Dimitris Bertsimas PhD ’88 has been appointed vice provost for open learning at MIT, effective Sept. 1. On this role, Bertsimas, who’s the Boeing Leaders for Global Operations Professor of Management at MIT, will work with partners across the Institute to rework teaching and learning on and off MIT’s campus.
Provost Cynthia Barnhart announced Bertsimas’s appointment in an email to the MIT community today.
“Because the vice provost for open learning, Dimitris will work with faculty and staff across MIT to shape Open Learning’s next chapter,” Barnhart wrote. “Dimitris shall be a member of my leadership team in addition to Academic Council, and he’ll work closely with the college and college deans, faculty, and staff to advance research into the science of learning with the goal of innovating, studying, and scaling up digital technologies on campus and for the advantage of the world.”
She added, “I’m thrilled that Dimitris has agreed to serve the Institute on this capability.”
Bertsimas involves MIT Open Learning from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he’s associate dean for the master of business analytics program and a professor of operations research. Bertsimas has been a school member on the Institute since 1988, after completing his PhD in operations research and applied mathematics from MIT. He works within the areas of optimization and machine learning and their applications, including in health care and medicine. Bertsimas developed and launched the MBA program at MIT and has served as its inaugural faculty director since 2013. This system has been rated No. 1 in analytics on the planet yearly since its inception. Captivated with teaching, research, and entrepreneurship, Bertsimas isn’t any stranger to MIT Open Learning. He developed 15.071 (The Analytics Edge), available on MITx, which has attracted a whole bunch of 1000’s of learners since its launch in 2013.
In his recent role, Bertsimas will oversee MIT Open Learning’s product offerings — including OpenCourseWare, MITx courses, MicroMasters programs, xPRO courses, MIT Horizon, Jameel World Education Lab, MIT pK-12, and others — in addition to Open Learning’s infrastructure, funds, and operations.
“I’m excited concerning the opportunity to steer Open Learning and to advance its mission,” says Bertsimas. “I even have particular interest in introducing students of all ages, from all backgrounds — science, engineering, management, architecture/planning, law, medicine, the social sciences, the humanities, and the humanities — to the art of the feasible in AI and its potential to revolutionize fields.”
Bertsimas is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a recipient of assorted research and teaching awards, including the John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS. He views MIT Open Learning as central to the Institute’s mission.
“OpenCourseWare is arguably probably the most significant accomplishment of MIT in the world of open learning,” says Bertsimas, who has co-authored seven graduate-level books and co-founded 10 analytics corporations. “MIT led the best way in educating thousands and thousands of individuals world wide by getting access to MIT classes. I aspire for Open Learning to equal and possibly surpass the impact of OpenCourseWare in the brand new era of AI.”
Bertsimas succeeds Eric Grimson PhD ’80, who served as interim vice chairman for open learning for the past two years. Grimson, the Bernard M. Gordon Professor of Medical Engineering and professor of computer science and engineering, will proceed to serve the Institute as chancellor for tutorial advancement.
Grimson’s connection to Open Learning dates back to 2012 when he co-taught two of the earliest courses available on MITx, which remain among the many world’s hottest online courses: 6.00.1x (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python) and 6.00.2x (Introduction to Computational Pondering and Data Science).
In July 2022, Grimson was named interim vice chairman for open learning. During his time on the helm of MIT Open Learning, Grimson expanded outreach to the Institute’s school councils and college, providing comprehensive information on opportunities for faculty members to make use of Open Learning resources. He advanced research into artificial intelligence’s impact on education, including experiments in creating AI-based tutors for introductory online courses. Grimson oversaw the expansion of MITx Online, a platform that serves as an alternative choice to edX for delivery of MITx’s digital courses, in addition to the event of a soon-to-be-launched portal that may unify access to all MIT online educational content for learners worldwide.
“When former MIT President Rafael Reif launched Open Learning, his stated goals were to coach thousands and thousands of learners world wide, to alter how we teach on campus, and to study learning and use that knowledge to guide our innovations in teaching,” Grimson says. “I share that vision, and I even have been delighted to be a part of Open Learning because it strives to revolutionize teaching and learning, each on campus and off. Seeing the incredible impact that MIT has globally in providing easy accessibility to high-quality educational experiences is certainly one of the good pleasures from being a part of MIT.”
Bertsimas’s appointment follows an internal search launched in January. The search advisory group was chaired by Duane Boning, the Clarence J. LeBel Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. As a part of its work, the advisory group sought input from current and former leaders of Open Learning, members of the Open Learning faculty advisory committees, MIT deans, Open Learning staff, and leaders of online learning initiatives at other universities.
“Together with his exceptional background and deep commitment to MIT, Dimitris is a frontrunner who will get big things done on behalf of Open Learning and all of MIT, on this moment of time when learning technologies are fast evolving and supply enormous opportunities for educational impact,” Boning says.
