MIT Schwarzman College of Computing announces second cohort of Tayebati Fellows

The MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing has welcomed the second cohort of the Tayebati Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Five postdoctoral scholars joined MIT this fall to conduct research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and specific disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, music, materials science, and physics.

Supported by a gift from entrepreneur Parviz Tayebati, each new fellow will be mentored by at least two MIT faculty, one in AI and one in their chosen discipline. Fellows will benefit from an environment designed to support their academic and professional growth while enabling them to pursue ambitious, high-impact research.

“We are delighted to welcome these five outstanding scholars to MIT. They are each pursuing unique and exciting research programs that represent innovative ways of infusing AI with other scientific disciplines. The Tayebati Fellows are key new members of the interdisciplinary computing community at MIT, and I’m excited to see how their research will shape all of us,” says Youssef Marzouk, Breene M. Kerr (1951) Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) and associate dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.

The 2026 Tayebati Fellows are:

• Ashley Dale completed her PhD in electrical engineering and physics at Purdue University. Her faculty mentors are Mingda Li (Nuclear Science and Engineering), Youssef Marzouk (AeroAstro), and Tess Smidt (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science).
• Patrick O’Reilly completed his PhD in computer science at Northwestern University. His faculty mentors are Anna Huang (Music and Theater Arts/Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and Paris Smaragdis (Music and Theater Arts/Electrical Engineering and Computer Science).
• Jeffrey Ouyang-Zhang completed his PhD in computer science at the University of Texas at Austin. His faculty mentors are Yunha Hwang (Biology/Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and Sergey Ovhinnikov (Biology).
• Shubhi Sharma completed her PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University. Her faculty mentors are Sara Beery (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and Serguei Saavedra (Civil and Environmental Engineering).
• Jason Yang completed his PhD in chemical engineering at Caltech. His faculty mentors are Tommi Jaakkola (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and Heather Kulik (Chemical Engineering).