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The Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE)
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
was the first of the Institute’s great modern
interdepartmental academic research centers. Today,
we are one of MIT's largest such organizations, and
the most diverse research laboratory at MIT in our
scope of intellectual interests.
Research
in RLE encompasses an extensive range of natural and
man-made phenomena, and our projects are both basic
and applied. Common among all RLE efforts is an
expansive 21st century interpretation of the 20th
century term
“electronics,” starting at the most basic
physical realm of particles and quantum physics and
extending all the way to sophisticated engineering
application technologies relevant to today and critical
to tomorrow.
Research in RLE today is focused on six major
themes:
Sixty principal investigators in RLE—of whom
fifty are members of the MIT faculty—direct the Laboratory's
research projects. Our professors reflect the Laboratory’s
diverse scope of intellectual interests, and are drawn
from eight MIT academic departments and divisions:
Over three hundred MIT graduate and undergraduate students—also
drawn from the MIT departments and divisions above—make
RLE one of the primary environments for student learning
at MIT. In fact, it is this combination of forefront
research with student participation across multiple
academic disciplines that characterize the RLE culture.
The wide range of RLE research efforts are supported
by the most diverse sponsor base at MIT. Principal sponsors
of RLE research include:
 Moreover,
a significant share of RLE activities is self-funded
from gifts and from the discretionary resources of the
Laboratory and its principal investigators.
Approximately a third of RLE’s activities involve
collaborations outside of MIT with universities, institutions,
and industry, making RLE one of the principal points
of MIT connection with peer institutions, government,
and the business world.
The Director of RLE is Jeffrey
H. Shapiro, Julius A. Stratton Professor of Electrical
Engineering.
The Associate Directors of RLE are Wolfgang
Ketterle,
John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics, and Rajeev
J. Ram, Professor of Electrical Engineering.
The Assistant Directors of RLE are Joseph
F. Connolly (Administration), David
W. Foss (Information Technology Services), and William
Smith (Finance and Sponsor Relations).
 Nearly
all RLE activities take place at the MIT main campus
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Core RLE research facilities
and offices are located in the Fairchild Complex (MIT
buildings 36 and 38) and in the Compton Laboratories
(MIT building 26). RLE Headquarters and the office of
the Director are in building 36. RLE principal investigators
also have offices and laboratories in other MIT locations,
including MIT buildings 3, 12, and 13, and off-campus
at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston,
Massachusetts.
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