MIT Affiliate Professor Jacob Andreas of the Division of Electrical Engineering and Laptop Science [EECS] and MIT Affiliate Professor Brett McGuire of the Division of Chemistry have been chosen because the winners of the 2026 Harold E. Edgerton College Achievement Award. Established in 1982 as a everlasting tribute to Institute Professor Emeritus Harold E. Edgerton’s nice and enduring assist for youthful college members, this award is given yearly in recognition of outstanding distinction in instructing, analysis, and repair.
“The Division of Chemistry is extraordinarily delighted to see Brett acknowledged for science that has modified how we take into consideration carbon in area,” says Class of 1942 Professor of Chemistry and Division Head Matthew D. Shoulders. “Brett’s lab combines laboratory spectroscopy, radio astronomy, and complex signal-analysis strategies to tug definitive molecular fingerprints out of terribly faint knowledge. His discovery of polycyclic fragrant hydrocarbons within the chilly interstellar medium has opened a strong new window on astrochemistry. Furthermore, Brett is inventing the artistic and distinctive instruments that make discoveries like this doable.”
“Jacob Andreas represents the easiest of MIT EECS” says Asu Ozdaglar, EECS division head. “He’s an modern researcher whose work combines computational and linguistically knowledgeable approaches to construct foundations of language studying. He’s a rare educator who has introduced these forefront concepts into our core courses in pure language processing and machine studying. His capacity to bridge foundational idea with real-world impression, whereas additionally advancing the social and moral dimensions of computing, makes him really deserving of the Edgerton College Achievement Award.”
Andreas joined the MIT college in July 2019, and is affiliated with the Laptop Science and Synthetic Intelligence Laboratory. His work is in pure language processing (NLP), and extra broadly in AI. He goals to know the computational foundations of language studying, and to construct clever programs that may be taught from human steerage. Amongst different honors, Andreas has acquired Samsung’s AI Researcher of the Yr award, MIT’s Kolokotrones and Junior Bose instructing awards, a 2024 Sloan Analysis Fellow award, and paper awards on the Nationwide Accrediting Company for Scientific Laboratory Sciences, the Worldwide Convention on Machine Studying, and the Affiliation for Computational Linguistics.
Andreas acquired his BS from Columbia College, his MPhil from Cambridge College (the place he studied as a Churchill scholar), and his PhD in pure language processing from the College of California at Berkeley. His work in pure language processing has taken on thorny issues within the functionality hole between people and computer systems. “The defining function of human language use is our capability for compositional generalization,” explains Antonio Torralba, Delta Electronics Professor and school head of Synthetic Intelligence and Determination-Making within the Division of EECS. “Lots of the core challenges in pure language processing is addressed by merely coaching bigger and bigger neural fashions, however this sort of compositional generalization stays a persistent problem, and with out the power to generalize compositionally, the deep studying toolkit won’t ever be sturdy sufficient for probably the most difficult real-world NLP duties. Jacob’s work on compositional modeling attracts new connections between NLP and work in pc imaginative and prescient and physics geared toward modeling programs ruled by symmetries and different algebraic constructions and, utilizing them, they’ve been capable of construct NLP fashions exhibiting numerous new, human-like language acquisition behaviors, together with one-shot phrase studying, studying through mutual exclusivity constraints, and studying of grammatical guidelines in extraordinarily low-resource settings.”
Inside EECS, Andreas has developed a number of superior programs in pure language processing, in addition to new workout routines designed to get college students to grapple with essential social and moral issues in machine studying deployment. “Jacob has taken a number one function in fully modernizing and increasing our course choices in pure language processing,” says award nominator Leslie Pack Kaelbling, Panasonic Professor within the Division of EECS. “He has led the event of a contemporary two-course sequence, which is a cornerstone of the brand new AI+D [artificial intelligence and decision-making] main, routinely enrolling a number of hundred college students every semester. His command of the realm is broad and deep, and his courses combine classical structural understanding of language with probably the most trendy learning-based approaches. He has put MIT EECS on the worldwide map as a spot to review pure language at each degree.”
Brett McGuire joined the MIT college in 2020 and was promoted to affiliate professor in 2025. His analysis operates on the intersection of bodily chemistry, molecular spectroscopy, and observational astrophysics, the place he seeks to uncover how the chemical constructing blocks of life evolve alongside and assist form the delivery of stars and planets. A former Jansky Fellow after which Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow on the Nationwide Radio Astronomy Observatory, McGuire has a BS in chemistry from the College of Illinois and a PhD in bodily chemistry from Caltech. His honors embrace a 2026 Sloan Fellowship, the Beckman Younger Investigator Award, the Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy, and the MIT Award for Educating with Digital Expertise.
The college who nominated McGuire for this award praised his extraordinary public outreach, his rapid willingness to tackle instructing class 5.111 (Ideas of Chemical Science), a Normal Institute Requirement (GIR) course comprised of 150–500 college students, and his service to each the MIT and astrochemical communities.
“Brett is on the very prime of astrochemical scientists in his age group resulting from his discovery of fused carbon ring compounds within the chilly area of the ISM [interstellar medium], an commentary that gives a route for carbon incorporation in planets,” says Sylvia Ceyer, the John C. Sheehan Professor of Chemistry in her nomination assertion. “His in depth involvement in service-oriented actions throughout the astrochemical/bodily group is very uncommon for a junior scientist, and is testomony to the worth that the astronomical group locations in his knowledge and judgement. His phenomenal organizational abilities have made his contributions to graduate admission protocols and seminar administration at MIT the envy of the division. And most significantly, Brett is an excellent trainer, who cares deeply about college students’ understanding and success, not solely in his course, however of their future endeavors.”
“As an assistant professor, Brett volunteered to show 5.111, a big GIR course with 150–500 college students, and has acquired among the greatest instructing evaluations amongst all college who’ve led the topic,” says Mei Hong, the David A. Leighty Professor of Chemistry. “He has a pure expertise in explaining summary bodily chemistry ideas in an enticing method. His slides, which he ready from scratch as an alternative of modifying from earlier years’ materials from different professors, are clear, and … the mixture of lucid clarification and humor has generated nice enthusiasm and curiosity in chemistry amongst college students.”
Topic evaluations from McGuire’s programs praised his humor, the readability of his explanations, and his capacity to rework a lecture right into a “science present.” “I have never felt this kind of want for the depth of understanding in a topic past only a straight grade [in some time],” says one pupil. “Brett positively stimulated that love of studying for me.”
“Brett is an impressive college member who is devoted to fostering pupil studying and success,” says Jennifer Weisman, assistant director of educational applications in chemistry. “He’s considerate, caring, and goes above and past to assist his colleagues, college students, and employees.”
“I’m thrilled to be chosen for the Edgerton Award this 12 months,” says McGuire. “The award is nominally for instructing, analysis, and repair; MIT and the chemistry division specifically have been an unbelievable place to be taught and develop in all these areas. I’m extremely grateful for the mentorship, enthusiasm, and assist I’ve acquired from my colleagues, from my college students each within the lab and within the classroom, and from the MIT group throughout my time right here. I stay up for many extra years of thrilling discovery along with this one-of-a-kind group.”
