David Siegel (SM ’86, PhD ’91), a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, will serve as MIT’s Innovation Fellow for the 2026‑27 academic year, working with the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing to explore how artificial intelligence can accelerate scientific discovery.\ \ MIT President Sally Kornbluth said Siegel’s technical insight, entrepreneurial experience, and love for MIT will help identify new AI‑science opportunities. Siegel added that MIT has shaped his view of technology’s potential and he looks forward to collaborating with brilliant students, researchers, and faculty.\ \ Siegel’s MIT relationship began with a master’s in 1986 and a PhD in 1991, during which he worked in Prof. Tomás Lozano‑Pérez’s AI Lab on human‑machine interaction, contributing to an early human‑like robotic hand. He has remained deeply involved: life member of the MIT Corporation, former Executive Committee member, co‑chair of the External Advisory Committee for the Schwarzman College, and early champion of the MIT Quest for Intelligence (now the MIT Siegel Family Quest for Intelligence).\ \ After his PhD, Siegel founded several early‑internet ventures and co‑founded Two Sigma in 2001. The firm applies data‑science and engineering lenses to investing, using AI, machine learning, and advanced quantitative modeling. He retired from day‑to‑day management in 2024 but stays on as co‑chair.\ \ Through the Siegel Family Endowment (established 2011), he supports organizations such as the Scratch Foundation, Center on Rural Innovation, Khan Academy, Pursuit, and the Aspen Institute, focusing on how technological change affects society. In 2024 he launched the nonprofit Open Athena, which equips academic labs with elite AI talent, data‑engineering expertise, and compute resources, and is building Marin, a 535‑billion‑parameter foundation model released entirely in the public domain. All datasets and experiments are shared in real time, keeping frontier AI a public asset. Open Athena collaborates with MIT and receives funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Google, the Huang Foundation, and Schmidt Sciences.\ \ Siegel serves on several boards, including vice‑chair of the Scratch Foundation (co‑founded with MIT Prof. Mitch Resnick), member of the Cornell Tech Council, and board member of Re:Build Manufacturing, Khan Academy, and NYC FIRST Robotics. In 2025 he joined the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Advisory Committee, advising on complex scientific and technical policy issues.\ \ Through his family office Shinrai Management, Siegel continues to invest in high‑growth startups, especially those founded by MIT students and alumni. His debut book, When Machines Act: The Promise and Peril of Navigating Our Agentic AI Future (co‑authored with Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Stephen Henriques), will be published by MIT Press next March. Based on interviews with top tech leaders and over 300 CEOs, the book offers a practical roadmap for autonomous AI, covering deployment, governance, and essential rules.\ \ MIT Provost Anantha Chandrakasan and Schwarzman College Dean Dan Huttenlocher praised Siegel’s long‑standing commitment to MIT and his vision for AI and science, noting his ability to translate ambition into concrete research, education, and public‑engagement pathways.\ \ Innovation Fellows typically reside at MIT for a year or more, leveraging their experience and networks to engage faculty and students, participate in public events, and advise MIT leadership. Past fellows include Brian Deese, Virginia “Ginny” Rometty, Eric Schmidt, the late Ash Carter, and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Siegel will focus on using AI to accelerate scientific discovery, collaborating across the Schwarzman College and the Institute to extend MIT’s impact.\ \ Review: Siegel’s blend of deep technical expertise, successful entrepreneurship, and philanthropic leadership equips MIT with a powerful catalyst for open‑source AI infrastructure and interdisciplinary breakthroughs.