MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics | April 2020
|
|
Featured Image:
This year, we put together a highlight reel to showcase AeroAstro graduate students and their research for our open house event for newly admitted students. Special thanks to the contributors and participants who helped make it a success:
Hamsa Balakrishnan, Kerri Cahoy, Chris Courtin, Annick DeWald, Olivier de Weck, Lena Downes, Paula do Vale Pereira, Jenny Gubner, John Hansman, Daniel Hastings, Eric Hinterman, Sertac Karaman, Trevor Long, Beth Marois, Adriana Mitchell, Thomas Joseph Murphy, Cadence Payne, Prashanth Prakash, Gilhyun Ryou, Ezra Tal,
and
Samir Wadwhania
.
View the video.
|
|
A Note from the Department Head
|
Dear AeroAstro Community,
With the initial wave of immediate urgent action behind us, we have spent the last few weeks picking up the pieces of our sense of normalcy that was shattered in the wake of the global pandemic. We were able to reschedule two major lectures that were postponed as we grappled with the mass exodus from campus, as both speakers were willing to transition their presentations to a virtual setting.
Charlie Bolden will present the annual Lester D. Garner Lecture on
Wednesday, April 29 at 4 p.m
. Additionally, Deborah James will join us on
Monday, May 4 at 4 p.m.
to present “Aim High: Chart Your Course and Find Success,” which we are co-hosting with MIT GEL. We will follow up soon with the Zoom meeting information, but in the meantime, please mark your calendars!
Throughout all of the challenges and uncertainty we have faced together, this community has remained a bright spot — flexible, adaptive, creative, and steadfast in our support towards one another. For that reason, I could not be more pleased to resume this regular email to you, which is intended to be a celebration of this community and all you have accomplished. I find it especially fitting that it contains a platform that gives us a way to honor each other.
The MIT AeroAstro Awards and Recognition Program are open and seeking nominations for faculty, administrative and research staff, and students. I encourage you to review the award categories outlined below and nominate whoever you think has had a significant impact on the Department this year. Now more than ever, we must celebrate the hard work, creativity, and dedication of our colleagues, particularly in light of the recent challenges we have faced together. I’m proud of you all.
|
Daniel Hastings
Department Head, MIT AeroAstro
Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor
|
Upcoming Events and Announcements
|
Mark your calendars!
Wednesday, April 29 at 4 p.m.
| Lester D. Gardner Lecture |
Charles F. Bolden Jr.
, Major General, US Marine Corps (Ret); 12th NASA Administrator
“Leading Through Unprecedented Times”
Zoom information to follow.
Monday, May 4 at 4 p.m.
| Special AeroAstro/GEL Seminar: Women in Leadership |
Deborah James
, 23rd Secretary of the US Air Force
“Aim High: Chart Your Course and Find Success”
Zoom information to follow.
Upcoming Diversity, Innovation, and Inclusion Events
TODAY, Friday, April 24 at 4 p.m.
| AeroAstro Happier Hour: The SHEro Project
Join us to honor the significant women who have inspired you during this week’s Happier Hour. We want to highlight the contributions women have made to history by inviting the community to create a slide about one woman who has inspired you.
The slide template can be found here.
Send your completed slide to Denise Phillips, AeroAstro Diversity Officer, at dap1@mit.edu.
Time: Apr 24, 2020 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,91362712503# US (New York)
+16699006833,,91362712503# US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 913 6271 2503
US : +1 646 558 8656 or +1 669 900 6833
Join by SIP
Join by Skype for Business
Thursday, April 20 at Noon
| Blind Spots Dialogue Lunch Series: COVID-19 Related Bias
Learn more
about COVID-19-related bias and join us for this month’s Blind Spots Dialogue Lunch Series discussion.
Time: Apr 30, 2020 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,92708418715# US (New York)
+16699006833,,92708418715# US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 927 0841 8715
US : +1 646 558 8656 or +1 669 900 6833
Join by SIP
Join by Skype for Business
Tuesday, May 5 at 11 a.m. | DI&I Meeting
Access the most recent meeting minutes on the
AeroAstro website
(Note: Touchstone authentication required).
Time: May 5, 2020 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,91500551683# US (New York)
+16699006833,,91500551683# US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 915 0055 1683
US : +1 646 558 8656 or +1 669 900 6833
Join by SIP
Join by Skype for Business
|
Mathworks Learning Resources
Participate in MIT HSL Survey About Social Distancing
The MIT Human Systems Lab is recruiting for online surveys to examine individual responses to social distancing/isolation related to the unique environment many of us find ourselves in because of COVID-19. The current distancing guidelines create a unique opportunity to examine responses to living/working in isolated and confined environments (ICE) in the general population, since most research in this area is performed on highly trained, small groups of individuals such as astronauts.
The survey results may help us better understand how to prepare humans for living in isolation, such as in missions to the International Space Station, working in remote environments like Antarctica, or even in a future space colony where a diverse set of people will be part of the community.
If you are at least 18 years old, fluent in English, and currently practicing social distancing you are eligible to participate. Eligible volunteers will be asked to complete daily online surveys (~15 min) while they are social distancing.
Take the survey.
|
Noteworthy News, Awards & Honors:
|
- Danielle Wood spoke about space and its contributions to peace, justice and security as part of a virtual United Nations webinar series. Her presentation was titled “(un)data Seminar Series on Outrageous Questions: How do satellite technology and space policy relate to Sustainable Development Goal 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions?”
- Eytan Modiano received the 2020 IEEE INFOCOM Achievement Award. The highest honor bestowed on a researcher in the International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM) community, Modiano is cited for his significant contributions to the analysis and design of cross-layer resource allocation algorithms for wireless, optical, and satellite networks.
- Grad students Paula do Vale Pereira and Becca Browder, undergrad student Sabrina Khan, and their colleagues in the MIT Media Lab and HST, created a learning package for MIT FullSTEAM Ahead, “Exploring and Living in Outer Space!” They worked together to develop a moon module for the Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative’s digital activities on lunar exploration, space food, and CubeSats. Full STEAM Ahead is a collection of K-12 resources for teaching and learning online as a rapid response to the need for online resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Wesley Harris and visiting scientist, Dr. Jarunee Wonglimpiyarat collaborated together on the policy research project working paper series “Financing Innovation and Technology: Lessons from the Asian Tiger Economies.” The project, run by the Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development out of the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, UK, identifies opportunities to support developing countries leveraging technological change through a digital roadmap.
- Grad student Morgan Blevins received a Graduate Research Fellowship Program award from the National Science Foundation as well as a Draper Fellowship, which she will be accepting!
- Grad student Lena Downes received a Draper Fellowship for her PhD studies. She is a previous recipient of a Draper fellowship for her Master’s degree studies.
- Recipients of Spot Appreciation Awards from Feb. to March 31 include: Kate Reynolds, Beata Shuster, Joyce Light, Quentin Alexander, Jei Lee Freeman, Hannah Ovaska, Raina Puels, Brían O’Conaill, Anthony Zolnik, and Liz Zotos. Learn more about recognizing your staff colleagues.
- Grad student Alex Trujillo is co-winner of the recent open NASA Model Based Systems Engineering Habitat Library Challenge for his contribution to developing a library of models for human space habitat elements.
- “Aeronautical and manufacturing engineering” was among the 12 No. 1 subject rankings MIT received from the QS World University Rankings for 2020. Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Limited subject rankings, published annually, are designed to help prospective students find the leading schools in their field of interest. Rankings are based on research quality and accomplishments, academic reputation, and graduate employment.
- Danielle Wood was featured in a profile by NASA’s Earth Science division where she discussed her work applying satellite data to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Benin and Ghana.
|
|
In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the City of Cambridge instituted a
Temporary Emergency Construction Moratorium
on all construction activity on both public and private property in the city of Cambridge until further notice. To comply with this order,
physical construction activity on the
Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel has ceased temporarily.
AeroAstro Infrastucture Manager Anthony Zolnik continues to meet with Turner Construction, MIT Capital Projects, and other key project stakeholders virtually three times per week to keep the project on track until the moratorium is lifted. If you have questions or concerns, email
wbwt-info@mit.edu
.
|
Successful ~*VIRTUAL*~ Defenders
|
Congratulations
Dr. Matt Vernacchia!
March 10, 2020:
“Development of low-thrust solid rocket motors for small, fast aircraft propulsion”
Adviser: R. John Hansman, ICAT
Congratulations
Dr. Jaqueline Thomas!
April 3, 2020:
“Systems Analysis of Community Noise Impacts of Advanced Flight Procedures for Conventional and Hybrid Electric Aircraft”
Adviser: R. John Hansman, ICAT
Did you successfully defend your graduate thesis?
Send a photo to
aa-communications@mit.edu
to be featured as one of our Successful Defenders!
|
Featured Research:
How to deflect an asteroid
|
"MIT engineers devise a decision map to identify the best mission type to deflect an incoming asteroid."
Sung Wook Paek, Olivier de Weck, Jeffrey Hoffman, Richard Binzel, David Miller,
Optimization and decision-making framework for multi-staged asteroid deflection campaigns under epistemic uncertainties
,
Acta Astronautica
,
Volume 167,
2020, Pages 23-41.
Media Coverage Highlights:
|
Below are a few highlights of AeroAstro publications and media coverage:
Eric Hinterman, Jeffrey Hoffman
Acta Astronautica
Sara Seager
New York Times
Alumna Jasmin Moghbelii ' 05
Tech Briefs
Ankit Shah, Shen Li, Julie Shah
MIT News
|
|
Call for Nominations: MIT AeroAstro Community Awards and Recognition
|
|
All current members of AeroAstro are welcome to submit a nomination. Please note that individuals cannot nominate themselves and a team member cannot nominate his or her own team. Previous 2019 award recipients are not eligible to win the same award, but may be nominated for another award category.
2020 Award Timeline:
- Call for Nominations: Opens April 6, 2020
- Final Deadline: May 1, 2020
- Notification:
- Those who have been nominated will be notified May 14, 2020
- Winners will be announced in the AeroAstro Round-Up, and recognized at the Faculty Lunch on May 20, 2020.
|
|
Wings Award:
To recognize an individual
support staff member
in AeroAstro for excellence. (Note: This award is
limited to support staff
. If you are unsure of the classification of an individual, please check with
Brían O'Conaill
). The 2019 recipient was Bryt Bradley.
|
|
Spirit of XVI Award:
To recognize sustained excellence by a
member of the staff or a team of staff members
in AeroAstro, whose work, commitment, and enthusiasm contribute significantly to the achievement of the mission of the Department. The 2019 recipient was Quentin Alexander.
|
|
Vickie Kerrebrock Awards:
To recognize s
tudents, staff, faculty, or others
, either individually or as members of a group, who have made significant contributions to building a sense of community in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. The 2019 recipients were the GWAE, and WAE student groups, and Cory Frontin. Going forward, there will be five awards distributed under this category.
Submit your nominations for the Vickie Kerrebrock Awards:
- Faculty
- Research Staff (including Postdocs)
- Administrative/Support/Instructor staff
- Graduate Students
- Undergraduate Students
The Vickie Kerrebrock awards are underwritten by the Vickie Kerrebrock Award Fund, named for the spouse of longtime faculty member Jack Kerrebrock, who served two periods as Department Head. The awards celebrate Vickie’s memory as a mainstay of the department who was deeply engaged with staff and faculty throughout Jack’s tenure.
|
|
Department Highlights in Photos
|
|
Grad student Cadence Payne (STAR Lab) was featured in a video series on Career Girls where she spoke about her experience as an aerospace engineer at MIT to young women around the world. Career Girls highlights women and their careers on a platform geared towards showcasing role models to empower young women around the world.
Watch the videos.
|
|
Team CoSTAR, co-led by
Luca Carlone
and comprised of members from the MIT Spark Lab, JPL, CalTech, and KAIST, won first place in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge Urban Circuit. The contest tasked participants and their robots to map and find survivors and other objects of interest in an abandoned nuclear power plant in Elma, Washington. The DARPA Challenge includes four main events, Tunnel, Urban, Cave, and Combined. In August 2019, the team took home second place at the DARPA Subterranean Challenge Tunnel Circuit.
Learn more.
|
|
AeroAstro grad students and researchers working on a NASA mission orbiting a near-Earth asteroid have made an unexpected detection of a phenomenon 30 thousand light-years away. Last fall, the student-built Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) onboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft detected a newly flaring black hole in the constellation Columba while making observations off the limb of asteroid Bennu.
Learn more.
|
|
Kanika Gakhar
,
Katherine Carroll
,
Paula do Vale Pereira
, and
Laura Yenchesky
were among the laureates honored during Aviation Week Network’s 63rd Annual Awards on March 12 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. The Aviation Week Network, in collaboration with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) named them among the winners of “Tomorrow’s Technology Leaders: The 20 Twenties,” which recognize students earning STEM degrees who are nominated by their universities based on their academic performance, civic contribution and research or design project.
Learn more about the 20 Twenties.
|
|
|
|
“I came to understand body hair as both a rejection of heterosexual patriarchal beauty ideals
and
a visual signifier of female queerness.”
Raina K. Puels
, AeroAstro staff member
in an essay published in
|
|
Do you have highlights to include in future editions of the Monthly Roundup?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
