Professor Canizares is the Vice President for Research and Associate Provost and the Bruno Rossi Professor of Physics at MIT. He has overall responsibility for research activity and policy at the Institute. He oversees more than a dozen interdisciplinary research laboratories and centers, including the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Koch Institute for Intergrative Cancer Research, the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, the Research Laboratory of Electronics, the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research & Technology, the Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, the Haystack Observatory and the Division of Health Sciences and Technology. The Technology Licensing Office, the International Scholars Office and the Division of Comparative Medicine, among others, report to Professor Canizares. He also has policy oversight for the Office of Sponsored Programs. In addition, Professor Canizares is a member of several MIT committees: Academic Council and the Academic Appointments committee, the Committee for Renovation and Space Planning, the Conflict of Interest Management Group, the International Advisory Committee, and the Research Policy Committee.

Professor Canizares' service outside MIT includes the Department of Commerce's Emerging Technology and Research Advisory Committee, and the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship; the National Research Council (NRC) committees on Science Engineering and Public Policy, on Science, Security, and Prosperity, and on Science Communication and National Security; as well as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory External Advisory Council and the Alliance for Sustainable Energy Board. He is a member of the L-3 Communications, Inc. Board of Directors and he served on the Board of Trustees of the Associated Universities Inc. Professor Canizares is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the International Academy of Astronautics and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Professor Canizares is the Associate Director of the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center and a principal investigator on NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, having led the development of the Chandra High Resolution Transmission Grating Spectrometer. His main research interests are high resolution x-ray spectroscopy and plasma diagnostics of supernova remnants and clusters of galaxies, X-ray studies of dark matter, X-ray properties of quasars and active galactic nuclei, and observational cosmology. He is author or co-author of more than 200 scientific papers.

Professor Canizares earned his BA, MA and Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University. He came to MIT as a postdoctoral fellow in the Physics Department in 1971 and joined the faculty in 1974. Professor Canizares has received several awards including decoration for Meritorious Civilian Service to the United States Air Force, two NASA Public Service Medals, and the Goddard Medal of the American Astronautical Society.