Leo Rafael Reif (born August 21, 1950) is a Venezuelan American electrical engineer and academic administrator.

[1][2][3] Reif sits on the boards of the World Economic Forum, the Carnegie Endowment, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Broad Institute.

An early champion of MIT's engagement in micro- and nanotechnologies, Dr. Reif is the inventor or co-inventor on 13 patents, has edited or co-edited five books, and has supervised 38 doctoral theses.

As MIT’s provost, he spearheaded an effort to promote online learning for both on-campus students and learners around the world.

The effort paved the way for edX, a massive open online course provider that MIT and Harvard University co-founded in 2012.

[12] Reif was named co-chair of the administration's Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee "2.0," part of a continuing effort to maintain U.S. leadership in the emerging technologies that will create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance America's global competitiveness, on September 26, 2013.

[17] In speeches as early as 2017, Reif began describing what he saw as a need for education that pairs expertise in computing and another field to solve increasingly complex, interdisciplinary problems.

[19] The College aims to prepare students to harness the power of AI while weighing its ethical and social implications.

[27] In February 2022, Reif announced his intention to step down as MIT president at the end of 2022, and return to the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science following a yearlong sabbatical.

In 2015, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation honored him with the Frank E. Taplin, Jr. Public Intellectual Award,[30] he was recognized as one of the Top 20 Most Influential, Outstanding, Creative and Talented Hispanic professionals working in the US Technology Industry by @CNET @CNET-ES @CBS Interactive.