Mung Chiang named next president of Northwestern

Mung Chiang, the president of Purdue University, has been named the 18th president of Northwestern University, Northwestern’s Board of Trustees introduced at this time.

A famend researcher, educator, nationwide science advisor and better schooling chief, Chiang emerged from a crowded discipline of candidates following an intensive world search that was led by representatives of the Board, school, employees, alumni and the coed physique. He will start his presidency on July 1.

Chiang has led Purdue since January 2023. Throughout his profession, Chiang has constructed a popularity as a world-class researcher, educator, innovator and college chief who has centered on increasing discovery, supporting college students and school, championing free expression and making ready universities for the long run.

“I am honored and thrilled to be Northwestern’s next president,” Chiang stated. “I’ve lengthy admired Northwestern for its dedication to interdisciplinary scholarship, inventive creation and impactful analysis, its great healthcare system, and its palpable faculty spirit.

“Generations of Northwestern students and colleagues have elevated this University to international preeminence,” Chiang stated. “I look forward to serving alongside all the colleagues to continue Northwestern’s upward trajectory.”

At Purdue, he has led one of the nation’s largest public analysis universities — a fellow Big Ten establishment with 58,000 college students on its predominant campus — via a interval of extraordinary stress and transformation throughout greater schooling. During his tenure as president, Purdue considerably expanded analysis exercise, topping $1 billion in sponsored analysis expenditures; created new strategic partnerships with business; and superior main initiatives in expertise, well being and enterprise.

Chiang succeeds the University’s seventeenth president, Michael Schill, who stepped down from the function in September 2025. President Emeritus Henry Bienen will stay interim president via the top of June.

“My first priority is to listen to and learn about Northwestern’s distinct culture and this community of scholarly and creative minds, because what matters most is the ‘who’ before the ‘what,’ Chiang said. “I plan to engage with as many members of our community as possible: students and parents, faculty and staff, alumni and donors, neighbors and partners, as well as all the trustees. “I will listen to every one of the 12 colleges and schools, cheer every one of the 21 sports teams, visit Northwestern Medicine hospitals, and participate in every cherished campus tradition.”

Chiang stated one of the issues that attracted him to Northwestern is the breadth of the University’s excellence throughout the humanities, social sciences, STEM disciplines, performing arts, and medication and healthcare.

“In my many conversations with Mung through the search process, he has consistently emphasized how he views Northwestern as one of the world’s most eminent comprehensive universities, at which the interdisciplinary culture drives innovation and new ideas,” stated Steve Cahillane, chair of the Presidential Search Committee and vice chair of the Board of Trustees. “Mung emerged as a brilliant mind and driven leader who brings relatable and authentic qualities to the way he operates — a great combination to lead Northwestern.”

Cahillane expressed gratitude to all the search committee for its dedication and partnership within the search course of, and to the University group for the a number of hundred voices who contributed to the search via interviews, listening periods, emails and different enter.

Chiang arrived in West Lafayette, Indiana, in 2017 to function Purdue’s dean of the College of Engineering and rapidly made an influence, overseeing a fast and sustained rise within the school’s tutorial rankings, analysis funding, scholar success and donor contributions. In 2021, he was appointed government vice president for strategic initiatives, along with his deanship, earlier than being chosen as Purdue’s president in June 2022.

A primary-generation immigrant and the primary Asian American president of Northwestern University (who will turn out to be the Asian American president who’s serving the best US News-ranked college within the nation), Chiang is aware of firsthand how lives may be remodeled via entry, alternative and the sharing of concepts throughout completely different backgrounds and views. Chiang has additionally persistently prioritized free speech and free expression as important to driving excellence at scale.

“Mung has his sights set on advancing and enhancing Northwestern among the world’s great research institutions,” stated Peter Barris, chair of Northwestern’s Board of Trustees. “Through his stellar academic and administrative leadership at multiple institutions, Mung has demonstrated his ability to harness opportunity and momentum while embracing the breadth and depth of a university. My fellow board members could not be more thrilled for Mung to lead Northwestern into the future.”

Prior to his tenure at Purdue, Chiang spent 14 years at Princeton University, rising from assistant professor to at least one of the youngest chair professors on the college. He additionally served because the inaugural chairman of the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council and the director of the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education.

Chiang acquired the Distinguished Teaching Award in Engineering (2016) at Princeton University for creating an interdisciplinary undergraduate course and implementing a “flipped classroom” modality. In 2009, he based the Princeton EDGE Lab, which is concentrated on bridging the hole between principle and follow in networking analysis. He additionally co-founded a number of startup corporations and business consortia. He holds 26 US patents, most of that are licensed for community deployment.

He has earned a bachelor’s diploma in electrical engineering and arithmetic, in addition to a grasp’s diploma and Ph.D. in electrical engineering, all from Stanford. In 2025, he acquired an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Dartmouth College.

Chiang is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He has acquired the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Founders Medal (one of probably the most prestigious awards in engineering disciplines), National Science Foundation Alan T. Waterman Award (the best US authorities honor for researchers below age 40), and a Guggenheim Fellowship, amongst many different distinguished awards.

“The committee was looking for a leader to advance the mission of the University with energy, creativity and curiosity, across the full range of scholarship, teaching and public service,” stated Ian Hurd, a professor of political science who serves as president of the Faculty Senate and was a member of the Presidential Search Committee. “With Mung Chiang, we found a dynamic Wildcat to lead Northwestern, one who evinces passionate commitment to what a great university makes possible — for students, scholars and society. I look forward to welcoming him to Northwestern.”

Chiang helped design and implement the federal CHIPS and Science Act, and at Purdue secured $3.9 billion in investments to construct an AI reminiscence chip superior packaging facility on the University. He launched Purdue’s first city campus in Indianapolis in an effort to develop innovation and expertise.

Under Chiang’s management, Purdue had its most selective incoming class, the best commencement price and probably the most profitable fundraising 12 months, in addition to the biggest federal analysis grants and the biggest business analysis grant within the faculty’s historical past.

“Mung Chiang is a distinguished scholar who brings understanding and experience in the complexities of research-intense universities, along with a proven ability to grow the resources that power discovery,” stated Susan Quaggin, who served on the Presidential Search Committee and chairs the Department of Medicine at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “His genuine commitment to faculty, students and staff and his ability to bring people and ideas together across disciplines to deliver results are exactly what Northwestern needs to remain at the forefront of innovation.”

Chiang’s analysis focuses on the optimization of networks, fog networking and the Internet of Things, sensible information pricing and community economics, social studying networks and on-line social networks.

In 2020, he was appointed to the nonpartisan place of science and expertise advisor to the US Secretary of State — the primary engineer to carry that place — and in 2024 he was appointed by the Secretary of Energy to the inaugural board of the congressionally chartered US Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation, which he at the moment chairs. He additionally serves on the Board of Directors of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Under Chiang’s presidency, Purdue’s males’s basketball crew reached the nationwide championship sport, and in the course of the 2024-25 faculty 12 months, 248 Purdue athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors.

“Every great institution has its own culture and distinct traditions, and I am looking forward to learning Northwestern’s,” Chiang stated. “Our purple is proudly unique, and there is no university quite like Northwestern. I am truly excited to join the Northwestern community.”