A faculty member of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, she served as associate department head in AeroAstro, and co-founded Lumo, which uses data and analytics to predict flight delays.
New York: Hamsa Balakrishnan, the William E. Leonhard (1940) Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) at MIT, has been appointed associate dean of the MIT School of Engineering effective Aug. 1. As associate dean, she will “focus on efforts to attract, retain, and support top talent across all academic levels in the School of Engineering,” the university said in a Aug. 5 press release.
“Professor Balakrishnan’s passion and dedication have already made a lasting impact on the School of Engineering. Through leadership roles in AeroAstro and beyond, she has demonstrated a commitment to supporting and uplifting our students, faculty, and staff. I am delighted to welcome her to the School of Engineering faculty leadership team,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, chief innovation and strategy officer, dean of the School of Engineering, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Balakrishnan is principal investigator of the Dynamics, Infrastructure Networks, and Mobility (DINaMo) group, where she and her team research the modeling, analysis, control, and optimization of modern infrastructure systems. They have collaborated with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and major airports to address challenges such as advanced air mobility, air traffic congestion, and airport operations.
Balakrishnan served as associate department head in AeroAstro from 2018 to 2021. In that role, she was responsible for the undergraduate and graduate education programs in the department. She also served as director of Transportation@MIT in 2018-19. During this time, she managed the interdepartmental graduate programs in transportation that span the schools of Engineering and Architecture and Planning, focusing on improving faculty engagement and student recruiting to the program.
In addition to her roles at MIT, Balakrishnan co-founded Lumo, which uses data and analytics to predict flight delays. She currently serves as the company’s chief scientist.
In addition to being named an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), she has been honored with an NSF CAREER Award, the inaugural CNA Award for Operational Analysis, AIAA’s Lawrence Sperry Award, and the American Automatic Control Council’s Donald P. Eckman Award.
Balakrishnan received her bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras, and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University.
