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John Brisson appointed as director of MIT/SUTD Collaboration Office

Professor of mechanical engineering will serve as the Institute’s liaison with SUTD leaders in Singapore.

John G. Brisson II, professor of mechanical engineering, has been named director of the MIT/SUTD Collaboration Office, fostering MIT’s ongoing partnership with the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

Brisson succeeds Sanjay Sarma, who has been named by President L. Rafael Reif as MIT’s first director of digital education. As the leader of MIT/SUTD, Brisson will report to Provost Chris Kaiser.

“I am delighted that Professor Brisson has agreed to accept this role,” Kaiser said. “He is deeply familiar with both MIT and SUTD, and he will bring invaluable experience and knowledge to his new work.”

As director of the MIT/SUTD Collaboration Office, Brisson will serve as the Institute’s chief liaison with SUTD leaders in Singapore. Founded in 2009 through a partnership between MIT and Singapore’s government, SUTD — whose president is Thomas Magnanti, Institute Professor and former dean of MIT’s School of Engineering — was developed to educate technically grounded leaders and innovators to serve societal needs.

The MIT/SUTD Collaboration Office aims to develop the Singaporean institution’s curriculum, and to recruit and foster SUTD faculty and administrators. MIT and SUTD are also working together to create an International Design Center, a research center that aspires to be a hub of innovation in design. SUTD leaders intend for this center to conduct research addressing some of the world’s greatest challenges.

A member of the MIT faculty since 1993, Brisson has conducted research on cryogenic engineering, acoustic compression, microengines and refrigerators, and thermodynamics. He holds a BE (1981) from Stevens Institute of Technology and an MS (1983) and PhD (1990) from Harvard University.

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