Advancing augmented reality. Improving public health decision making. Mitigating global warming risks. Northeastern University is at the leading edge of high-impact research in a wide range of fields. Our talented faculty members—working in concert with students, alumni, and other innovators—are the key driver of our success.

That’s why we’re proud to announce that over the last year, we’ve hired more than 90 tenured and tenure-track faculty members who are aligned with specific high-growth research clusters. By grouping these faculty members by specialty, we aim to facilitate greater collaboration and innovation. The hiring themes include:

• AI/Social Justice
• Biological Systems and Solutions
• Cognitive and Brain Health
• Disease Strategies
• Education Innovation and Extended Reality (XR)
• Extraordinary Human Computer Interaction
• Food, Water, and Energy Nexus
• Health, Tech, and Data
• Mental Health
• Modeling
• Quantum Materials and Sensing
• Plant-Human Intersection
• Sustainability and Resilience
• Technology, Digital Economies, and Privacy

AI/Social Justice

How can artificial intelligence be harnessed to achieve social justice? Five Assistant Professors joining Northeastern’s AI/Social Justice cluster from University of California San Diego, University of New Mexico, New York University, and University of Pittsburgh are working to answer this very question. Appointed to the College of Arts, Media and Design; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; and the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, they are leveraging their unique expertise to investigate how AI can be a powerful force for good.

Biological Systems and Solutions

An emerging field of science, mechanobiology centers on how biological components—like cells and organs—can sense and respond to mechanical cues to regulate many biological processes. Ning Wang, joining as a Professor in the College of Engineering Professor, has also been appointed the Director of Northeastern’s Mechanobiology where they are using advanced techniques to understand how cellular processes lead to embryo development and diseases such as arteriosclerosis and cancer. Previously he was at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

In addition, the Biological Systems and Solutions cluster welcomes seven newly hired Assistant Professors from ETH Zürich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute, Yale University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, and the University of Manitoba. Focused on the analysis and modeling of complex biological systems, the members of the Biological Systems and Solutions theme are working to develop a better understanding of the living world.

Cognitive and Brain Health

What impact do lifestyle choices and behaviors have on our brains? The five Assistant Professors who have recently joined Northeastern’s Cognitive and Brain Health cluster from University of Massachusetts Amherst, Harvard Medical School, Brown University, Yale School of Medicine, and Northeastern’s Network Science Institute are exploring how we can increase brain health and functioning for individuals from infants to elders. A significant expansion of the current Cognitive and Brain Health cluster, the newly hired faculty members will strengthen Northeastern’s research impact in this critical area.

Disease Strategies

Destructive bacteria are wreaking havoc on people’s lives. In an effort to combat them, Northeastern’s Disease Strategies cluster is focused on studying antimicrobials and anti-infectives. To expand this cluster, we’ve hired a tenured Associate Professor from University of Rhode Island and two Assistant Professors, including Pedro Saavedra from Harvard Medical School, who is studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in muscle wasting during cancer-induced cachexia—a complicated metabolic syndrome, and Thiago dos Santos from Harvard University.

Education Innovation and Extended Reality (XR)

In an increasingly virtual world, XR has the potential to transform society for the better. That’s why our interdisciplinary Education Innovation and XR cluster is focused on how XR can make high quality education more accessible and affordable. In addition to hiring a tenured Professor from Harvard University and an Assistant Professor from Northeastern University’s Oakland campus, Northeastern is also adding XR research space on our Boston campus and XR teaching space on our Oakland campus. By heightening our focus on XR, our faculty have the high-tech resources to stay on the cutting edge of this world-altering technology.

Extraordinary Human Computer Interaction

Like a powerful ally, computer systems support our day-to-day lives from work to entertainment to wellness. Northeastern’s Extraordinary Human Computer Interaction theme explores how to facilitate more effective and ethical human-computer interaction (HCI). In a significant expansion, we’ve hired a tenured Associate Professor from Olin College of Engineering, as well as six Assistant Professors, two from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the others from the University of California, University of Colorado Boulder, Columbia University, and Carnegie Mellon University. Many of these new hires are jointly appointed across multiple departments and colleges and have specialties ranging from psychology to architecture to computer science.

Food, Water, and Energy Nexus

In our interconnected world, food, water, and energy systems are inexorably linked. By studying this nexus, our faculty can help mitigate the impacts of climate change, support food security, improve sustainable agriculture, and tackle many other environmental, economic, and health issues. With the hiring of five Assistant Professors and a tenured Professor from Rhode Island School of Design, Delft University of Technology, Ohio University, Tuft University, University of California, Berkeley, and Michigan State University, the interdisciplinary Food, Water, and Energy Nexus cluster can expand their important work. Notably, Professor Anand Nair joining the D’Amore-McKim School of Business is working on how enhanced supply chain management can help uplift underprivileged communities and improve sustainability.

Health, Tech, and Data

Smart technologies have the potential to improve our quality of life in a multitude of ways. To advance these broad-reaching solutions, our Health, Tech, and Data hiring theme includes four Assistant Professors, an Associate Professor, and a tenured Professor from Stanford University, University of Michigan, University of Pittsburgh, Harvard University, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Many of these of these new hires are jointly appointed in multiple colleges or departments. As a Professor in the College of Engineering and part of Northeastern’s SMART Center, Kevin Fu is conducting advanced research in both medical device security and analog sensor cybersecurity. His vision is a world where science-based security is built-in by design to all embedded systems from medical devices and autonomous transportation to manufacturing and the Internet of Things.

Mental Health

An estimated one in five adults in the United States is living with a mental illness, which has a major impact on individuals—and on our society as a whole. Our Mental Health hires are at the forefront of research into the implications, causes, and treatment of mental illness. To advance this work, we recently hired two Assistant Professors, Owen Skinner from Harvard Medical School, and Analia Albuja from Duke University, who also joins the INVEST program at Northeastern. In addition, Northeastern welcomes two tenured Associate Professors, Jaynath Narayanan from National University of Singapore and Diane Francis from the University of Kentucky. Francis, who is jointly appointed to the Communication Studies and Applied Psychology departments, is particularly interested in harnessing media and communication to promote health and well-being among Black populations.

Modeling

By developing a mathematical representation of a real-world scenario, modeling can help us gain powerful insights into a wide variety of fields from physics and computer science to engineering and health sciences. To advance the Modeling research cluster, Northeastern recently hired four Assistant Professors including Sarah Harrison of McGill University, who is jointly appointed in the Mathematics and Physics departments. A theoretical physicist, Harrison is interested in understanding the mathematical structures underlying the physics of quantum field theory and quantum gravity. Others join Northeastern from Université Paris, University of Oregon, and University of California, Berkely.

Quantum Materials and Sensing

Quantum materials—which contain unusual magnetic and electrical properties—have the potential to revolutionize the way we live. Notably, they could allow us to leverage energy in new ways and create more efficient technology. At the intersection of physics and engineering, Quantum Materials and Sensing is a major area of untapped research potential.

To enable Northeastern to be a thought leader in this growing field, we formed the new Quantum Materials and Sensing hiring theme, created a research group on our Burlington campus, and hired two tenured Professors and two Assistant Professors. Professor Mingzhong Wu, joining Northeastern from Colorado State University, is focusing on magnetic materials and their application in quantum computing. Professor Hai-ping Cheng, arriving from University of Florida, is studying physical phenomena at the nano scale. Assistant Professor Marco Colangelo from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is working to advance single-photo detectors. And Assistant Professor Yoseob Yoon joins Northeastern also as a member of the Modeling cluster.

Plant-Human Intersection

Plants may hold the key to new medicines, commodity chemicals, and climate remediation biotechnologies. With the hiring of tenured Professor Jing-Ke Weng from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), we launched the new Plant-Human Intersection hiring theme. As the Inaugural Director of the new Institute for Plant-Human Interface at Northeastern, Weng will help deepen our understanding of plant biology and the plant-human interactions that significantly influence human health and sustainability on Earth. By growing plants in laboratory greenhouses, Weng takes a hands-on approach to exploring the molecular mechanisms and functional implications underlying chemical interactions between plants and other organisms, including humans.

Sustainability and Resilience

From melting glaciers to intense heat waves, the effects of climate change are pervasive. At Northeastern, we’re committed to combating the climate crisis through research, education, and community outreach. That’s why we’ve made a concerted effort to hire several faculty members—with research backgrounds ranging from architecture and business to sociology and environmental science—to join our Sustainability and Resilience cluster. Specifically, seven Assistant Professors, two Associate Professors, and a tenured Professor have joined the team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University, Architectural Association School of Architecture, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Florida, University of Michigan, University of California Santa Cruz, University of Missouri, Tufts University, and Cornell University. To facilitate cross-university collaboration, many of them are jointly appointed to two different departments or colleges.

Technology, Digital Economies, and Privacy

In our increasingly high-tech world, the digital economy—which encompasses all online activity—is shaping the future of business and society. Not only is it critically important, it’s also constantly evolving, which presents major privacy and cybersecurity concerns.

To help break new ground in this dynamic field, we’ve hired a number of faculty to our Technology, Digital Economies, and Privacy cluster. The group includes ten Assistant Professors from the National University of Singapore, Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cornell University, Yale University, New England Law, University of Utah, and Harvard University; three Associate Professors from Harvard Law School, Boston College, and Clemson University; and a Professor from Suffolk University. Because this research area transcends disciplines, many faculty members are jointly appointed to departments such as Electrical and Computer Engineering, Health Sciences, and Communication Studies. For example, Elettra Bietti—an expert on market regulation and antitrust laws as they play out in the digital economy—has joined the faculty at Northeastern University as an Assistant Professor of Law and Computer Science within the School of Law and the Khoury College of Computer Sciences.

Read profile highlights on some of our incoming faculty here. Read about our incoming faculty hires for Impact Engines and Centers and Institutes.