The Jonathan Allen Junior Faculty Fund :: an endowment to strengthen faculty career development in the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT The Jonathan Allen Junior Faculty Fund :: an endowment to strengthen faculty career development in the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT
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Faculty Statements

Jeff Shapiro

It is impossible to recount all of the ways in which Jon Allen stands so prominently in the life of RLE and of MIT. The Allen Fund celebrates one of his enduring areas of impact—his devotion to the success of young MIT professors—and seeks to continue his important work. In this brochure,we present remembrances from many of those faculty members who joined MIT during Jon’s tenure as Director of RLE.

RLE today has a new generation of young faculty poised to make outstanding and yet to be imagined contributions to the future. Their potential is great, but so are their needs. They face a funding environment far more difficult than that of their predecessors. The financial pressures on our new faculty grow more demanding every year. RLE’s young professors are taking us in pioneering intellectual directions; they are crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries. Their spirit of curiosity, discovery and innovation merit our energetic support.

We are committed to doing whatever we can to assure their success. We need partners, however, to help us match the outstanding promise of RLE’s new generation with the resources to make that promise a reality. Please join us and others in this mission that was such a central concern to Jon Allen by making a contribution to the Allen Fund today.

Jeffrey H. Shapiro
Director
Julius A. Stratton Professor
of Electrical Engineering



Srinivas Devadas

SRINIVAS DEVADAS
Associate Head, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
and Professor of Electrical Engineering
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

"I had the good fortune of not only joining RLE when I came to MIT in 1988, but also joining the RLE VLSI group that Jon belonged to. I received a lot of help from Jon during my first few years in RLE, the time when I needed help the most. He was always there to make things easier, so I could concentrate on research and teaching. So much so that I thought I was getting special treatment because I was part of the same, small research group, but as I realized years later, he was giving the same attention to each of the junior RLE faculty, and making them feel special as well." — Devadas

   
Dennis M. Freeman  

DENNIS M. FREEMAN
Professor of Electrical Engineering
and Magaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow
Research Laboratory of Electronics

"I am forever grateful to Jon for his unwavering support throughout my career at RLE, but especially when I was first appointed as a professor. When I was struggling to define my path through research that bridged biomedical and imaging technologies, Jon took the time to talk with me, to read my manuscripts and grant applications, and to read entire books so that he could better advise me." — Freeman

   
Martha L. Gray  

MARTHA L. GRAY
Edwin Hood Taplin Professor of Medical and Electrical Engineering
Co-Director, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology

"'Why don’t you come by sometime soon, and tell me what you are up to,' Professor Allen (whom I barely knew) said to me one afternoon. I don’t know what made him offer, nor do I know what made me follow up on it. But, I did. And on that day, as in our many meetings over the years, he was very generous with his time and wisdom. His patience, insight, and integrity were extraordinary. (This isn’t to say that our conversations were easy, or that he didn’t have extremely high expectations for me!) He was among my most important mentors—the kind you read about and try to exemplify; the kind you hope all faculty have the good fortune to know (and to be); the kind you really miss when they are gone."— Gray

   
Qing Hu  

QING HU
Professor of Electrical Engineering
Research Laboratory of Electronics

"What mattered the most for me as a junior faculty member was Jon’s immense interests in my research activities and his unshakable confidence in my ability to achieve the objectives, even though some of my projects turned out to be much more challenging than I initially thought. From the first day I met him, Jon always made me feel that MIT in general—and RLE in particular—appreciated my contributions and was the most suitable place for me to develop my career. It was his unyielding confidence and support, along with that of others, that helped me to get through the many ups and downs that any junior faculty member will encounter." — Hu

   
Wolfgang Ketterle  

WOLFGANG KETTERLE
Associate Director, Research Laboratory of Electronics
and John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics and 2001 Nobel Laureate
Research Laboratory of Electronics
and Center for Ultracold Atoms

"When I joined the faculty in 1993, I knew from the beginning that Jon would be a mentor I could count on. He exemplified the best qualities of MIT. He was an example for scientific curiosity, critical assessment, inner strength, and pursuit of high standards. I still remember that he took time to listen to my presentations before program reviews and provided critical and encouraging feedback." — Ketterle

   
Leslie A. Kolodziejski  

LESLIE A. KOLODZIEJSKI
Professor of Electrical Engineering
Research Laboratory of Electronics

"Jonathan Allen was a strong, supportive Lab Director, a caring and devoted mentor, and a sincere, attentive personal friend. Jon Allen was a hero of mine. Jon did all that was possible within RLE and MIT to enable the successful creation of innovative state-of-the-art facilities; he used the breadth of RLE resources to nurture the research programs of new faculty like me. Jon’s intellectual capacity amazed me as he tirelessly worked to understand and promote each and every research endeavor within the Lab. Before even arriving at MIT, Jon welcomed me with open arms into the RLE family and I will remain loyal to RLE forever, thanks to Jon." — Kolodziejski

   
Jacob K. White  

JACOB K. WHITE
Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Research Laboratory of Electronics

"When I joined RLE in 1987, I, like Jon,worked in the area of computer-aided design of integrated circuits. Jon initially made sure that I had research support by putting together a successful NSF Presidential Young Investigator application for me, and by sharing his funding and research contacts at IBM. In addition, Jon helped me build my research program by participating in group meetings, encouraging and providing support for several large on-campus reviews that helped establish industrial contacts, and by offering advice on supervising graduate students.With so many faculty and so many Lab issues to worry about, I will never know how Jon found the time to offer me so much individual help, and I will be forever grateful for that help." — White

   
Gregory W. Wornell  

GREGORY W. WORNELL
Professor of Electrical Engineering
Research Laboratory of Electronics

"Jon was such an important figure for junior faculty in RLE, and such a strong advocate of what we were trying to accomplish. Since so much of what he did was behind the scenes,much of it we only learned from others years later. But collectively these things made a big difference, from championing the unique space and resource needs of a new faculty member’s group to taking the time to read in detail about the research itself and providing the kind of deep, thoughtful feedback that makes it stronger. I will never forget his selfless dedication to the laboratory, its mission, and its youngest faculty." —Wornell

   

RLE'S NEW GENERATION OF MIT FACULTY
Tenure-track Associate and Assistant Professors in RLE

Elfar Adalsteinsson
ELFAR ADALSTEINSSON
magnetic resonance imaging

Marc A. Baldo
MARC A. BALDO
organic optics and electronics

Karl K. Berggren
KARL K. BERGGREN
quantum nanostructures and nanofabrication
       
Vladimir Bulovic
VLADIMIR BULOVIC
organic optics and electronics
  Luca Daniel
LUCA DANIEL
computational prototyping
  Vivek K. Goyal
VIVEK K GOYAL
signal transformation and information representation
       
Jongyoon Han
JONGYOON HAN
micro / nanofluidic bioMEMS
  Steven G. Johnson
STEVEN G. JOHNSON
nanostructures and computation
  Jing Kong
JING KONG
nano-materials and electronics
       
Collin M. Stultz
COLLIN M. STULTZ
computational biophysics
  Joel Voldman
JOEL VOLDMAN
biological microtechnology and bioMEMS
  Vladan Vuletic
VLADAN VULETIC
experimental atomic physics
       
Mehmet Fatih Yanik
MEHMET FATIH YANIK
bio-imaging and nano-manipulation
  Martin W. Zwierlein
MARTIN W. ZWIERLEIN
atomic, molecular and optical physics
   
       

 

 

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