The annual Edgerton Faculty Award was established in 1982 as a tribute to Institute Professor Emeritus Harold E. Edgerton in recognition of his active support of junior faculty members.
The James R. Killian, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award was established in the spring of 1971 as a permanent tribute to Dr. James R. Killian, Jr., former MIT president (1948–1959) and chairman of the Corporation (1959–1971).
First awarded in 1990, the Levitan Prize in the Humanities was established through a gift from the late James A. Levitan, a 1945 MIT graduate in chemistry who was also a member of the MIT Corporation.