PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Mike Williams

Also known as Michael Williams

Mike Williams is an experimental particle physicist at MIT who works on machine learning for particle physics and directs the NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI). He grew up in suburban Pittsburgh, earned his Carnegie Mellon doctorate in 2007, and joined MIT in 2012 after a postdoc at Imperial College London. In 2012, he and Vladimir Gligorov described the "bonsai" boosted decision tree for high-level triggering, and a Department of Energy Early Career Award followed in 2013. A 2016 paper proposed an inclusive dark photon search at LHCb, and MIT granted him tenure in 2019. He became deputy director of IAIFI when the NSF launched it in 2020, and in 2026 he succeeded Jesse Thaler as director.

Works
2,819

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. 2001–2007

    A Carnegie Mellon doctorate

    He grows up in suburban Pittsburgh and double-majors in physics and mathematics at Saint Vincent College, graduating summa cum laude in 2001. He earns his M.S. and Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University under Curtis Meyer, finishing in 2007.

  2. 2008–2012

    From Imperial College to MIT

    He is a postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London from 2008. In 2012, he is appointed a professor in the Laboratory for Nuclear Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  3. 2012

    The bonsai boosted decision tree

    In October 2012, he and Vladimir Gligorov submit a paper describing the "bonsai" BDT, a modification of the standard boosted decision tree classifier for high-level triggering in particle physics experiments. The classifier is more efficient than traditional cut-based approaches, robust against detector instabilities, and very fast.

  4. 2013

    A DOE Early Career Award

    He is one of five MIT faculty members named to the Department of Energy Office of Science's 2013 Early Career Award. An assistant professor of physics, he uses Large Hadron Collider data from CERN to study differences in the behavior of matter and antimatter, and the award is for work on “Gluonic Excitations in Mesons.”

  5. 2016

    Hunting dark photons at LHCb

    In 2016, he, Philip Ilten, Yotam Soreq, Jesse Thaler and Wei Xue propose an inclusive search at the LHCb experiment for dark photons, based on prompt and displaced di-muon resonances. The paper appears in Physical Review Letters, and the search is fully data-driven, drawing on LHCb's real-time data-analysis capabilities.

  6. 2019

    Tenure at MIT

    MIT grants tenure to eight School of Science faculty members in 2019, among them Williams in the Department of Physics. His research uses experimental methods to search for new particles and forces, such as dark matter, and advances the use of machine learning in particle physics.

  7. August 2020

    Deputy director of IAIFI

    In August 2020, the NSF announces the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI), led by MIT's Laboratory for Nuclear Science, and he serves as its deputy director. With Jesse Thaler and Alexander Rakhlin, he spearheads a new interdisciplinary PhD program in physics, statistics, and data science.

  8. As of October 2026

    Director of IAIFI

    In June 2026, the NSF renews IAIFI for five more years, raising annual funding from $4 million to $4.98 million, and he serves as interim director. MIT announces in July 2026 that he will succeed Jesse Thaler as IAIFI director. He is IAIFI director and a professor of physics at MIT.

Career

  1. Since 2020Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental InteractionsDeputy Director, Interim Director
  2. Since 2012Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyProfessor of Physics
  3. 2008–2012Imperial College LondonPostdoctoral Fellow

Education

  1. 2007Carnegie Mellon UniversityPhD
  2. 2001Saint Vincent College

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Mike Williams (physicist) - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Meet the 2019 tenured professors in the School of Science | MIT News news.mit.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Efficient, reliable and fast high-level triggering using a bonsai boosted decision tree arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Five from MIT win Early Career Awards | MIT News news.mit.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Inclusive Dark Photon Search at LHCb arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. National Science Foundation announces MIT-led Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions | MIT News news.mit.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. NSF renews support for MIT-led AI and physics institute, expanding a new model for discovery | MIT News news.mit.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Jesse Thaler named director of the Laboratory for Nuclear Science | MIT News news.mit.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. People - NSF IAIFI iaifi.org. Checked 20 October 2026.