Four Women Hired to the Engineering Faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has announced the hiring of 16 new faculty members. Four of the new faculty hires are women.

Sili Deng will join the department of mechanical engineering for the Spring 2019 semester. She is currently conducting postdoctoral work at Stanford University. Her research is focused on flame dynamics and emissions during the combustion process. Dr. Deng is a graduate of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, where she majored in thermal engineering and played basketball and soccer. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University.

Tami Lieberman will join the faculty this coming semester as an assistant professor with a dual appointment in civil and environmental engineering and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science. She is completing a postdoctoral research fellowship at MIT. Dr. Lieberman earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology and genetics at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She holds a Ph.D. in systems biology from Harvard University.

Farnaz Niroui will join the faculty in January 2019 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. She is currently a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on integrating electrical engineering with materials science and chemistry to develop hybrid nanofabrication techniques. Dr. Niroui is a graduate of the University of Waterloo in Ontario. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT.

Desiree Plata was hired as an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. She will join the MIT faculty in July. She is an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering and the associate director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University. Dr. Plata is a graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in chemical oceanography and environmental chemistry from the joint doctoral program operated by MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.