Mung Chiang (; born February 2, 1977) is a Chinese American electrical engineer who has been serving as the 18th president of Northwestern University since July 1, 2026.
Previously at Purdue University in Indiana, Chiang served as the 13th president from 2023 to 2026, as executive vice president for strategic initiatives from 2021 to 2023, and as dean of engineering from 2017 to 2023. He joined the faculty of Princeton University in 2003 and was appointed professor of electrical engineering in 2011.
Early life and education Mung Chiang was born on February 2, 1977, in Tianjin, China. In 1988, when Mung Chiang was 11 years old, his family went to Hong Kong to live with his grandmother. He re-took the fifth grade of primary school at Tak Sun School (德信學校), a full-time Catholic school for boys, and taught himself Cantonese, Traditional Chinese, and English.
After primary school, Chiang was admitted to Queen's College (皇仁書院) through examination by the school's independent admission quota. At his final semester in high school in 1995, he took the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and obtained full A's in all 10 subjects. He was one of the four students of Queen's College that year who attained 10 A's in the exam. After graduating from high school, he traveled to the United States to enroll at Stanford University in 1995.
At Stanford, Chiang received a Bachelor of Science with double major in electrical engineering and mathematics in 1999, a Master of Science in electrical engineering in 2000, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 2003.
Career
Princeton University Chiang was appointed assistant professor at Princeton University in 2004, associate professor with tenure in 2008, full professor in 2011, and the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering in 2013. While at Princeton, Chiang founded the Princeton EDGE Lab in 2009.
In 2015, Chiang, along with Helder Antunes and Tao Zhang, met to discuss the creation of a consortium to promote the standardization of fog computing, which eventually was formed as the OpenFog Consortium.
He received the 2016 Distinguished Teaching Award at the Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Purdue University On May 1, 2017, Purdue University named Chiang the dean of engineering, effective July 1, 2017. He was also appointed the Roscoe H. George Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Starting in December 2019, Chiang took a one-year leave of absence to serve as the science and technology adviser to the United States secretary of state Mike Pompeo through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility Program.
On April 23, 2021, Purdue University named Chiang as Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives while continuing to lead the College of Engineering.
On June 10, 2022, the Purdue University Board of Trustees announced its unanimous election of Chiang to serve as the university's 13th president, effective January 1, 2023.
Northwestern University On May 18, 2026, Northwestern University named Chiang the 18th president of the university, effective July 1, 2026.
Awards and honors 2007 – ONR Young Investigator Award 2007 – Technology Review TR35 Young Innovator Award 2008 – Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers 2012 – IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award 2012 – IEEE INFOCOM Best Paper Award 2012 – IEEE Fellow 2013 – Alan T. Waterman Award 2013 – ASEE Frederick Emmons Terman Award in Engineering Education 2013 – IEEE SECON Best Paper Award 2014 – Guggenheim Fellow 2014 – INFORMS Information Systems Design Science Award 2016 – Princeton School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) Distinguished Teacher Award 2020 – National Academy of Inventors fellow 2020 – Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences international fellow. 2022 – IEEE INFOCOM Achievement Award 2024 – Honorary Doctor of Science, Dartmouth College 2025 – IEEE Founders Medal
Publication Chiang co-authored an undergraduate technical textbook Networked Life: 20 Questions and Answers (Cambridge University Press, 2012; ) and a popular science book The Power of Networks: Six Principles That Connect Our Lives (Princeton University Press, 2016; ). The first book received the PROSE Awards in Science and Technology Writing in 2013 from the Association of American Publishers. The second book was mentioned in various popular media, such as in TIME Magazine.
References
External links
Chiang homepage