Author: Institute for Data, Systems, and Society<\/p>\n
The MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) announced the creation of a new endowed chair made possible by the generosity of IDSS professor post-tenure and \u201cMIT lifer\u201d Richard \u201cDick\u201d Larson. Effective July 1, the fund provides a full professorship for senior IDSS faculty: the Distinguished Professorship in Data, Systems, and Society.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a faculty member, MIT has not only accepted but embraced my several mid-career changes of direction,\u201d says Larson. \u201cI have called five different academic departments my home, starting with Electrical Engineering (that is what it was called in the 1960s) and now finalized with the interdepartmental, interdisciplinary IDSS \u2014 Institute for Data, Systems and Society. Those beautiful three words\u00a0 \u2014 data, systems, society \u2014 they represent my energy and commitment over the second half of my career. My gifted chair is an effort to keep alive those three words, with others following me doing research, teaching and mentoring centered around data, systems, society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larson\u2019s career has focused his operations research and systems expertise on a wide variety of problems, in both public and private sectors. His contributions span the fields of urban service systems (especially emergency response systems), disaster planning, pandemics, queueing, logistics, technology-enabled education, smart-energy houses, and workforce planning. His latest book,\u00a0\u201cModel Thinking for Everyday Life<\/a>,\u201d draws on decades of experience as a champion of STEM education at MIT and beyond, such as his leadership of\u00a0MIT BLOSSOMS<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDick Larson has been making an impact at MIT for over half a century,\u201d says IDSS Director Fotini Christia, the Ford International Professor in Political Science. \u201cThis gift extends his already considerable legacy and ensures his impact will continue to be felt for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Christia is pleased that IDSS and brain and cognitive science professor Alexander \u201cSasha\u201d Rakhlin is the inaugural holder of the new professorship. The selection recognizes Rakhlin\u2019s distinguished scholarly record, dedicated service to IDSS, excellence in teaching, and contributions to research in statistics and computation.<\/p>\n \u201cSasha\u2019s analysis of neural network complexity, and his work developing tools for online prediction, are perfect examples of research which builds bridges across disciplines, and also connects different departments and units at MIT,\u201d says Michale Fee, the Glen V. and Phyllis F. Dorflinger Professor of Neuroscience, and head of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to see Sasha\u2019s contributions recognized in this way, and I\u2019m grateful to Dick Larson for supporting this vision.\u201d<\/p>\n Rakhlin\u2019s research is in machine learning, with an emphasis on statistics and computation. He is interested in formalizing the process of learning, in analyzing learning models, and in deriving and implementing emerging learning methods. A significant thrust of his research is in developing theoretical and algorithmic tools for online prediction, a learning framework where data arrives in a sequential fashion.<\/p>\n \u201cI am honored to be the inaugural holder of the Distinguished Professorship in Data, Systems, and Society,\u201d says Rakhlin. \u201cProfessor Larson\u2019s commitment to education and service to MIT both serve as models to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Go to Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"