Leadership and Governance
Department Leadership
Department Head
Michale Fee
Associate Department Head
Josh McDermott
Associate Department Head and Undergraduate Officer
Laura Schulz
Director of Education
Mehrdad Jazayeri
Graduate Officer
Mark Harnett
Postdoctoral Officer
Mark Bear
Space Officer
Nancy Kanwisher
Director of Administration and Finance
Tristan Davies
Committees
The BCS Council is a faculty committee that sets long-term strategies for the department. It serves as an advisory committee to ensure that departmental decisions are informed by a broad array of voices, and that all the leaders in the building are comfortable with and enthusiastic about those decisions.
- Michale Fee, chair
- Rebecca Saxe
- Laura Schulz
- Josh McDermott
- Robert Desimone
- Li-Huei Tsai
- Tomaso Poggio
- Emery Brown
- Mriganka Sur
- Jim DiCarlo
- Ev Fedorenko
- Mark Bear
- Josh Tenenbaum
- Elly Nedivi
- Ila Fiete
- Mark Harnett
- Mehrdad Jazayeri
- Nidhi Seethapathi
- Troy Littleton
Staff contact: Tristan Davies, Director of Administration and Finance
The Education Committee creates, reviews and approves curricula, classes, qualifying exams, and undergraduate and graduate degree requirements.
- Mehrdad Jazayeri, Chair
- Matt Wilson, member
- Ev Fedorenko, member
- Sierra Vallin, member
- Julianne Ormerod, member
- Theresa Tomic, member
- Myriam Heiman, ad hoc member
- Mark Harnett, ad hoc member
- Laura Schulz, ad hoc member
- Aida Piccato, graduate student representative
BCS and Building 46 community strive to build and sustain a diverse, open, welcoming culture, dedicated to academic excellence and a shared commitment to each other’s wellbeing. The Community of Practice is a cross-hierarchical, building-wide organization of people committed to developing an inclusive, fair and equitable culture where every individual, irrespective of his/her background, has a real chance to excel.
Learn more about Community and Culture in BCS.
Staff contact: Farrah Belizaire
The Graduate Student Affairs oversees the graduate program, including recruitment, admissions, mentorship, and student progress through the qualifying exams.
- Mark Harnett, Chair, Graduate Officer
- Margaret Schroeder, graduate student representative
- Nancy Kanwisher, rotations coordinator
- Roger Levy, first year advisor, quals, and committees
- Steven Flavell, website
- Fan Wang
- John Gabrieli
Staff contact: Sierra Vallin, Academic Administrator
Graduate Admissions oversees the admissions cycle.
Staff contact: Julianne Ormerod, Senior Graduate Program Coordinator
The Seminars Committee oversees the MIT Colloquium on the Brain and Cognition by suggesting, and accepting suggestions for, colloquium speakers; assessing current BCS colloquia series and proposing improvements; and reviewing proposals for new series or speakers.
- Alan Jasanoff, Chair
- Gloria Choi, Picower Representative
- Evelina Fedorenko, BCS Representative
- Earl Miller
- Fan Wang, McGovern Representative
- Ruidong Chen, postdoctoral representative
- Yudi Xie, graduate student representative
Staff contact: Kaitlyn Kelley, Events Planning and Development Assistant
The charge of the BCS Junior Faculty Mentoring Committee is to assess the needs of junior faculty, recommend strategies to ensure effective mentorship, and help junior faculty obtain effective mentorship. This Committee is not an evaluation body, but a venue in which junior faculty can get advice without concern that they are being judged.
Staff contact: Tristan Davies, Director of Administration and Finance
This committee addresses the computational needs of the department.
Staff contact: Tristan Davies, Director of Administration and Finance