering 1995 US representative for California's 29th District Joseph J. Romm SB – Physics PhD – Physics 1982 1987 Assistant secretary of the US Department of Energy Francis Sargent Dropped out; studied architecture 64th governor of Massachusetts George Shultz PhD – Economics 1949 Secretary of the Treasury and secretary of state Phillips Waller Smith M.S. – Ordnance Engineering 1935 US Air Force general Paul Sohl B.S. – Aeronautical Engineering 1985 US Navy admiral Pete Stark B.S. – General Engineering 1956 US representative for California Lawrence Summers B.S. – Economics 1975 71st US secretary of the TreasuryChris SununuB.S. – Civil/Environmental Engineering199882nd governor of New Hampshire John E. Sununu B.S., M.S. – Mechanical Engineering 1987 1987 United States senator from New Hampshire John H. Sununu B.S., M.S., PhD – Mechanical Engineering 1961 1963
1966 White House chief of staff under President George H. W. Bush, governor of New Hampshire, host of Crossfire Sheila Widnall B.S., M.S., DSc – Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering 1961 1961
1964 US secretary of the Air Force (1993–1997) Tom Wolf PhD – Political Science 1981 47th governor of Pennsylvania Louise Yeung MS - City Planning 2013 Chief Climate Officer of New York City
International Name Degree Year Notability Notes Tadatoshi Akiba PhD – Mathematics 1970 Mayor of Hiroshima; recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award Kofi Annan M.S. – Management 1972 Ghanaian former secretary-general of the United NationsMoshe ArensB.Sc. – Aeronautical ngineeringIsrael minister of Defense three times, minister of Foreign Affairs Pedro Aspe PhD – Economics 1978 Mexican secretary of Finance and Public Credit Virgilio Barco B.S. – Civil Engineering 1943 Colombian presidentSelçuk BayraktarMAE – Aerospace Engineering2006Turkish chairman of the board and chief technology officer, Baykar Youssef Boutros Ghali PhD – Economics 1981 Former Egyptian minister of Finance Ahmed Chalabi B.S. – Mathematics 1965 Controversial Iraqi politician; deputy prime minister of Iraq; convicted of fraudAsim DasguptaPhD – Economics1975Former finance minister of the Indian state of West Bengal Harold Demuren PhD – Aeronautical Engineering 1975 Director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority; first African elected as president of ICAO General Assembly Mario Draghi PhD – Economics 1977 Former president of the European Central Bank; former prime minister of Italy José Figueres Ferrer 1926 Former (three-time) president of Costa Rica Pervez Hoodbhoy SB, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, M.S. – Solid-State Physics, PhD – Nuclear Physics 1973 1978 Faculty member at the Quaid-e-Azam University since 1973; renowned nuclear research scientist in Pakistan C.D. Howe 1907American-born Canadian politician and cabinet minister Janet Keeping B.S. – Architecture 1971 Lawyer; faculty member at the University of Calgary; leader of the Green Party of AlbertaUzi LandauPhD – Engineering1976National Infrastructure minister of Israel Pita Limjaroenrat MBA – Strategy2011 Thai politician and leader of Move Forward Party Mao Chi-kuo PhD – Civil Engineering 1982 Former premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (2014–2016) David Miliband M.S. – Political Science 1990 British politician, secretary of state for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Yahya Muhaimin Ph.D. 1982 Former minister of Education and Culture, Republic of Indonesia Mohammad Ali Najafi M.S. – Mathematics 1979 Former vice president of Iran and Mayor of Tehran; murderer Benjamin Netanyahu B.S. – Architecture, M.S. – Management 1975, 1976 Prime minister of Israel Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala MCP – City Planning, PhD – Regional Economics and Development 1978 1981 Director-general of the World Trade Organization, finance minister of Nigeria (2003–2006; 2011–2015) and foreign minister of Nigeria (2006) Lucas Papademos B.S. – Physics, M.S. – Electrical Engineering, PhD – Economics 1970 1972
1978 Vice president of the European Central Bank (2002–2010) and prime minister of Greece (2011–2012) Rachid Mohamed Rachid PhD – Management 1993 Former Egyptian minister of Trade and Industry Raghuram Rajan PhD – Economics 1991 23rd governor of Reserve Bank of India Omar Razzaz M.A. – City Planning Unknown Prime minister of Jordan Ali Akbar Salehi PhD – Nuclear Engineering 1977 Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran (2011–13) Sumana Shrestha MBA 2011 Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Federal Democratic Republic of NepalAafia SiddiquiBS – BiologyPakistani, termed "Lady al-Qaeda", serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell for attempted murder and other felonies Chadchart Sittipunt M.S. – Structural Engineering Current governor of BangkokPalanivel ThiagarajanMBA – Financial Management1990Finance minister of Indian State of Tamil Nadu Milen Velchev M.S. – Management 1995 Bulgarian financial minister (2001–2005) Luis Videgaray PhD – Economics 1998 Mexican secretary of Foreign Affairs (2017–2018); secretary of Finance and Public Credit (2012–2016) David Walter M.S. – Political Science circa 1970 British BBC and ITN correspondent and later political advisor Robert Winters Canadian politician Tony Tan Keng Yam M.S. – Operations Research 1964 President of the Republic of Singapore; held various cabinet positions
Architecture and design
Christopher Charles Benninger (MCP 1971) – award-winning architect and urban planner in India, Sri Lanka, prepared capital plan of Bhutan Walter Danforth Bliss – architect from California, with many buildings on the National Register of Historic Places George Burnap (SB, 1906) – landscape architect of Meridian Hill Park and the first White House Rose Garden in Washington, D.C. Gordon Bunshaft (BArch 1933, MArch 1935) – architect of Lever House (New York City), Beinecke Library (Yale), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington DC); Pritzker Prize (1988) Vishaan Chakrabarti (MCP 1993) – architect and dean of UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design Ogden Codman, Jr. (1884) – Beaux-Arts domestic architect, interior designer Walter S. Davis (BArch 1910, MArch 1911) – designed numerous buildings in Los Angeles, California John Desmond (MArch) – designed numerous public buildings in Baton Rouge, including the River Center
Daniel Chester French (1871, one year) – sculptor of Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln Memorial), John Harvard (Harvard Yard), Minute Man (Concord, Massachusetts) Cass Gilbert (1880) – architect of the US Supreme Court Building, Woolworth Building (New York City) Greta Gray (1880–1961) – Bachelor of Architecture, home economist at UCLA, author and academic Charles Sumner Greene (1891) – partner in Greene and Greene, domestic architects of Arts & Crafts style, Gamble House (Pasadena)