MIT Adds Seven Faculty to Schwarzman College
The new hires join MIT's computing college in core and shared positions spanning electrical engineering, economics, urban studies, and business.
Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
MIT's Schwarzman College of Computing welcomed seven new faculty members in 2026, with appointments in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and shared positions with other departments. The faculty are working on AI and computing technologies in environmental science, quantum computing, human-AI interaction, and macroeconomics and finance.
Why it matters
The appointments expand MIT's computing faculty across several disciplines, linking computing research with fields such as urban planning, economics, and management. Because EECS reports jointly to the Schwarzman College and the School of Engineering, the hires reflect how the institution is structuring computing work across campus.
Seven faculty joined in 2026, with start dates ranging from March to September, and five joined in September alone. The appointments split between core EECS roles and shared positions with Urban Studies and Planning, Mathematics, Economics, and MIT Sloan.
The players
MIT Schwarzman College of Computing
MIT's college for computing research and education, established to coordinate computing work across the Institute's departments.
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS)
MIT's joint department in electrical engineering and computer science, which reports to both the Schwarzman College and the School of Engineering.
The details
Among the new hires are David Bruns-Smith and Zana Buçinca at MIT Sloan with shared EECS positions, Alexandra Cabral in Urban Studies and Planning, Alexandru Damian in Mathematics, Lindsey Raymond PhD '24 in Economics, and Jas Brooks, the KDD Career Development Professor in Communications and Technology, in EECS. Hengyun (Harry) Zhou also joined EECS as an assistant professor in March.
Timeline
March 2026: Hengyun (Harry) Zhou joins EECS as an assistant professor.
July 2026: Lindsey Raymond joins MIT as an assistant professor in Economics.
September 2026: Five faculty members, including Bruns-Smith, Buçinca, Cabral, Damian, and Brooks, join MIT.
The Tech Race
The seven appointments extend the Schwarzman College's model of embedding computing faculty across MIT's departments, from Sloan and Economics to Urban Studies. The approach positions MIT's computing work alongside rival university AI programs by pairing technical research with applied social science fields.
Students in computing, economics, and urban planning at MIT will have new faculty advisors and course options as these appointees begin teaching. The shared appointments mean some of these researchers will work across departmental lines in ways that may shape course offerings.
The takeaway
Cross-departmental appointments like these show how computing research increasingly depends on expertise in economics, planning, and management. Readers following AI's expansion into other fields can watch how these hires translate into new research output.
Further reading
For broader context on campus research directions, see Artificial Intelligence coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
