L. Rafael Reif
Doctor of Engineering
For more than four decades, electrical engineer L. Rafael Reif’s visionary leadership has informed and advanced scientific research and higher education in this country.
As MIT’s 17th president, from 2012-22, Reif was a driving force behind numerous pedagogical milestones, including the creation of the MITx and edX programs, which made free and fee-based online courses accessible to millions of learners across the globe. He spearheaded the Task Force on the Future of MIT Education, which in 2014 led to the Institute’s adoption of blended learning models. He oversaw the creation of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, which advances computer science and artificial intelligence education and research while furthering the study of the social and ethical dimensions of computing. He also established the MIT Quest for Intelligence, an Institute-wide initiative that probes the boundary between natural and machine intelligence.
During Reif’s tenure, Kendall Square emerged as a world-renowned hub of research and innovation. This was spurred in part by the 2016 launch of the incubator and venture-capital fund The Engine, which supports “tough tech” start-ups that bring scientific and engineering breakthroughs to bear on the world’s most pressing problems. A champion of nanotechnology, he oversaw the construction of the open-access, state-of-the-art MIT.nano research facility. In 2021, he released MIT’s ambitious action plan to address the global climate crisis.
The inventor or co-inventor on 15 patents, Reif has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1980. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and has received numerous honors for his pioneering work, including the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation’s Frank E. Taplin, Jr. Public Intellectual Award.