MIT Schwarzman College of Computing welcomes inaugural cohort of Tayebati Fellows

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

Supported by a gift from entrepreneur Parviz Tayebati, the selected postdocs have been appointed faculty mentors in AI and in their chosen discipline. This fellowship becomes the third postdoc program at the college, providing greater opportunities to expand the reach and innovation of computing.

“The inaugural cohort of Tayebati Fellows embodies the limitless potential we envision for computing. Please join me in welcoming them to the college,” says Dan Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and Henry Ellis Warren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). “We look forward to seeing the program flourish under these talented postdocs and their mentors.”

The 2025-2026 Tayebati Fellows are:

• Congyue Deng completed her PhD in computer science at Stanford University. Her faculty mentors are Jesse Thaler (Physics) and Kaiming He (EECS).
• Berthy Feng completed her PhD in computing and mathematical sciences at Caltech. Her faculty mentors are Mike Williams (Physics) and Bill Freeman (EECS).
• Gokul Gowri completed his PhD in systems, synthetic, and quantitative biology at Harvard. His faculty mentors are Jonathan Weissman (Biology) and Stephen Bates (EECS).
• Emily Oliphant completed her PhD in materials science and engineering and scientific computing at the University of Michigan. Her faculty mentors are Jeff Grossman, (Materials Science and Engineering) and Tess Smidt (EECS).
• Jonas Rein completed his PhD in organic chemistry at Cornell University. His faculty mentors are Masha Elkin (Chemistry), Connor Coley (Chemistry), and Stephen Bates (EECS).