Turkish-American professor named new head of engineering department at MIT

ISTANBUL

Turkish-American Prof. Dr. Asu Özdağlar has been named the new head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Özdağlar has served as the interim head of the department since July 1 after former head Acanthi Chandraksan was named dean of the School of Engineering.

Özdağlar is best known for her contributions to the areas of optimization theory, economic and social networked systems, and game theory.

Özdağlar received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) in the Turkish capital Ankara in 1996 and S.M. and PhD degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 1998 and 2003. Since completing her graduate studies at MIT, Özdağlar has served as a member at the EECS.

Özdağlar is married to Daron Acemoğlu, a Turkish-born American economist who has taught at the MIT since 1993.

The EECS Department is known as the largest academic unit at MIT. It currently enrolls 1,297 undergraduate majors and 916 graduate students. In 2016-2017, the department awarded 477 undergraduate, 260 master’s, and 95 doctoral degrees. The EECS currently has 119 faculty members.