Duane Boning ’84, SM ’86, PhD ’91 has been named MIT’s next vice provost for international activities (VPIA), effective September 1. Boning, the Clarence J. LeBel Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT, succeeds Richard Lester, professor of the Japanese steel industry, who has served as VPIA since 2015.

The VPIA provides intellectual leadership, guidance, and oversight for MIT’s international policy and engagement. In this role, Boning will conduct strategic reviews of the portfolio of international activities, advise the administration on global strategic priorities, and collaborate with academic unit leaders and researchers to develop major new global programs and projects. Boning will also help coordinate faculty and administration reviews of select international projects to identify and manage U.S. national security, human rights, and economic and other risks.

“Duane has an exceptional track record of achievement and will provide the forward-thinking and collaborative leadership needed to guide the Institute’s international engagement and policy,” said Provost Cynthia Barnhart. “I am delighted to welcome him to this role.”

Boning’s ties to MIT are long and enduring. He received his SB, SM, and PhD degrees in EECS from the institute in 1984, 1986, and 1991, respectively. His tenure includes several leadership positions on campus, including associate department head of EECS from 2004 to 2011 and associate chair of the faculty from 2019 to 2021. He is associate director for computation and CAD for the Microsystems Technology Laboratories, where he leads the MTL Statistical Metrology Group.

In 2016, Boning became the engineering faculty co-director of MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program. Together with LGO Sloan faculty co-director Retsef Levi, Boning led the formation of MIT’s Machine Intelligence for Manufacturing & Operations (MIMO), which extends LGO’s machine intelligence activities through complementary industry research projects, seminars, and workshops.

His experiences as a researcher and teacher have helped him appreciate the benefits of MIT’s international collaboration efforts, Boning says. “Taking on the VPIA role is about me wanting to continue and strengthen that appreciation going forward, where I think it’s going to be even more important for MIT to stay engaged with the world.”

Boning previously held leadership roles in international collaborations, including as faculty director of the MIT/Masdar Institute Cooperative Program from 2011 to 2018 and as director/faculty leader of the MIT Skoltech Initiative from 2011 to 2013.

Boning says the VPIA office can act as a catalyst and initiator of international engagement, but he looks forward to “being a facilitator or convener, a convening point to find where there are international opportunities and bring people there.”

“Finding ways to support MIT’s higher institutional priorities through international activities will be important,” he adds, citing as an example of these priorities the Climate Project at MIT, launched by President Sally Kornbluth in 2023. “We will be figuring out how our international components can best contribute to that and other initiatives.”

Lester will serve as interim vice president of climate (VPC), reporting to Kornbluth, while the search for a permanent VPC continues. Lester expects to complete his interim role and return to his MIT research activities at the end of the calendar year.

Formative experiences

Boning’s participation in the Cambridge-MIT Institute was one of his first experiences in international research and teaching. “It was an eye-opener, when I saw, ‘Oh, you mean they don’t have weekly problem sets here?'” he jokes. “It showed me very different approaches to teaching that could work, and how I could try some of those ideas in my own context.”

He looks back on the Cambridge experience and his later work in manufacturing research with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology “with fondness in my heart,” he says. “It allowed me to see how international activities can benefit my own research and the research of my colleagues around me.”

His leadership in larger programs such as LGO and the MIT/Masdar program taught him the importance of creating and recruiting international collaborations with MIT, “by finding appropriate ways to connect with the passions of MIT faculty,” Boning said.

Boning says he will also draw on his experiences in departmental and faculty administration to guide him in his new role. “I recognize how broad MIT is and how pervasive the different practices and cultures are across different schools, departments, and programs within MIT,” he explains. “It’s given me a broader appreciation for faculty, staff, administration — everyone in all corners of the institution and how they contribute to the mission of MIT.”

Future goals

Barnhart praised Lester, the outgoing VPIA, saying that “Richard’s work as vice provost for international operations has been impressive and impactful. He has applied his commendable leadership skills, sharp intellect, and broad vision to transform the ways in which MIT engages and works with partners around the world.”

She noted that Lester had expanded the reach of MIT’s research and education missions through numerous international collaborations, particularly in Africa and Asia. As convener and co-chair of the MIT China Strategy Group, Lester led the preparation and implementation of an influential November 2022 report on how MIT should approach its interactions and collaborations with China.

Boning calls the China report an excellent example of how the VPIA can identify best practices and directly address the values ​​and complexities of international cooperation. “We need to live up to the reputation of MIT’s mission of intellectual development and freedom, while recognizing that there are risks to be managed and choices to be made,” he says.

Boning’s field of expertise — semiconductor and photonics manufacturing and design — has become a topic of intense interest and attention in innovation and economics circles, and he plans to remain fully committed to research as a result. As VPIA, however, he may have to step back from some of his teaching, “and that’s the part I’ll miss the most. I’ll miss every semester when I’m not in the classroom with students,” he says.

“But I’m excited to see what the future holds — boundless new opportunities, new technologies, AI — and how MIT can best facilitate their intelligent application to the world’s problems,” Boning added. “I look forward to many conversations with faculty and the wider community about what MIT can do, what we should do, and how we can best do it to advance MIT’s mission through international engagement.”