Purdue President Mung Chiang named next president of Northwestern

On May 18 (U.S. Eastern Time), the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University announced that Mung Chiang, the current president of Purdue University, will become the 18th president of Northwestern University starting July 1 this year, making him the first Asian president in the university’s history.

Chiang succeeds the University’s 17th president, Michael Schill, who stepped down from the role in September 2025. President Emeritus Henry Bienen will remain interim president through the end of June.

“I am honored and thrilled to be Northwestern’s next president,” Chiang said. “I have long admired Northwestern for its dedication to interdisciplinary scholarship, artistic creation and impactful research, its tremendous healthcare system, and its palpable school spirit.

“Generations of Northwestern students and colleagues have elevated this University to international preeminence,” Chiang said. “I look forward to serving alongside all the colleagues to continue Northwestern’s upward trajectory.”

“My first priority is to listen to and learn about Northwestern’s distinct culture and this community of scholarly and creative minds, because what matters most is the ‘who’ before the ‘what,’ Chiang said. “I plan to engage with as many members of our community as possible: students and parents, faculty and staff, alumni and donors, neighbors and partners, as well as all the trustees. I will listen to every one of the 12 colleges and schools, cheer every one of the 21 sports teams, visit Northwestern Medicine hospitals, and participate in every cherished campus tradition.”

Chiang said one of the things that attracted him to Northwestern is the breadth of the University’s excellence across the humanities, social sciences, STEM disciplines, performing arts, and medicine and healthcare.

“In my many conversations with Mung through the search process, he consistently has emphasized how he views Northwestern as one of the world’s most eminent comprehensive universities, at which the interdisciplinary culture drives innovation and new ideas,” said Steve Cahillane, chair of the Presidential Search Committee and vice chair of the Board of Trustees. “Mung emerged as a brilliant mind and driven leader who brings relatable and authentic qualities to the way he operates — a great combination to lead Northwestern.”

“Mung has his sights set on advancing and enhancing Northwestern among the world’s great research institutions,” said Peter Barris, chair of Northwestern’s Board of Trustees. “Through his stellar academic and administrative leadership at multiple institutions, Mung has demonstrated his ability to harness opportunity and momentum while embracing the breadth and depth of a university. My fellow board members could not be more thrilled for Mung to lead Northwestern into the future.”

About Mung Chiang

Mung Chiang has served as the 13th President of Purdue University since Jan. 1, 2023, and is the Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prior to being elected Purdue’s president, he was the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering and executive vice president for strategic initiatives.

Over the past four years, Purdue University reached many milestones including a record graduation rate and admissions selectivity, it reached $1 billion annual research expenditures for the first time and received the largest government research grant at the university and the largest industry research grant in the country. It had its best fund-raising year and the highest number of gifts in a 24-hour period, achieved its highest and Top-4 rankings in engineering, agriculture, patent numbers, online programs, free speech, and campus safety. The Purdue men’s basketball team had its winningest four-year span in program history and competed in a national championship game.

Under Chiang’s leadership, Purdue successfully launched four strategic pillars, including its first urban campus in Indianapolis, the Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes, and One Health. The university invested in 27 construction or major renovation projects while freezing tuition. Purdue also contributed to attracting tens of billions of industry investments along Indiana’s new Hard Tech Corridor bookended by Purdue’s Indianapolis and West Lafayette campuses, the buildout of a new commercial airport terminal and three new hospitals in West Lafayette.

Chiang received his bachelor’s degree (1999), master’s degree (2000) and Ph.D. (2003) from Stanford University and an Honorary Doctorate in Science (2024) from Dartmouth College. Before 2017, Chiang was the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering and an affiliated faculty member in computer science and in applied and computational mathematics at Princeton University.

He founded the Princeton EDGE Lab in 2009 and co-founded several startup companies and industry consortia since the early years of edge computing. Most of his 26 U.S. patents are licensed for network deployment. He co-authored two textbooks based on his massive open online courses: “Networked Life” (2012) and “Power of Networks” (2016). For his research in communication networks, wireless technology and network optimization, he received the National Science Foundation Alan T. Waterman Award (2013), as well as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Founders Medal (2025), the IEEE INFOCOM Achievement Award (2022), the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award (2012), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2014). He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as the National Academy of Inventors and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.