Seven faculty within the MIT School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) have been honored for his or her contributions through promotions, effective July 1. Three faculty promotions are within the Department of Architecture; three are within the Department of Urban Studies and Planning; and one is within the Program in Media Arts and Sciences.
“Whether architects, urbanists, computer scientists, or nanotechnologists, they represent our college at its best, in its breadth of inquiry and mission to enhance the connection between human beings and their environments,” says SA+P Dean Hashim Sarkis.
Department of Architecture
Marcelo Coelho has been promoted to associate professor of the practice. Coelho is the director of the Design Intelligence Lab, which explores the intersection of human and machine intelligence across design, AI, and fabrication. His work ranges from light-based installations to physical computing. Recognition for his work includes two Prix Ars Electronica awards and ’s Innovation by Design Award. Coelho’s experimental approach redefines creative processes, transforming how we imagine and interact with intelligent systems. Coelho teaches courses that bring together industrial design, user experience, and artificial intelligence.
Holly Samuelson has been promoted to associate professor without tenure. Samuelson has co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed papers, winning a Best Paper award from the journal As a recognized expert in architectural technology, she has been featured in media outlets resembling , , the BBC, and .
Rafi Segal has been promoted to full professor. An award-winning designer, Segal works across architectural and concrete scales, with projects starting from Villa 003 within the ORDOS 100 series to the Kitgum Peace Museum in Uganda, the Ashdod Museum of Art in Israel, and the winning design proposal for the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. His current work includes planning a brand new communal neighborhood for an Israeli kibbutz and curating the primary exhibition on Alfred Neumann’s Sixties architecture.
Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP)
Carlo Ratti has been reappointed as professor of the practice. Ratti is the director of the Senseable City Lab and a founding partner of the international design office Carlo Ratti Associati. He has co-authored over 500 publications and holds several patents. His work has been exhibited globally, including on the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art in Recent York City, and the Design Museum in Barcelona. Two of his projects, the Digital Water Pavilion and the Copenhagen Wheel, were named amongst ’s “Best Inventions of the Yr.” He’s the curator of the 2025 Venice Biennale’s nineteenth International Architecture Exhibition.
Albert Saiz has been promoted to full professor. Saiz serves because the director of MIT’s Urban Economics Lab, which conducts research on real estate economics, urban economics, housing markets, local public finance, zoning regulations, global real estate, and demographic trends affecting urban and real estate development worldwide. He also contributes to the broader research community as a visiting scholar on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, a research fellow on the Institute for the Evaluation of Labor, and editor for the .
Delia Wendel has been promoted to associate professor without tenure. Wendel’s research engages three fundamental areas: types of community repair after conflict and disaster, African urbanism, and spatial politics. Her interdisciplinary work draws together urban studies, critical peace studies, architectural history, cultural geography, and anthropology. At MIT DUSP, she leads the Planning for Peace critical collective and oversees the Mellon Foundation and the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology-funded research and exhibition project, Memory Atlas for Repair. She also serves because the managing editor of the department’s annual peer-reviewed journal on critical issues in urban studies and planning.
Program in Media Arts and Sciences
Deblina Sarkar has been promoted to associate professor without tenure. Because the director of the Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek Lab on the MIT Media Lab, she merges nanoelectronics, physics, and biology to create groundbreaking technologies, from ultra-thin quantum transistors to the primary antenna that operates inside living cells. Her interdisciplinary work has earned her major honors, including the National Institutes of Health Director’s Recent Innovator Award and the IEEE Early Profession Award in Nanotechnology.
