Polina Anikeeva PhD ’09, the Matoula S. Salapatas Professor at MIT, has been named the brand new head of MIT’s Division of Supplies Science and Engineering (DMSE), efficient July 1.
“Professor Anikeeva’s ardour and dedication as each a researcher and educator, in addition to her spectacular community of connections throughout the broader Institute, make her extremely properly suited to guide DMSE,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, chief innovation and technique officer, dean of engineering, and Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science.
Along with serving as a professor in DMSE, Anikeeva is a professor of mind and cognitive sciences, director of the Ok. Lisa Yang Mind-Physique Heart, a member of the McGovern Institute for Mind Analysis, and affiliate director of MIT’s Analysis Laboratory of Electronics.
Anikeeva leads the MIT Bioelectronics Group, which focuses on growing magnetic and optoelectronic instruments to check neural communication in well being and illness. Her staff applies magnetic nanomaterials and fiber-based units to disclose physiological processes underlying brain-organ communication, with specific give attention to gut-brain circuits. Their objective is to develop minimally invasive therapies for a spread of neurological, psychiatric, and metabolic situations.
Anikeeva’s analysis sits on the intersection of supplies chemistry, electronics, and neurobiology. By bridging these disciplines, Anikeeva and her staff are deepening our understanding and remedy of advanced neurological problems. Her method has led to the creation of optoelectronic and magnetic units that may file neural exercise and stimulate neurons throughout behavioral research.
All through her profession, Anikeeva has been acknowledged with quite a few awards for her groundbreaking analysis. Her honors embody receiving an NSF CAREER Award, DARPA Younger School Award, and the Pioneer Award from the NIH’s Excessive-Threat, Excessive-Reward Analysis Program. MIT Know-how Overview named her one of many 35 Innovators Underneath 35 and the Vilcek Basis awarded her the Prize for Inventive Promise in Biomedical Science.
Her influence extends past the laboratory and into the classroom, the place her dedication to training has earned her the Junior Bose Instructing Award, the MacVicar School Fellowship, and an MITx Prize for Instructing and Studying in MOOCs. Her entrepreneurial spirit was acknowledged with a $100,000 prize within the inaugural MIT School Founders Initiative Prize Competitors, recognizing her pioneering work in neuroprosthetics.
In 2023, Anikeeva co-founded Neurobionics Inc., which develops versatile fibers that may interface with the mind — opening new alternatives for sensing and therapeutics. The staff has offered their applied sciences at MIT delta v Demo Day and gained $50,000 value of lab house on the LabCentral Ignite Golden Ticket pitch competitors. Anikeeva serves as the corporate’s scientific advisor.
Anikeeva earned her bachelor’s diploma in physics at St. Petersburg State Polytechnic College in Russia. She continued her training at MIT, the place she acquired her PhD in supplies science and engineering. Vladimir Bulović, director of MIT.nano and the Fariborz Maseeh Chair in Rising Know-how, served as Anikeeva’s doctoral advisor. After finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford College, engaged on units for optical stimulation and recording of neural exercise, Anikeeva returned to MIT as a college member in 2011.
Anikeeva succeeds Caroline Ross, the Ford Professor of Engineering, who has served as interim division head since August 2023.
“Due to Professor Ross’s steadfast management, DMSE has continued to thrive throughout this era of transition. I’m extremely grateful for her many contributions and long-standing dedication to strengthening the DMSE group,” provides Chandrakasan.
