Meet the New MIT Sloan Faculty Members

In 2024, MIT Sloan welcomed six new faculty members to the school. As experts in their respective fields, they exemplify the excellence and innovation that MIT Sloan strives to embody through their research and exploration. Read more to learn what these faculty members specialize in, and what excites them most about working at MIT Sloan.

Ali Aouad, PhD ’17, Assistant Professor of Operations Management

Before joining MIT Sloan, Aouad worked as an associate professor of management science and operations at the London Business School. He also earned his PhD in operations research from MIT in 2017. Aouad’s research focuses on the interplay among algorithms, human behaviors, and economic preferences with application to supply chains, market design, and social operations.

His more recent work includes a study of pricing controls and online service platforms, a study on the design of food subsidies in low- and middle-income countries, and a collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to optimize its exhibits.

“I am inspired by the research at MIT Sloan that studies some of the most pressing challenges like food security, AI, and the digital economy. I am very excited by the global scope of the research activities and the evolving interaction between technology and social issues,” says Aouad.

Chelsea R. Lide, Assistant Professor of Work and Organization Studies

Lide worked as a program manager at Google and earned her PhD in business administration from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business prior to coming onboard at MIT Sloan. She now studies organizational behavior, specifically “how employees form beliefs about social information and how these beliefs shape their perceptions of—and behavior toward—others in the workplace.” Her recent work includes a paper on the consequences of leader under- and over-communication.

Lide says, “MIT Sloan is an intellectually vibrant community that is committed to tackling complex issues in business and society. For me, it’s exciting to feel the sense of momentum and purpose that comes from being in an environment where innovation and impact are so deeply valued.”

Her research focuses primarily on the concept of second-order prejudice—the study of how one’s perception of another’s biases influences their own personal beliefs and actions—and how it contributes to discrimination in organizations.

Haihao (Sean) Lu, PhD ’19, Assistant Professor of Operations Research and Statistics

Previously, Lu was an assistant professor of operations management at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He was also a visiting faculty researcher at Google Research. Lu earned a PhD in mathematics and operations research from MIT in 2019, and his research includes solving large-scale optimization problems that appear in data science, machine learning, and operations research.

“The two aspects that excite me the most about MIT Sloan are that the foundational research by MIT Sloan faculty is taught in graduate courses across universities worldwide, and their computational and applied work is widely adopted in industry. This dual impact is what I aspire to achieve in my own research,” says Lu.

Much of Lu’s research is motivated by real-world applications faced by dominant internet companies.

Ellen Muir, Assistant Professor of Applied Economics

Muir earned her PhD in economics from Stanford University and was a prize fellow in economics, history, and politics at Harvard University before she came to MIT Sloan. She is a microeconomic theorist with a focus on mechanism design, market design, and industrial organization. Her recent publications and working papers include an optimal lockdown management plan for an epidemic and the optimal design of rights related to the control of an economic resource.

Muir says, “MIT is a very special place with an unrivaled intellectual environment and collaborative culture. What I most enjoy about my job at MIT Sloan are the day-to-day interactions with colleagues and students, which are incredibly motivating and rewarding. As a junior faculty member, I feel particularly well supported in achieving my research and teaching goals.”

She primarily studies the behavior of firms with market power, as well as how those firms design and sell their products, procure inputs, and hire workers. Her work intends to better the design of regulatory interventions, property rights, and antitrust and competition policy.

Austin van Loon, Assistant Professor of Work and Organization Studies

Ahead of joining the MIT Sloan faculty, van Loon was a postdoctoral associate in Duke University’s Polarization Lab, which conducts research on the political divide in the U.S. He earned his PhD in sociology from Stanford University in 2023.

His research focuses on the “interplay between culture and identity in the context of intergroup conflict,” and how computational social science can be used to improve the social sciences. Van Loon’s ongoing work includes studying the cultural foundations of Americans’ immigration policy attitudes, how Americans’ views of the police change in response to police violence against protestors, and how generative artificial intelligence can be responsibly used to make social scientific discoveries.

“What excites me most about MIT Sloan is that it is an interdisciplinary hub of collaboration—where folks with various intellectual backgrounds come together to ask the big questions and imagine a better world,” says van Loon.

His research has primarily focused on political polarization in the United States and leverages the tools of computational social science to more fully comprehend social phenomena.

Felix W. Vetter, Assistant Professor of Accounting

Vetter was a professor in accounting and taxation at the University of Mannheim in Germany before he entered the MIT Sloan community. He earned his PhD in accounting from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2020. Vetter’s research focuses on audit and financial gatekeeper labor markets and on regulation.

His work includes studies on the effect of supervisors on employee misconduct at U.S. financial institutions, and the impact of ethics training on financial advisor misconduct. In recent research, he has also shown how labor market entry regulation, such as occupational licensing, can disproportionally burden minority entrants, resulting in lower minority participation in professional occupations.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of MIT Sloan, where the spirit of innovation and collaboration creates such a dynamic learning and research environment. I’m especially excited about the opportunity to work alongside brilliant students and colleagues, pushing boundaries and addressing some of today’s most pressing challenges,” says Vetter.

Find out more about these new faculty members on their faculty directory pages.