School of Engineering faculty and staff receive awards in spring 2024

September 13, 2024

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Photo: Lillie Paquette

Members of MIT’s School of Engineering were honored in recognition of their scholarship, service, and overall excellence in the spring of 2024.

School of Engineering

Faculty, researchers, and staff receive many external awards throughout the year. The School of Engineering periodically highlights the honors, prizes, and medals won by community members working in academic departments, labs, and centers. Spring 2024 honorees include the following:

Lallit Anand, the Warren and Towneley Rohsenow Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was named a 2024 Society of Engineering Fellow. Fellows are awarded to individuals who are distinguished in a relevant field and who have made meaningful contributions to the Society and the technical community.
Adam Belay, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received a Google Research Scholar Award, awarded to professors based on merit to support their cutting-edge research.
Michael Birnbaum, associate professor in the Department of Biological Engineering, received the Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching, given annually to a faculty member whose contributions to education have been characterized by dedication, care, and creativity.
Tamara Broderick, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was named a 2024 Class of Institute of Mathematical Statistics Fellow for her significant contributions to theoretical modeling and computational methodology at the intersection of Bayesian Statistical Machine Learning and Bayesian nonparametric theory and applications.
Michael Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was named a 2024 American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in medical and biological engineering.
Tal Cohen, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received the Arthur C Smith Award, presented to a member of the MIT faculty for meaningful contributions and devotion to undergraduate student life and learning at MIT.
Jesús del Alamo, the Donner Professor of Science in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the Intel 2023 Outstanding Researcher Award. The annual award program recognizes the exceptional contributions made through Intel university-sponsored research that help further Intel’s mission of creating world-changing technology that improves the lives of everyone on the planet.
Betar Gallant, Class of 1922 Career Development Professor and associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, received the Electrochemical Society's Charles W. Tobias Young Investigator Award (245th meeting). The award recognizes outstanding scientific and/or engineering work in fundamental or applied electrochemistry or solid-state science and technology by a young scientist or engineer.
Marzyeh Ghassemi, the Germeshausen Career Development Professor and associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, received a Google Research Scholar Award, which are awarded to professors based on merit to support their cutting-edge research.
Linda Griffith, the School of Engineering Professor of Teaching Innovation in the Department of Biological Engineering, was named to the inaugural Time100 Health, a list of the world’s most influential people in health.
Jack Hare, assistant professor and the Gale (1929) Career Development Professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, received the 2024 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award recognizes a person who exemplifies the best in furthering engineering design education through vision, interactions with students and industry, scholarship and impact on the next generation of engineers, and a person whose action serves as a role model for other educators to emulate.
Marija Ilić, senior research scientist and adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the IEEE PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award, which is awarded annually to leading society members and industry principals for their notable contributions to IEEE Power & Energy Society and the power and energy industry.
Piotr Indyk, the Thonas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.
Linda Kaelbling, the Panasonic Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the 2024 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award recognizes a person who exemplifies the best in furthering engineering design education through vision, interactions with students and industry, scholarship and impact on the next generation of engineers, and a person whose action serves as a role model for other educators to emulate.
Douglas Lauffenburger, the Ford Professor of Engineering in the Department of Biological Engineering, was awarded the Ernst Dieter Gilles Prize, which honors outstanding scientific achievements in the field of systems theory, system dynamics, control engineering, and systems biology.
William Oliver, the Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was elected to the 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows. Election as a fellow honors members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues.
Maggie Qi, assistant professor and the Joseph R. Mares ’24 Career Development Professor, received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, which supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.
Manish Raghavan, the Drew Houston (2005) Career Development Professor and assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received a Google Research Scholar Award, awarded to professors based on merit to support their cutting-edge research.
Ritu Raman, the Eugene Bell Career Development Professor of Tissue Engineering and assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, received the 2024 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award recognizes a person who exemplifies the best in furthering engineering design education through vision, interactions with students and industry, scholarship and impact on the next generation of engineers, and a person whose action serves as a role model for other educators to emulate.
Daniela Rus, an Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, in recognition of her distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.
Julian Shun, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the 2023 Association for Computing Machinery Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award, which honors specific theoretical accomplishments that have had a significant and demonstrable effect on the practice of computing.
Michael Short, associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, received the Capers (1976) and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising, which recognizes leaders in engineering and applied sciences who, as exemplary mentors and advisors, have significantly and consistently supported the personal and professional development of others.
Jessica Stark, the Underwood-Prescott Career Development Professor and assistant professor in the Department of Biological Engineering, received the V Foundation's Women Scientists Innovation Award for Cancer Research, awarded to women scientists to advance their innovative work in the cancer field. The award helps to address the significant funding disparities for women in science.
Greg Stephanopoulos, the Willard Henry Dow Professor in Chemical Engineering, was elected to Academia Europaea. The object of Academia Europaea is the advancement and propagation of excellence in scholarship in the humanities, law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all branches of natural and technological sciences anywhere in the world for the public benefit and for the advancement of the education of the public of all ages.
Russ Tedrake, the Toyota Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the School of Engineering Distinguished Educator Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to undergraduate and/or graduate education by members of its faculty and teaching staff (lecturer or instructor).
Caroline Uhler, an Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was named a 2024 Class of Institute of Mathematical Statistics Fellow for her interdisciplinary excellence, merging mathematical statistics and computational biology in innovative and impactful ways.
Franz-Josef Ulm, the Class of 1992 Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received the 2024 Paul Gray Public Service Award, which recognizes a member of the MIT faculty who exemplifies building “a better world” through his or her teaching, research, advising, and service.
Martin Wainwright, a Cecil H. Green Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, awarded annually to individuals making their mark in the social sciences, the natural sciences, the humanities, and the creative arts.
Ryan Williams, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was awarded the 2024 Gödel Prize, awarded for outstanding papers in the area of theoretical computer science.
Lizhong Zheng, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the 2024 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award recognizes a person who exemplifies the best in furthering engineering design education through vision, interactions with students and industry, scholarship and impact on the next generation of engineers, and a person whose action serves as a role model for other educators to emulate.

The School of Engineering also recognizes administration staff with yearly awards each spring.

The Ellen J. Mandigo Award recognizes staff who have demonstrated, over an extended period of time, the qualities that Mandigo possessed in abundance during her long career at MIT: intelligence, skill, hard work, and dedication to the Institute. The 2024 recipients are:

Ted Equi in MIT Leaders for Global Operations;
Carol Niemi in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and
Gwen Wilcox in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

The Infinite Mile Award recognizes and rewards members of the MIT School of Engineering’s administrative, support, sponsored research, and, when appropriate, academic staff in the categories of excellence, diversity and community, and institutional cooperation. This year's honorees are:

Marygrace Aboudou in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering;
Amanda Beyer-Purvis in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science;
Mahia Brown in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering;
Steven Derocher in MIT Leaders for Global Operation/System Design and Management;
Tia Giurleo in the Dean’s Office of the MIT School of Engineering;
Linda Gjerasi in the Department of Mechanical Engineering;
Suxin Hu in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics;
Alexis Runstadler in the Department of Biological Engineering;
Rebecca Shepardson in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering;
Michael Skocay in the Department of Mechanical Engineering;
Justin Snow in the Masters in Supply Chain Management Program; and
Christina Spinelli in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
*Originally published in MIT News.

News: School of Engineering faculty and staff receive awards in spring 2024