Saving Spaceship Earth

Speaker: Dava Newman , AeroAstro / MIT

Date: Wednesday, October 02, 2019

Time: 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM Note: all times are in the Eastern Time Zone

Public: Yes

Location: Patil Seminar Room 32-G449

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Room Description: Patil Seminar Room 32-G449

Host: Daniela Rus, CSAIL

Contact: Lauralyn M. Smith, lauralyn@csail.mit.edu

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Reminders to: seminars@csail.mit.edu

Reminder Subject: TALK: Hot Topics in Computing: Dava Newman--Saving Spaceship Earth

Light refreshments will be served at 4:00pm, talk begins at 4:30pm.
Abstract:
From solar electric propulsion to cutting edge life support systems, advanced space suit design, to the first crops grown in space, the journey to Mars is already unfolding in tangible ways today for tomorrow. However, Mars is not ‘Plan B’. Spaceship Earth, our pale blue dot, is the most magnificent planet to inhabit. Professor Dava Newman, former Deputy Administrator of NASA, MIT Apollo Professor of Astronautics at MIT, and an expert in space technology and policy, offers an orbital view of planet Earth’s interconnected systems through supercomputer data visualizations and stories to demonstrate risks, actions and solutions.

Biography:
Dr. Dava Newman is the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Harvard–MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology faculty member. She is a MacVicar Faculty Fellow for excellence and outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. She is the MIT Director of the MIT Portugal Program (MPP2030). Her research expertise is in multidisciplinary aerospace biomedical engineering investigating human performance across the spectrum of gravity. She is a leader in advanced space suit design, dynamics and control of astronaut motion, leadership development, innovation and space policy. Newman was the principal investigator on 4 spaceflight missions. The Space Shuttle Dynamic Load Sensors (DLS) experiment measured astronaut-induced disturbances of the microgravity environment on mission STS-62. An advanced system, the Enhanced Dynamic Load Sensors experiment, flew on board the Russian Mir Space Station from 1996–1998. Dr. Newman was a Co-Investigator on the Mental Workload and Performance Experiment (MWPE) that flew to space on STS-42 to measure astronaut mental workload and fine motor control in microgravity. She also developed the MICR0-G space flight experiment to provide a novel smart sensor suite and study human adaptation in extreme environments. She is the MIT PI on the Gravity Loading Countermeasure Suit, or Skinsuit, onboard the International Space Station as an ESA technology demonstration 2015-2017. Best known for her second skin BioSuit™ planetary EVA system, her advanced spacesuits inventions are now being applied to “soft suits/exoskeletons” to study and enhance locomotion on Earth. Recently, she co-founded EarthDNA with partner Guillermo Trotti to accelerate solutions for spaceship Earth’s Ocean, Land and Air subsystems by curating near-space satellite data to make the world work for 100% of humanity. Newman is the author of Interactive Aerospace Engineering and Design, and has published more than 250 papers in journals and refereed conferences, and holds numerous compression technology patents. She has supervised 90 graduate student theses and supervised and mentored over 200 undergraduate researchers.

She served as NASA Deputy Administrator from 2015–2017, and along with the NASA Administrator was responsible for articulating the agency's vision, providing leadership and policy direction, and representing NASA to the White House, Congress, international space agencies, and industry. Dr. Newman was the first female engineer and scientist to serve in this role and was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. She championed the human journey to Mars, technology and innovation, and education. Recent honors include: Lowell Thomas Award, Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, AIAA Fellow, AIAA Jeffries Aerospace Medicine and Life Sciences Research Award, and Women in Aerospace Leadership Award.

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Created by Lauralyn M. Smith at Tuesday, July 30, 2019 at 1:51 PM.