I created this graph while exploring the academic social networks of CSAIL members. The project snowballed when I decided to add all of the current PIs and their students, and all their ancestors. (I later lost track of the graduating students and had to remove them, except the ones who later received a faculty appointment.) A good number of former PIs (and PI-equivalents in older regimes) are included, but this group is by no means complete. Retired, affiliate, and former PIs are highlighted in grey, and current PIs are highlighted in orange, the old CSAIL logo colors.
I've highlighted some famous non-CSAIL names with a light blue fill; this choice of individuals is obviously idiosyncratic. So, too, is the choice of abbreviation for people's almae matres.
This graph could not have been made without the enormous data-collection effort put in by the Mathematics Genealogy Project at North Dakota State University and the American Mathematical Society. There are other collections of “academic genealogy” data out there, but the MGP data set looks to me to be the best curated. All of them are incomplete in various ways, and I was able to fill in some of the blanks using library research, AcademicTree.org, and various Web sites, as well as personal email with Lab members. As of 2026-06-26, the graph contains 1322 nodes and 1473 edges (some of them commented out).
The graph was laid out with GraphViz 15.0.0. See comments in the Makefile for more information on the processing pipeline. On an Intel Core i5-10900 workstation, building the graphs takes about four minutes for each format. Because GraphViz uses a randomized algorithm for layout, the exct output is not reproducible. The PDF presented here was post-processed to reduce wasted area.
Please pass any updates or corrections to wollman@csail.mit.edu.
