Susan Hockfield Biography

Susan Hockfield (born March 24, 1951) is an American neuroscientist who from December 2004 through June 2012 served as the sixteenth president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hockfield succeeded Charles M. Vest and was succeeded by L. Rafael Reif, who had served in her administration as Provost. Hockfield was the first biologist and the first woman to serve as the Institute’s president. Hockfield, Professor of Neuroscience in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, is a director of General Electric and of Qualcomm. She is an overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and a member of the MIT Corporation. Before returning to MIT following her presidency, Hockfield held the Marie Curie Visiting Professorship at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.