Position Overview

Position Title: Research Associate - Hardware

Department: FutureTech

Reports to: Neil Thompson

Prepared by: Emanuele Del Sozzo

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About the Role:

As a Research Associate, you will be working collaboratively on projects that uncover and quantify the foundations of progress in computing: what are the most important trends, how they underpin economic productivity and growth, and how we can harness them to sustain and promote shared prosperity. Specifically, as part of a multidisciplinary research group that includes computer scientists, engineers, and economists, you will conduct cutting-edge empirical and interdisciplinary research to analyze the role and advancement of hardware and computer architectures and combine the outcomes with economic analysis to highlight progress trends. Finally, you will also collaborate with high-level researchers in the field and co-supervise the work of undergraduate students.

This role is ideal for someone with a strong technical background in one or more of the following topics: computer architectures, economics, and data science. 

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Key Responsibilities:

1. Design and conduct interdisciplinary data analyses and experiments to identify technical and economic trends based on different types of computer architectures (e.g., CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, and AI Processors) and their computing/memory components
2. Analyzing and identifying usage patterns of real-world machines and deriving technical and economic trends
3. Co-supervise the work of undergraduate students
4. Participate in workshops, conferences, and collaborations with external organizations and researchers
5. Contribute to original research on the aforementioned topics

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Supervision Received

This role will report to the Emanuele Del Sozzo and Neil Thompson for FutureTech. There will be opportunities to grow in this position through mentorship from senior members of the lab.

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Qualifications & Skills

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Required:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Economics, Mathematics, or a related field
• Strong background in computer architectures, economics, data analysis, or or a related area
• Demonstrated ability to communicate technical concepts and collaborate across different areas of expertise.
• Proficiency in Python (or other languages) and experience with data analysis and scientific computing
• Strong research, writing, and communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and in a team-oriented research environment

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Preferred:

In the following categories, the candidate should have deep expertise in one or more areas and some expertise / experience across as many of the others as possible:

• Computer hardware and systems 
• Economics of innovation / economic growth
• Economics of I.T. / A.I.
• Data analysis
• Use of computing in science
• Deep Learning / Machine Learning
• Previous experience with interdisciplinary teams/research
• Strong competencies with relevant programming languages (such as Python or R)

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The position is based within the Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory on site in

Cambridge, MA. There is the expectation that individuals will primarily work on site, taking part in regular meetings, work and contributing to the wider group in person.

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About MIT FutureTech

MIT FutureTech is an interdisciplinary group of computer scientists, engineers, and economists who study the foundations of progress in computing and Artificial Intelligence: the trends, implications, opportunities and risks. Economic and social change is underpinned by advances in computing: for instance, improvements in the miniaturization of integrated circuits, the discovery and refinement of algorithms, and the development and diffusion of better software systems and processes. We aim to identify and understand the trends in computing that create opportunities or risks and help leaders in computing, scientific funding bodies, and government to respond appropriately.

Our research therefore helps to answer important questions including: Will AI progress accelerate or decline – and should it? What are the bottlenecks to growth from AI, and how can they be solved? What are the risks from AI, and how can we mitigate them?

To support our research, we run seminars and conferences to better connect the field of computer scientists, economists and innovation scholars to build a thriving global research community.

To disseminate it, we advise governments, nonprofits and industry, including via National Academies panels on transformational technologies and scientific reliability, the Council on Competitiveness' National Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness Frontiers, and the National Science Foundation's National Network for Critical Technology Assessment.

Our work has been funded by Open Philanthropy, the National Science Foundation, Microsoft, Accenture, IBM, the MIT-Air Force AI accelerator, and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Some of our recent outputs:

• The AI Frontier: Transformative Role of Foundation Models Across Scientific Disciplines
• LLMs in Citation Intent Classification: Progress, Precision, and Reproducibility Challenges
• Mapping the Impact of Foundation Models on the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• The AI Risk Repository: A Comprehensive Meta-Review, Database, and Taxonomy of Risks from Artificial Intelligence 
• How industry is dominating AI research   
• A workshop on AI scaling and its implications for AI development, automation, and more  
• How Fast Do Algorithms Improve? 

Some recent articles about our research:

• Techcrunch: MIT researchers release a repository of AI risks
• CNN: AI and the labor market: MIT study findings
• TIME: AI job replacement fears and the MIT study
• Boston Globe: AI's impact on jobs according to MIT

You will be working with Dr. Neil Thompson, the Director of MIT FutureTech. Prior to starting FutureTech, Dr. Thompson was a professor of Innovation and Strategy at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His PhD is in Business & Public Policy from Berkeley. He also holds Master's degrees in: Computer Science (Berkeley), Economics (London School of Economics), and Statistics (Berkeley). Prior to joining academia, Dr. Thompson was a management consultant with Bain & Company, and worked for the Canadian Government and the United Nations.

About the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) 

CSAIL is one of the world’s top research centers for computer science and artificial intelligence (currently ranked #1).  It has hosted 9 Turing awards winners (the “Nobel Prize of Computing”) and has pioneered many of the technologies that underpin computing.

How to apply

Please use this Hardware Focus form to register interest in this role or to submit a general expression of interest.

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

Selected candidates will be first interviewed via Zoom. We are recruiting on a rolling basis and may close applications early if we find a suitable candidate, so please apply as soon as possible to maximize your chances.

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** To comply with regulations by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), the principal duties in position descriptions must be essential to the job. To identify essential functions, focus on the purpose and the result of the duties rather than the manner in which they are performed. The following definition applies: a job function is essential if removal of that function would fundamentally change the job.

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