MPP Director Dava Newman named director of MIT Media Lab

“Leading the legendary Media Lab is a dream for me, and I can’t wait to help write the next chapter of this uniquely creative, impactful, compassionate community,” Newman says.
Dava Newman is the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a faculty member in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. She has served as director of the MIT Portugal Program from 2011 to 2015, and from 2017 until the present.

Her work has integrated engineering, design, and biomedical research to better understand and facilitate human adaptation to low-gravity environments. Her career interests also encompass educational innovation and access, climate change, the performing arts, and science and technology policy.
Newman has served as principal investigator on four space missions, developing new experiments and techniques for measuring the dynamics of astronaut activity on the Space Shuttle, the Mir space station, and the International Space Station. She has developed four advanced suit concepts for intravehicular and extravehicular activity in space and has broken new ground in studying the control of astronaut motion.

Among her innovations, Dava Newman is well-known for developing the BioSuit, a 2007 TIME Best Invention, which is a supple, “second-skin” space suit that would allow astronauts greater flexibility while providing the pressure needed to function well in a low-gravity environment. First designed — and still intended — for future Moon and Mars exploration, Newman’s BioSuit research has generated another potential application, as an assistive device for people with long-term medical challenges.

Nominated by President Obama, she served as deputy administrator of NASA from 2015 to 2017, the first female engineer in this high-ranking role, and helped to develop the Human Journey to Mars plan. Newman also directed MIT’s Technology and Policy Program from 2003 to 2015 and has served as director of the MIT Portugal program from 2011 to 2015, and from 2017 until the present. A longtime advocate for STEM education and for women in science and engineering, Newman also co-chairs a National Academies committee on biological and physical sciences, and serves on a number of for-profit and nonprofit boards. Among honors from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Explorer’s Club, and numerous other organizations, Newman has been awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and is an AIAA Fellow.

Read more about Dava Newman – MIT News

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About MIT Media Lab

Since its founding in 1985, the Media Lab has promoted an interdisciplinary culture to create technologies and experiences that enable people to understand and transform their lives, communities, and environments. It blends a broad research agenda and a graduate degree program in media arts and sciences. The lab has 22 research groups ranging across robotics, smart prostheses, cognitive enhancement, innovative learning, music, and more. Currently the Media Lab community includes some 400 faculty, researchers, students, and staff. Globally, the Media Lab’s reach has been extended through more than 100 companies founded by Media Lab faculty, alumni, and research staff. There are also more than 100 Media Lab graduates who have gone on to faculty positions at top institutions worldwide.

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Originally posted by Peter Dizikes | MIT News Office
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