Prof. L Rafael Reif

President Emeritus
Ray and Maria Stata Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Emeritus

Primary DLC

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

MIT Room: 1-229

Areas of Interest and Expertise

Integrated Circuit Fabrication Technology
New Process Technologies for VLSI
Multilevel Interconect Technologies
Three-Dimensional Integration
Environmentally-Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing
Low Temperature Deposition of Epitaxial and Polycrystalline Silicon and SiGe Alloys
Heteroepitaxial Bipolar Transistors
Thin Film Transistors
In Situ, Real-Time Monitorying of Unit Process Steps
Novel Interconnect Technologies

Research Summary

Before becoming president, as MIT’s provost (2005-2012), Dr. Reif helped create and implement the strategy that allowed MIT to weather the global financial crisis, drove the growth of MIT’s global strategy, promoted a major faculty-led effort to address challenges around race and diversity, and helped launch the Institute for Medical Engineering and Sciences.

A member of the MIT faculty since 1980, he has served as director of MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories, as associate department head for Electrical Engineering, and as head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). In 2004, he was named the Fariborz Maseeh Professor of Emerging Technology, a title he held until he became president. He remains a mentor and advocate for students, serving each year as an advisor of first-year undergraduates.

In 2022, the National Academy of Engineering honored him with the Simon Ramo Founders Award "for pioneering leadership to reimagine and advance higher education university-based entrepreneurship, the future of computing, the future of work, sustainability and semiconductor technology."

Dr. Reif received the degree of Ingeniero Eléctrico from Universidad de Carabobo, Valencia, Venezuela, and served for a year as an assistant professor at Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas. He earned his doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University, where he spent a year as a visiting assistant professor. After moving to MIT, Dr. Reif held the Analog Devices Career Development Professorship in EECS and an IBM Faculty Fellowship from MIT’s Center for Materials Science and Engineering. He received a United States Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1984.

Recent Work

  • Video

    2024 MIT R&D Conference: Day 2 Welcome & Opening Remarks

    November 19, 2024Conference Video Duration: 25:25

    Day 2 Welcomes & Opening Remarks

    2024 MIT R&D Conference: Panel Discussion: The Making of MTL 2

    November 19, 2024Conference Video Duration: 47:48
    Panel Discussion: The Making of MTL – Community, Impact and Industry Partnership Through Semiconductors and Microsystems
    Moderator:
    Jesús A. del Alamo
    Donner Professor in the School of Engineering
    Panelists:
    L. Rafael Reif
    MIT President Emeritus
    Ray and Maria Stata Professor, MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS)

    Ray Stata
    Entrepreneur, Engineer, and Investor, Stata Space
    Co-Founder and Board Member, Analog Devices

    Vladimir Bulović
    Director, MIT.nano,
    Fariborz Maseeh (1990) Professor of Emerging Technology, MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS)

    Dimitri Antoniadis
    Ray & Maria Stata Professor of Electrical Engineering, MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS)