Associate Professor,
Class of 1947 Career Development Professor,
Operations Research & Statistics,
Sloan School of Management, MIT.
Research Areas: Optimization, Algorithmic Fairness, ML/AI
I’m available at swatig at mit.edu,
Office: E62-582 (or a coffee shop near MIT)
Support Staff: Natalie Jean (njean91 at mit.edu)
Hello! I am an Associate Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management in OR & Statistics and a Class of 1947 Career Development Professor. I received a Ph.D. in Operations Research from MIT, and joint Masters and B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Delhi. My Erdös number is 2.
My research philosophy centers on addressing problems that not only push the boundaries of fundamental understanding in optimization and machine learning but also generate a tangible, positive impact on society. I focus on deep theoretical questions—many of which are grounded in real-world challenges—striving to bridge the gap between rigorous theory and meaningful practice. Broadly, my research focuses on (i) algorithms for incomplete and errored data, (ii) multi-criteria optimization and learning, and (iii) bridging discrete, continuous and quantum optimization. You can further explore my research projects and publications here. My research is supported through industry funding, as well as federal agencies like NSF and DARPA, and from cross-institute interdisciplinary centers such as SERC. To bring my work to the real-world, I frequently interact and collaborate with industry, as well as with doctors, physicists, law and policy scholars.
I received the prestigious NSF CAREER Award in 2023, the JP Morgan Early Career Faculty Recognition in 2021, the NSF CISE Research Initiation Initiative Award in 2019, Simons Berkeley Research Fellowship 2017-2018, and the Google Women in Engineering Award (India) in 2011. I also led the technical thrust of Ethical AI in the multi-institution NSF AI Institute on Advances in Optimization (ai4opt.org), from 2021-2023. I have been fortunate to work with a fantastic group of students. My group has received recognition at various venues like NeurIPS spotlight, INFORMS Doing Good with OR 2022, INFORMS Undergraduate Operations Research 2018, INFORMS Computing Society 2016, and INFORMS Service Science Student Paper 2016.
I am an associate editor for Open Journal of Mathematical Optimization, co-editor for OPTIMA (newsletter of the Mathematical Optimization Society). I have served on the PC for IPCO 2024, NeurIPS 2023 (area chair), ACDA 2023, EAAMO 2022, FAccT 2022 (area chair), WINE 2021 and FORC 2021 (publications chair), and award committees for INFORMS competitions.
For more information about latest activity in my research group, check out News!
For my current group and advising philosophy, check out my Research Group.
For more information about courses I have taught and my teaching philosophy, check out Teaching.
For media inquiries, reach out to Natalie Jean (njean91 at mit.edu).
For my artistic pursuits and exhibits, check out Creative.
