David Niño is a Senior Lecturer for the Riccio Graduate Engineering Leadership Program (GradEL). He has served in this role since 2015, where he leads the development of leadership education for MIT graduate students in engineering and other disciplines. Under his leadership, the program has grown from one graduate class serving less than 20 students and to a variety of highly-rated academic classes and workshops that serve over 200 graduate students annually. In addition to teaching MIT academic classes, he has created several MIT online programs for professionals around the world, reaching over 1,000 learners annually in four different languages.

Prior to joining MIT, David was a faculty member in the schools of engineering and business at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He was Director of Rice’s university-wide leadership program and later played a leading role in designing and establishing the university’s first four-year academic certificate in engineering leadership.

David consults with technology executives on topics related to developing leadership among engineers, researchers, and other technical experts. He has published on the topics of organizational culture, ethics, and the development of management and leadership skills. David holds a Ph.D. in Management from the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his B.A., B.B.A., and M.A. degrees. He lives in Weston Massachusetts with this wife and three children.