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The industries of the future need engineers.
America isn't producing enough of them.

The National Engineering Institute is a new, nonprofit university. It brings together AI-native pedagogy, industry integration, and stacked credentials in an affordable new model for undergraduate engineering education.

The demand is here.
The supply is not.

U.S. institutions graduate only about 130,000 engineers a year, far short of what the economy demands today and in the future.

As technology reshapes every industry, the distance between what a degree delivers and what the work requires keeps widening.

Affordable by Design

An engineering bachelor’s degree for under $20K a year in tuition, versus $40K–$60K at traditional private institutions, with paid co-ops that help students earn while they learn.

Built with Industry

Curriculum shaped with industry; students developed with employers. Students spend four terms embedded with leading employers, gaining real experience and a clear path to jobs.

Focused on Teaching

For our faculty, teaching is the job. Instruction is in person and hands-on, built around how students actually learn engineering, with no research mandate pulling their attention away from the classroom.

News & Insights

The Toyota Corolla Theory of College

Jun 15, 2023

Sarma and Yoquinto, The Atlantic

The Toyota Corolla Theory of College

MIT's Blueprint for a Future-Proof University

Feb 10, 2026

Brian Penprase, Forbes

MIT's Blueprint for a Future-Proof University

Bracing for the A.I. Economy to Come

Mar 22, 2026

Gina Raimondo, NYT Opinion

Bracing for the A.I. Economy to Come

AI and the Affordable New Education Institution — An Interview with Prof Sanjay Sarma

Jul 2, 2024

The HEAD Foundation Digest

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Gina Raimondo on Bolstering US Competitiveness

Mar 22, 2026

Raimondo and Watters, McKinsey & Co.

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MIT Professors Propose a New Kind of University for Post-COVID Era

Sep 28, 2022

Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

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Re-engaging Students after Covid

Jan 23, 2023

Selingo, Horn, and Sarma, Future U

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What next for higher education? Here's an alternate learning model for the future

Nov 17, 2022

Sanjay Sarma, World Economic Forum

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The Great (Campus) Divorce

Jan 23, 2026

David C. Philips, The Martin Center

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Where NEI Began

NEI began as a white paper: a detailed case for a new, affordable, industry-integrated model of engineering education. Read the paper that started it all.

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Team

Sanjay Sarma

Sanjay Sarma

Founding President and Director

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT

Sanjay is Project NEI's Founding President and co-author of the MIT white paper that set out its design. He led MIT's digital learning effort from 2012, established MIT Open Learning in 2016, and served as its inaugural Vice President through 2022. He co-founded MIT's Auto-ID Center, where he developed core technologies behind the EPC standard that underpins modern RFID. He is co-author of Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn and Workforce Education: A New Roadmap.
Marco Muñoz

Marco Muñoz

Head of Development

Senior Advisor to MIT's President

Marco leads NEI's development efforts. He is also Senior Advisor to the President of MIT on Climate, where he leads partnerships for the MIT Climate Project. He serves as Executive Director for Strategic Initiatives at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard. He also co-founded Oncoheroes Biosciences, the first biotech company dedicated to childhood cancer.
Kathy Pugh

Kathy Pugh

Chief Operating Officer (acting)

Sr. Vice President

Kathy Pugh joined Project NEI at its founding as the first executive to join President Sarma, building the institution's academic and operational foundations. Previously a founding executive at edX, the online learning platform created by MIT and Harvard, she grew the partner network to 220 global institutions and the learner base to more than 75 million, while launching credentials that reshaped online learning. Earlier in her career, she led global organizations in fintech, investment management, and cybersecurity.
Stephen Berenson

Stephen Berenson

Member, Founding Council

Stephen spent 33 years at J.P. Morgan, the last twelve as Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, then joined Flagship Pioneering, where he was Managing Partner for eight years. He has been a director of several pioneering companies, including Moderna. An MIT S.B. in mathematics, 1982, he sits on the Mathematics Visiting Committee and endowed the Berenson Mathematical Exploration Fund to back research traditional funders will not.

Board

Robert Millard

Robert Millard

Chairman

Robert is the Inaugural Chairman of Project NEI's Board. He is Chairman Emeritus of the MIT Corporation, where he stewarded governance through periods of major institutional growth. He served as Chairman of MITIMCo, MIT's endowment manager, guiding multi-billion-dollar capital campaigns for the Institute. He co-founded L3 Technologies and served as its Chairman. He was a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers and is the former Chairman of Realm Partners. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Bruce Rauner

Bruce Rauner

Director

Bruce is a Director of Project NEI's board. He catalyzed Ideas for Designing an Affordable New Educational Institution, the MIT design exercise that led to NEI. He served as the 42nd Governor of Illinois. He co-founded GTCR, the Chicago private equity firm, and served as its Chairman, where he and his partners formed and financed more than 200 companies. He is Emeritus Director and former Chairman of the Chicago Public Education Fund.
Joseph Aoun

Joseph Aoun

Director

President of Northeastern University

Joseph is a Director of Project NEI's board. He has served as President of Northeastern University since 2006, growing its co-op program into one of the world's largest and most innovative, with placements in more than 140 countries. He built a system of 13 campuses across North America and the United Kingdom, increased research funding sevenfold, and led Northeastern to R1 Carnegie classification in 2016. He is author of Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
Cynthia Barnhart

Cynthia Barnhart

Board Observer

Professor of Operations Research, MIT

Cynthia serves as an observer to the Board of Directors of Project NEI. She was MIT's first woman Provost, serving from 2022 to 2025, and its first woman Chancellor from 2014 to 2021, making her only the second person in MIT's history to hold both offices. She now advances work begun as Provost to make MIT's mind-and-hand approach to education accessible to more learners. Cynthia is a Professor of Operations Research at MIT and an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Contact

info@projectnei.org

 

Address

PO Box 425004

Cambridge, MA 02142

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NATIONAL ENGINEERING INSTITUTE, and related marks and logos, are trademarks and service marks of PROJECT NEI INC. All rights are reserved.

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