Karl Okay. Berggren, the Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT, has been named the brand new college head {of electrical} engineering within the Division of Electrical Engineering and Laptop Science (EECS), efficient Jan. 15.
“Karl’s distinctive interdisciplinary analysis combining electrical engineering, physics, and supplies science, coupled along with his expertise working with business and authorities organizations, makes him a perfect match to go electrical engineering. I’m assured electrical engineering will proceed to develop below his management,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, chief innovation and technique officer, dean of engineering, and Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Laptop Science.
“Karl has made an unimaginable impression as a researcher and educator over his 20 years in EECS. College students and school colleagues reward his considerate strategy to educating, and the care with which he oversaw the educating labs in his prior function as undergraduate lab officer for the division. He’ll undoubtedly be a superb chief, bringing his ardour for training and collaborative spirit to this new function,” provides Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman Faculty of Computing and the Henry Ellis Warren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Laptop Science.
Berggren joins the management of EECS, which collectively experiences to the MIT Schwarzman Faculty of Computing and the College of Engineering. The biggest educational division at MIT, EECS was reorganized in 2019 as a part of the formation of the school into three overlapping sub-units in electrical engineering, pc science, and synthetic intelligence and decision-making. The restructuring has enabled every of the three sub-units to focus on college recruitment, mentoring, promotion, educational applications, and neighborhood constructing in coordination with the others.
A member of the EECS college since 2003, Berggren has taught a spread of topics within the division, together with Digital Communications, Circuits and Electronics, Fundamentals of Programming, Utilized Quantum and Statistical Physics, Introduction to EECS by way of Interconnected Embedded Programs, Introduction to Quantum Programs Engineering, and Introduction to Nanofabrication. Earlier than becoming a member of EECS, Berggren labored as a employees member at MIT Lincoln Laboratory for seven years. Berggren additionally maintains an lively consulting follow and has expertise working with industrial and authorities organizations.
Berggren’s present analysis focuses on superconductive circuits, digital gadgets, single-photon detectors for quantum purposes, and electron-optical programs. He heads the Quantum Nanostructures and Nanofabrication Group, which develops nanofabrication expertise on the few-nanometer size scale. The group makes use of these applied sciences to push the envelope of what’s attainable with photonic and electrical gadgets, specializing in superconductive and free-electron gadgets.
Berggren has acquired quite a few prestigious awards and honors all through his profession. Most lately, he was named an MIT MacVicar Fellow in 2024. Berggren can also be a fellow of the AAAS, IEEE, and the Kavli Basis, and a recipient of the 2015 Paul T. Forman Workforce Engineering Award from the Optical Society of America (now Optica). In 2016, he acquired a Bose Fellowship and was additionally a recipient of the EECS division’s Frank Fast Innovation Fellowship and the Burgess (’52) & Elizabeth Jamieson Award for Excellence in Instructing.
Berggren succeeds Joel Voldman, who has served because the inaugural electrical engineering college head since January 2020.
“Joel has been in management roles since 2018, when he was named affiliate division head of EECS. I’m deeply grateful to him for his invaluable contributions to EECS since that point,” says Asu Ozdaglar, MathWorks Professor and head of EECS, who additionally serves because the deputy dean of the MIT Schwarzman Faculty of Computing. “I look ahead to working with Karl now and persevering with alongside the wonderful path we launched into in 2019.”
