Frida Polli, a renowned neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and inventor, has been appointed as MIT’s inaugural visiting innovation scholar for the 2024-25 academic year. As a trailblazer in the intersection of behavioral science and artificial intelligence, Polli will be joining the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, marking a significant milestone for the institution.
Polli’s journey began in academic neuroscience, where she specialized in multimodal brain imaging to decipher health and disease connections. She was a distinguished fellow at the Psychiatric Neuroimaging Group at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School. Following that, she pursued postdoctoral research in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT under the mentorship of John Gabrieli, the esteemed Grover Hermann Professor of Health Sciences and Technology.
Her contributions to research have earned her numerous accolades, including a Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. With over 30 peer-reviewed publications, her work has been featured in prestigious journals like Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Neuroscience, and Brain. Polli’s transition from academia to the business world was inspired by her MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Robert Kaplan Life Science Fellow. During this period, she also won both the Life Sciences Track and Audience Choice Award at the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship competition as part of Aukera Therapeutics.
Upon completing her MBA, Polli co-founded pymetrics, a groundbreaking company that employs advancements in cognitive science and machine learning to improve decision-making and performance in the human capital industry. With multiple patents under her belt, Polli led pymetrics as CEO from 2012 until a successful exit in 2022. The company has been recognized as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing firms, along with Forbes listing it among the top Artificial Intelligence companies. Notably, she played a crucial role in the enactment of New York’s groundbreaking algorithmic bias law, which took effect in July 2023.
Returning to MIT, Polli is collaborating closely with Sendhil Mullainathan, the Peter de Florez Professor within the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Economics. Together, they aim to unify faculty, students, and postdocs across MIT to tackle complex challenges at the intersection of humans and algorithms. Their goal is to foster a new subdomain of computer science that centers on behavioral science and cultivates a new generation of scientists fluent in both fields.
“Sometimes you find yourself in the right place at the right time,” remarks Mullainathan. “Frida embodies the ideal blend of innovation, academic rigor, and social impact that MIT seeks. Her rare combination of skills positions her uniquely to contribute to our mission.”
Polli highlights the increasing relevance of algorithm design, stating, “As people engage with algorithms more frequently, we often encounter suboptimal outcomes because these systems are not designed with human interaction in mind. Our focus will be on creating algorithms that collaborate effectively with people, as these are vital for tackling significant societal challenges in areas like education and health care.”
Her impressive accolades include being named one of Inc.’s Top 100 Female Founders in 2019, followed by inclusion in Entrepreneur’s Top 100 Powerful Women in 2020, and most recently, the 2024 list of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. Polli’s work has attracted attention from major media outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Economist, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Bloomberg, and Inc.
Beyond her significant role at pymetrics, in 2023, Polli established Alethia AI, an organization committed to enhancing transparency in technology. In 2024, she launched Rosalind Ventures, aimed at investing in women founders in the fields of science and health care. Additionally, she serves as an advisor at the Buck Institute’s Center for Healthy Aging in Women.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Polli back to MIT. Her dual expertise in behavioral science and AI makes her an exceptional fit for our college. Her entrepreneurial experience underlines her potential as an outstanding inaugural visiting innovation scholar,” states Dan Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.
Photo credit & article inspired by: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
