This list of Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty includes current, emeritus, former, and deceased professors, lecturers, and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Faculty members who have become Institute Professors, Nobel Laureates, MacArthur Fellows, National Medal of Science recipients, or have earned other significant awards and made significant contributions are listed below.
Institute Professors
A few distinguished members of the faculty have held the title of Institute Professor in recognition of their records of achievement and dedication to the MIT community.
Nobel laureates
Current faculty Name Department Year Award Citation Notes Peter Diamond Economics 2010 Economics "for their analysis of markets with search frictions" H. Robert Horvitz Biology 2002 Medicine/Physiology "for their discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'" Wolfgang Ketterle Physics 2001 Physics "for the achievement of Bose–Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates" Robert C. Merton Economics 1997 Economics "for a new method to determine the value of derivatives" Richard R. Schrock Chemistry 2005 Chemistry "for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis" Phillip A. Sharp Biology 1993 Medicine/Physiology "for their discoveries of split genes" Also a recipient of the National Medal of Science Samuel Ting Physics 1976 Physics "for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind" Susumu Tonegawa Brain and Cognitive Sciences 1987 Medicine/Physiology "for his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity" Frank Wilczek Physics 2004 Physics "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction" Also a MacArthur Fellow
Emeritus faculty Name Department Year Award Citation Notes Jerome I. Friedman Physics 1990 Physics "for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics"
Deceased faculty Name Department Year Award Citation Notes Henry W. Kendall Physics 1990 Physics "for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics" H. Gobind Khorana Biology 1968 Medicine/Physiology "for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis" Salvador E. Luria Biology 1969 Medicine/Physiology "for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses" Franco Modigliani Economics 1985 Economics "for his pioneering analyses of saving and of financial markets" Mario Molina Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science 1995 Chemistry "for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone" Paul A. Samuelson Economics 1970 Economics "for the scientific work through which he has developed static and dynamic economic theory and actively contributed to raising the level of analysis in economic science" Nir Shavit Engineering 2021 Physics "For his advances in algorithms research and his unfailing love of spreading engineering knowledge" Clifford G. Shull Physics 1994 Physics "for the development of the neutron diffraction technique" Robert M. Solow Economics 1987 Economics "for his contributions to the theory of economic growth"
Former faculty Name Department Year Award Citation Notes David Baltimore Biology 1975 Medicine/Physiology "for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell" Robert Engle Economics 2003 Economics "for methods of analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility (ARCH)" Daniel L. McFadden Economics 2000 Economics "for his development of theory and methods for analyzing discrete choice" John Forbes Nash, Jr. Economics 1994 Economics "for [his] pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games" Myron S. Scholes Economics 1997 Economics "for a new method to determine the value of derivatives" K. Barry Sharpless Chemistry 2001 Chemistry "for his work on chirally catalysed oxidation reactions" Charles H. Townes Physics 1964 Physics "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle" Steven Weinberg Physics 1979 Physics "for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral current"
Former and/or retired research staff Name Laboratory Year Award Citation Notes Thomas R. Cech Post-doc, Department of Biology (1975–1978) 1989 Chemistry "for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA" Aaron Ciechanover 2004 Chemistry "for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation" Horst L. Störmer Researcher, Francis Bitter High Magnetic Field Lab 1998 Physics "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations" E. Donnall Thomas Post-doc (1949–1950) 1990 Medicine/Physiology "for their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease" Daniel C. Tsui Researcher, Francis Bitter High Magnetic Field Lab 1998 Physics "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations" Geoffrey Wilkinson Research Associate, Department of Chemistry (1950–1951) 1973 Chemistry "for their pioneering work, performed independently, on the chemistry of the organometallic, so called sandwich compounds"
MacArthur Fellows
Current faculty Name Department Year Citation Notes Regina Barzilay Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab 2017 "developing machine learning methods that enable computers to process and analyze vast amounts of human language data" Angela Belcher Materials Science and Engineering 2004 "developing new techniques for manipulating systems that straddle the boundary of organic and inorganic chemistry at the molecular scale" Erik Demaine Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2003 Junot Díaz Comparative Media Studies/Writing 2012 "using raw, vernacular dialogue and spare, unsentimental prose to draw readers into the various and distinct worlds that immigrants must straddle" Esther Duflo Economics 2009 "exploring the social and economic forces perpetuating the cycle of poverty for the poorest peoples in South Asia and Africa" Linda G. Griffith Biological Engineering 2006 "extending the limits of biomedical engineering and its applications for diagnosing disease and regenerating damaged organs" John Harbison Music and Theater Arts 1989 Dina Katabi Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2013 "... contributed to a range of networking issues, from protocols to minimize congestion in high-bandwidth networks to algorithms for spectrum analysis, though most of her work centers on wireless data transmission." Evelyn Fox Keller History & Science, Technology, and Society 1992 Eric Lander Biology 1987 Heather Lechtman Material Science and Engineering 1984 Nergis Mavalvala Physics 2010 David C. Page Biology 1986 Michael J. Piore Economics 1984 Daniela L. Rus Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2002 Sara Seager Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences & Physics 2013 Peter Shor Mathematics 1999 Marin Soljacic Physics 2008 Alar Toomre Mathematics 1984 Frank Wilczek Physics 1982 Also a Nobel Laureate Jack Wisdom Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences 1994
Research staff Name Laboratory Year Citation Notes Tim Berners-Lee Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab 1998 Harlan Lane Research Laboratory of Electronics 1991 Vamsi Mootha Broad Institute 2004 "creating powerful, adaptable computational strategies for mining data collected in laboratories throughout the world, providing an efficient means to hunt down gene interactions that lead to a wide variety of diseases" Amy Smith Edgerton Center 2004 "designing life-enhancing solutions and labor-saving technologies for people at the far end of dirt roads in the world's most remote societies" Richard M. Stallman Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab 1990 George Zweig Research Laboratory of Electronics 1981
Former faculty Name Department Year Citation Notes Jed Z. Buchwald History 1995 Michael Kremer Economics 1997 Sendhil Mullainathan Economics 2002 Richard C. Mulligan Biology 1981 Charles Sabel Science, Technology, Society 1982 Charles Steidel Physics 2002 Mark S. Wrighton Chemistry 1983
National Medal of Science
Current faculty Name Department Year Citation Notes Ann M. Graybiel Biology 2001 Biological Sciences - "For her pioneering contributions to the understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the brain, including the structure, chemistry, and function of the pathways subserving thought and movement." Stephen J. Lippard Chemistry 2004 Chemistry - "For pioneering research in bioinorganic chemistry, which enriched our understanding of how metal compounds interact with DNA, provided important synthetic models for the active sites of metalloproteins, and elucidated key structural and mechanistic features of methane monooxygenase." Philip A. Sharp Biology 2004 Biological Sciences - "For his contributions to understanding the biochemical pathway of RNA interference phenomena and for his use of RNA interference techniques to perform genetic analyses in mammalian cells." Kenneth N. Stevens EECS 1999 Engineering - "For his leadership and pioneering contributions to the theory of acoustics of speech production and perception, development of mathematical methods of analysis and modeling to study the acoustics of speech production, and establishing the contemporary foundations of speech science." Robert A. Weinberg Biology 1997 Biological Sciences - "For his contribution to the identification of cellular oncogenes and their role in cancer, which led to a better understanding of the molecular basis for cancer and its diagnosis and therapy."
Emeritus faculty Name Department Year Citation Notes
Deceased faculty