Dean of Engineering Paula Hammond on the future of engineering education
Hammond: “This is the place that gave so much to me, and now I get to give some of that back”
Photo courtesy of Gretchen Ertl
On March 5, The Tech interviewed Paula Hammond ’84 PhD ’93 regarding her recent appointment as Dean of Engineering. Previously, Hammond was the Executive Vice Provost and Vice Provost for Faculty from January 2024 to January 2026. She also was the Department Head of Chemical Engineering from 2015 to 2023. Also an Institute Professor, Hammond conducts research on polymer nanomaterials for drug delivery.
Hammond expressed great excitement about taking on the new role. The School of Engineering is the place where “the heart is beating so deeply” at MIT, according to Hammond. Holding a S.B. and PhD in chemical engineering from MIT before joining the faculty in 1995, Hammond considers the School of Engineering her “home.”
“This is the place that gave so much to me, and now I get to give some of that back,” she said.
Hammond owes her quick adjustment to her new responsibilities as Dean to her experience as the former Department Head of Chemical Engineering. As Department Head, Hammond held conversations with the student body for feedback on the department, changes to undergraduate curriculum, and improvements to graduate student life. Hammond looks forward to collaborating with the Student Advisory Group in Engineering (SAGE) and its graduate counterpart, GradSAGE, on education and research in engineering.
Although Hammond acknowledged ongoing federal pressure on higher education, she sees this as an opportunity to reshape engineering education and research, expressing a desire to build new initiatives that foster collaboration between other schools and departments. “Engineering really is something that touches all of these different areas,” she said. Besides new initiatives, Hammond would like to expand experiential learning opportunities for students by building partnerships with industry and national labs.
As the new Dean of Engineering, Hammond will also need to address the rise of generative AI in engineering classes at MIT. She believes increased use of AI in the engineering landscape is something that MIT needs to prepare their undergraduate body for, referencing the recent proposal by the MIT Task Force on the Undergraduate Academic Program (TFUAP).
“We’ve been on that very slow and steady rate of change in our educational approach,” Hammond admitted, “but I think [we should have] deeper conversations about what the 21st-century educated engineer needs to know about AI tools when they are relevant [and] when they are not relevant.”
However, she acknowledged that the increased integration of AI into the curriculum in turn requires more “guardrails” to ensure that students have an understanding of fundamental topics in classes.
Hammond also emphasized increasing the number of interdisciplinary courses at MIT, with some courses combining AI and engineering already taught by instructors from both the College of Engineering and the College of Computing.
She believes these classes not only help broaden perspectives of MIT engineers, but also are becoming increasingly necessary in today’s workplace. Citing climate change as an example, Hammond explained that modern engineers require a sort of “Renaissance” capability to tackle the world’s largest problems.
“We need to be able to have a conversation with someone who is an earth scientist. We need to be able to make connections between the thermodynamics of a system and how that impacts not only the climate, but [also] the entire ecosphere,” Hammond said. Unfortunately, this interdisciplinary focus does not include plans for new majors in said areas.
Despite the challenges ahead of her, Hammond feels confident taking up the mantle. In a final word to the MIT student body, Hammond said, “I am really excited to engage with students as we get started, and I’m really looking forward to engaging with our student advisory groups and hearing the ideas that are coming from our students.”