February 26 Speakers

Cynthia Barnhart is the chancellor of MIT and the Ford Foundation Professor of Engineering. As chancellor, Barnhart advises the president on undergraduate and graduate education and residential life policies, and plays a leading role in strategic planning, faculty appointments, resource development, and campus planning. She has expanded student health and wellness programs and launched a multifaceted campaign to address sexual misconduct on campus. Her previous leadership roles were in the School of Engineering, Operations Research Center, and Center for Transportation and Logistics. An INFORMS Fellow and American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Engineering member, she has received honorary doctorates from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and the University of Toronto. Barnhart earned an SM and PhD in transportation and operations research from MIT.

Anantha P. Chandrakasan is the dean of the MIT School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He serves as co-chair of the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab, the chair of the MIT–SenseTime Alliance on Artificial Intelligence, the chair of the Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health, and a board member of The Engine. Chandrakasan also leads the MIT Energy-Efficient Circuits and Systems Group. He is a recipient of awards including the 2009 Semiconductor Industry Association University Researcher Award, the 2013 IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State Circuits, and an honorary doctorate from KU Leuven in 2016. An IEEE Fellow, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2015. Chandrakasan earned a BS, an MS, and a PhD in electrical engineering and computer sciences from the University of California at Berkeley.