MIT Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics | November 2021
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Announcements
RSVP for the first event in the new School of Engineering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Distinguished Speaker Series on Tuesday, November 30 from 1-2 p.m. ET. Gilda A. Barabino, the President of Olin College of Engineering will join in person to present: Engineering for Everyone: Centering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
 
Summary: At its core, engineering involves creative problem-solving. Diverse groups of problem solvers are more likely to outperform homogeneous groups and derive the best solution. Yet, ensuring diverse groups in engineering is compromised by the persistent underrepresentation of members of racially minoritized groups and women, and the lack of equitable and inclusive environments to ensure their success. Centering diversity, equity, and inclusion in the context of engineering for everyone has the capacity to effect meaningful change within our institutions and across higher education. This presentation will challenge assumptions, provide frameworks, apply inclusion lessons, and offer strategies for the future.
 
The SoE DEI Distinguished Speaker Series is a forum for members of the School of Engineering community to deepen knowledge and engage in open and thoughtful exchange. There are in-person and virtual options to attend, so please RSVP to Greg Soloviev to confirm your preference and register. Space is limited for the on-campus option.
Artists and Scientists Together on Climate Solutions: On Monday, Nov. 29, from 3-4:30 p.m., the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative will bring together speakers from MIT and the Involved Group, an industry-leading label in house, trance, and electronic music, to explore the music industry's role in combating climate change. How can musicians educate and motivate their audiences around climate solutions? And how is the industry "walking the walk" on a climate positive future? Featuring Dava Newman, Prof. of Aeronautics and Astronautics and director of the MIT Media Lab, in conversation with artists and sustainability professionals in the music industry. This event is free to all and can be joined in-person or online. Register.
The nomination period for the 2022 MIT Excellence Awards + Collier Medal is open. The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. EST.
News & Honors
  • Sandeep Badrinath PhD’21 received an Honorable Mention in the INFORMS Aviation Application Section Dissertation Award 2021, for his thesis “Modeling and Control of Queuing Networks: Applications to Airport Surface Operations”. 
 
  • Spot Award recipients for the month of October include: Amy Jarvis, Marshall Galbraith, Jennifer Leith, Robin Courchesne-Sato, Fran Marrone, Beata Shuster (x2!), Pam Fradkin (x2!), Ngan Le, Suxin Hu, and Esther Allen. Learn more about how you can recognize your colleagues (note: click "LOGIN" on the top right menu to log in via Touchstone to view internal pages) with AeroAstro's Spot Recognition program.
Conferences
IAC (International Astronautical Congress) in Dubai, UAE, Oct 25-29, 2021
Axel Garcia (ARCLab) presented “Direct Optimization Framework for Collision Avoidance Operations of Low-Thrust Satellites in Low Earth Orbit.” View the full Twitter thread to learn more.

Chloe Gentgen (Engineering Systems Lab) presented “Hybrid Propulsion Systems for Reconfigurable Small Satellite Constellations”, co-authored by Olivier de Weck.
Members of the Space Enabled Research Group presented 12 research papers to share their work on designing for sustainability and social justice on Earth and in space. In addition to presenting their papers, several Space Enabled members won awards and earned recognition related to IAC 2021.
AIAA ASCEND in Las Vegas, Nevada Nov 15-17, 2021


Chloe Gentgen, Sheila Baber, William E. Parker, Elwyn Sirieys, Shane J. Vigil, Benjamin Yu, Maria Regina Apodaca Moreno, Daniel Erkel, Madelyn A. Hoying, Seamus Lombardo, Aaron Makikalli, Codrin Oneci, Ufuoma Ovienmhada, Edward Crawley, Olivier L. De Weck
 
Elwyn Sirieys, Michael Luu and Olivier L. De Weck
 
Space Enabled members Minoo Rathnasabapathy, Elena Cirkovic, and Maya Slavin presented their work at ASCEND.


AeroAstro Thankful Gathering
On Tuesday, Nov. 23, AeroAstro came together for our third annual Thankful Gathering. Members from our community attended the virtual celebration, and some enjoyed a boxed lunch today. At the celebration, we exchanged recipes, shared stories, wrote what we are thankful for on the AeroAstro Grateful Wall, and learned fun facts about our colleagues.

There were giveaways and a gratitude/thank you card writing session to show our appreciation to our colleagues. The Thankful jamboard is still open for everyone who would like to contribute a message of what they are thankful for this year. Add yours here.
Congratulations to the Winners of the Thankful Gathering Giveaways!
 
  • Will Kammerer: First Prize
  • Menna Hussein: Second Prize
  • Rosemary Davidson: Third Prize
 
Special thanks to Kevin Zimmer for coming through with a major MIT moment to set up a permutation on the fly (above) to help out with the raffle prize drawings!
Fun Fact: Word cloud of favorite side dishes of AeroAstro above!
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
WATCH: Debbie Irving on "Finding Myself in the Story of Race" for TEDx Fenway
“This talk is designed to be a 101 for white people about what white privilege and institutional racism are and how they manifest.”

November is National Native Heritage Month, Learn more about National Native American History Month.
We are thankful for all AeroAstro Veterans. Thank you for your service!
Upcoming AeroAstro DEI Events

The next two Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 30 from 11 a.m.-noon and Monday, Dec. 13 from 1-2 p.m.

Join Zoom Meetings: https://mit.zoom.us/j/92552987023

The next Fireside Chat with Denise Phillips, Diversity Officer, is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 9 from 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Eight Keys to Bridge Our Differences By Scott Shigeoka, and Jason Marsh will be discussed.

Join the Zoom Meeting
https://mit.zoom.us/j/2992527544
Community Corner
Are you looking for resources and techniques that will help you manage your stress and step-up your self-care regimen? Wondering how to best support your school-age child’s or teen’s social and emotional needs, or how your family will navigate the college application process and financial landscape? Dealing with the possibilities and uncertainties of life as a young professional, including how to manage your finances? Maybe you want to learn the best way to help an aging family member, or perhaps you are beginning to think about your retirement.

The MIT HR Center for WorkLife and WellBeing's Webinar Series provides research-based strategies and information to help you deal with a diverse array of work-life and wellbeing issues.
Quoted
"We have to go and characterize [asteroids] better before we rest humanity’s fate in that one golden shot."

Olivier de Weck commenting on the NASA DART asteroid deflection mission for Scientific American
In the News
Below are a few highlights of AeroAstro media coverage:
Highlights
QuASAR (the Queer Advocacy Space in Aero AstRo) hosted two Coffee Breaks this semester. These Coffee Breaks have been fun community-building events for the newest affinity group in the department, and have been well-attended by LGBTQ+ and allied students, faculty, and staff. 
 
QuASAR’s goals are to create a space where LGBTQ+ students, staff, and faculty can make connections in the Department, and to improve the department culture around queer and trans-related issues.
On Friday, Nov. 5, AeroAstro hosted leadership from The Boeing Company and other friends of the Department to celebrate the reopening of the Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel, marking an exciting new chapter in the legacy of aerospace at MIT.
 
The celebration included a brief presentation to acknowledge the efforts of all involved in the project led by Boeing and also including MathWorks (MATLAB) and Rebecca Samberg and the late Arthur (Art) Samberg ’62, a ribbon-cutting, and a ceremonial activation of the airflow inside the tunnel itself. The event culminated with behind-the-scenes tours of the Wright Brother’s Wind Tunnel, as well as the Aerospace Plasma Group’s laboratory, the Balance Room, and the MIT Rocket Team's new home base co-located in Building 17.
 
Collaborations between academia and industry, reflected in the generous contributions Boeing provided in renovating this facility, will positively impact the future of aerospace research, education, and industry partnerships for years to come.
Cadence Payne represented MIT in the 2021 Ivy+ 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition hosted by Yale University. It's a science communication competition that challenges graduate students to succinctly explain their dissertation work to a broad audience in three minutes. 
How much damage could a plant with beautiful purple flowers do to a community? Ufuoma Ovienmhada and Danielle Wood from the Space Enabled Research Group were featured in WIRED about their research using satellite and drone imaging to get the full picture. As the project leader, Ovienmhada used satellite images of the whole region and compared them to NASA orbital images from the 1980s.
Two grad students from the Human Systems Lab, Thomas Abitante and Rachel Bellisle, were featured in a story by WIRED about their work researching solutions to counteract muscle and bone problems that astronauts experience while in space. One, an auto-exercise device that contracts muscles like movement would, and the other, a skintight space suit that simulates the effect of gravity.
Do you have highlights to include in future editions of the
Monthly Roundup?