Welcome to the Rising Stars Workshop /

October 30-31, 2025

Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University

Eligibility

Rising Stars was created to increase awareness among women graduate students, postdocs and Ph.D holders of future careers in academia. Applicants should be within about 1-3 years of graduating with a PhD at the time of the workshop, or have obtained a PhD no earlier than 2022 and do not currently hold a faculty position. We will also consider special circumstances where candidates have had career breaks, such as for caregiving or other personal reasons. While there are elements of the workshop that are focused on the experiences of women in academia, all are eligible and encouraged to apply to the program. All applications are required to be submitted by August 6th, 2025.

Application Materials

1) Research statement (maximum 1 page excluding references, 12pt font, 1-inch margins, PDF)
2) CV (no page limit, PDF)
3) One letter of recommendation

Location

MIT (Cambridge, MA)

Application deadline

August 6, 2025 (11:59 PM EDT, but we will honor submissions until 11:59 PM PDT). Apply here.

Notification

Early September 2025.

Workshop dates

October 30-31, 2025 (reception held the evening before, on October 29th).

Welcome From the Workshop Chairs

Welcome to the 2025 Rising Stars in EECS Workshop at MIT and BU!

Rising Stars is a two-day intensive workshop aimed at women graduate students, postdocs and Ph.D holders who are interested in pursuing academic careers in electrical engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence and decision making. It was first launched at MIT in 2012, and has since been hosted as an annual event at the University of California at Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. We are pleased that the program has grown substantially since its beginning. This year’s workshop will bring together the world’s brightest researchers in EECS for two days of scientific interactions and discussions about navigating the early stages of careers in academia.

Our program includes invited presentations on preparing for the academic search process, giving effective job talks, and developing and refining research and teaching statements. Panel discussions will focus on the first years of an academic career, covering topics such as forming and ramping up a research group, leadership, maintaining work-life balance, fundraising, and going through the promotion process.

Past Rising Stars attendees have gone on to secure faculty positions at top universities or research positions in leading industry labs. As attendees, you will have the opportunity to hear from some of these researchers about their experience looking for an academic position and their experience as junior faculty.

In addition, we hope that Rising Stars will give participants a chance to network with their peers, opening the door for ongoing collaboration and professional support for years to come.

We are grateful to the advisors who have supported past participants in Rising Stars. We also thank MIT’s School of Engineering, the Schwarzman College of Computing, BU’s College of Engineering, BU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the EECS-affiliated research labs (CSAIL, LIDS, MTL, and RLE), and the Rising Stars administrative team for their support.

We encourage everyone to apply, and look forward to meeting and interacting with you all.

2025 Workshop Speakers

Wednesday Oct 29
Thursday Oct 30
Friday Oct 31
06:00-
08:00 PM
Location: Le Meridien Hotel
Welcome Dinner
08:30-
09:00 AM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Breakfast
09:00-
09:15 AM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Welcome
09:15-
10:15 AM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Application Materials and Where to Apply
10:15-
10:45 AM
Group photo and coffee break
10:45-
11:45 AM
Break-Out Groups
11:45 AM-
01:00 PM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Lunch
01:00-
02:00 PM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Zoom Interview and Campus Interviews
02:00-
02:30 PM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Coffee break
02:30-
03:30 PM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Second Offers—What Can Be Negotiated
06:00-
08:00 PM
Location: Pagu Restaurant
Banquet
08:30-
09:00 AM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Breakfast
09:00-
10:00 AM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Managing Your Work Life Balance
Marzyeh Ghassemi
Tal Rabin
Vivienne Sze
10:00-
10:15 AM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Coffee Break
10:15-
11:15 AM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Recruiting and Working with Students, Postdocs
11:15-
11:45 AM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)
Lunch
11:45 AM-
01:00 PM
Poster Session
01:00-
02:00 PM
Location: Grier rooms (34-401)