The MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is pleased to announce that the following faculty members have been granted tenure by MIT:

Tami Lieberman has been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure, effective July 1, 2026. Lieberman studies microbial evolution in real time, with a focus on mutations occurring within individual human ‘microbiomes’ – the set of microbes that live in and on us during health. Her lab is interested in understanding the molecular determinants of colonization success in complex environments and enabling the precise manipulations of microbiomes in the clinic and the environment.

Dave Des Marais has been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure, effective July 1, 2026. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of plant-environment interaction. Using tools from molecular, quantitative, and population genetics, researchers in the Des Marais Lab identify the physiological basis of plant response to environmental cues and ask how these mechanisms constrain or facilitate plant breeding and evolutionary change.