Common Ground

Advancing computing and AI education across MIT and empowering students to think across disciplines through collaborative teaching.

Call for Proposals

Deadline

Interested in developing and teaching a Common Ground course? MIT instructors are invited to submit proposals for the Fall 2026 Common Ground grant process. Proposals are due on or before November 4.

Computing and AI are reshaping how we learn, work, and pursue discovery across every field. The Common Ground for computing and AI education brings together faculty and departments throughout MIT to develop and teach new courses and programs that connect these fields with other disciplines.

By engaging with computing and AI in the context of their own areas of study, students gain the knowledge and perspective to apply these tools thoughtfully, creatively, and responsibly.

Common Ground is led by MIT Schwarzman College of Computing Deputy Dean Asu Ozdaglar, department head and Mathworks Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Oversight for the initiative is provided by the Common Ground Steering Committee, co-chaired by Ozdaglar and Troy Van Voorhis, the Haslam and Dewey Professor of Chemistry.

Common Ground Objectives

  • Address the need for computing and AI education across many disciplines, not only as a tool but conceptually.
  • Educate “computing bilinguals” — students fluent in both the “language” of computing and that of their discipline.
  • Bring the forefront of rapidly-changing computer science and artificial intelligence fields together with the problems and methods of other disciplines.
  • Infuse computing and AI education in a coordinated manner across MIT.

Subjects

Common Ground courses blend computing and AI with other fields students are studying.

Teach

Learn how faculty and departments can collaborate with the Common Ground to develop and teach courses that connect computing and AI with disciplines across MIT.

Governance

Faculty from across all corners of MIT are working together to advance the objectives of the Common Ground.