Welcome and kickoff—“Houston, we are GO for launch”

Joichi "Joi" Ito has been recognized for his work as an activist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and advocate of emergent democracy, privacy, and internet freedom. As director of the MIT Media Lab, he explores how radical new approaches to science and technology can transform society in substantial and positive ways. Together with The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, Ito is promoting the contribution that awareness and focus can bring to the creativity process. He is chairman of the board of PureTech and as served as both board chair and CEO of Creative Commons, and sits on the boards of Sony Corporation, Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and The New York Times Company. In Japan, he was a founder of Digital Garage, and helped to establish the country’s first commercial Internet service provider. He is co-author with Jeff Howe of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future (Grand Central Publishing).

Maria T. Zuber is Vice President for Research and E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics at MIT, where she has responsibility for research administration and policy. She oversees MIT Lincoln Laboratory and over 60 research laboratories and centers at the Institute. Zuber is responsible for integrity and compliance, and technology licensing and intellectual property, and plays a central role in research relationships with the federal government. Zuber’s research bridges planetary geophysics and the technology of space-based laser and radio systems. Since 1990, she has held leadership roles associated with scientific experiments or instrumentation on nine NASA missions, most notably serving as principal investigator of the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission. Zuber has won numerous awards, including the MIT James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, the highest honor the MIT faculty bestows to one of its own.

As a technician and graduate student, Rai Weiss worked with Jerrold Zacharias on precision measurements of atomic and molecular energy states using molecular beam techniques, developed atomic clocks, and attempted to make the Zacharias atomic fountain. He did postdoctoral work with Robert Dicke in experimental relativity, learned new experimental techniques, and set limits on scalar gravitational waves by observing the spherically symmetric oscillation mode of the solid earth. At MIT, he started a group in observational cosmology and experimental gravitation, which explored: absolute laser stabilization, measurements of the cosmic background radiation spectrum and isotropy, and interferometric detection of gravitational waves. The research contributed to COBE and LIGO.

Plenary Address and Panel: Our Sci-Fi Space Future

Neal Stephenson  is a novelist with a science background. He worked part-time at Blue Operations and its successor company Blue Origin from their inception in 1999 until 2006. Between 2007 and 2010 he worked at Intellectual Ventures Labs. Since 2014 he has been Chief Futurist at Magic Leap.

Eliza McNitt is a writer and director who explores the cosmic collision of science and art. From astronauts to astrophysicists, she works alongside scientists to tell stories about the human connection to the cosmos. Her films and VR experiences have appeared at festivals including SXSW Film Festival, Hot Docs, Cannes NEXT, AFI Fest, and Sundance. She’s a OneFifty creator and Alfred P. Sloan grant recipient. Her upcoming VR series SPHERES Executive Produced by Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel is an episodic journey through the songs of spacetime. SPHERES stars Jessica Chastain as the voice of the cosmos. SPHERES made history at the Sundance Film Festival this year as the world's first ever acquisition of a VR experience.

Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian American author of African-based science fiction, fantasy and magical realism for both children and adults and a professor at the University at Buffalo, New York. Her works include Who Fears Death (currently being developed by HBO into a TV series), the Binti novella trilogy, the Book of Phoenix, the Akata books and Lagoon.  She is the winner of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards and her debut novel Zahrah the Windseeker won the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. Okorafor also wrote a storyline for Marvel titled Black Panther: Long Live the King. She lives with her daughter Anyaugo and family in Illinois. Learn more about Nnedi at Nnedi.com.

Joe Paradiso is the Alexander W. Dreyfoos (1954) Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab, where he directs the Responsive Environments group. He received his PhD in physics from MIT in 1981 and a BSEE from Tufts University in 1977, and joined the Media Lab in 1994 after developing spacecraft control systems at Draper Lab and high-energy physics detectors at ETH Zurich.  His current research explores how sensor networks augment and mediate human experience, interaction and perception. This encompasses wireless sensing systems, wearable and body sensor networks, energy harvesting and power management for embedded sensors, ubiquitous/pervasive computing and the Internet of Things, human-computer interfaces, and interactive music/media. He has published 300 articles and lectures internationally in these areas.

Space Industry Talk: Blue Origin

Rob Meyerson has overseen the steady growth of Blue Origin since 2003, evolving a 10-person research-focused organization into the more than 1000-person organization of today. Under Rob’s leadership, Blue Origin developed the New Shepard system for suborbital human and research flights, the BE-3 LOX/LH2 rocket engine, the BE- 4 LOX/LNG rocket engine, as well as the manufacturing and test capabilities to enable all the above. As the leader of Blue’s Advanced Development Programs business, Rob oversees the development of the systems and technologies that will enable a future where millions of people are living and working in space. Prior to joining Blue, Rob was a Senior Manager at Kistler Aerospace, responsible for the landing and thermal protection systems of a two-stage reusable launch vehicle, as well as all technical activities related to Kistler’s Space Launch Initiative contract with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Democratizing "Open Space" Panel: defining new modes of engagement in LEO and beyond

Jim Bell is a Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He received his B.S. in Planetary Science and Aeronautics from Caltech, his M.S. and Ph.D. in Geology & Geophysics from the University of Hawaii, and served as a National Research Council postdoctoral research fellow at NASA's Ames Research Center. Jim's research group primarily focuses on the geology, geochemistry, and mineralogy of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets using data obtained from telescopes and spacecraft missions.

Danielle Wood joins the Media Lab as assistant professor in the Program in Media Arts and Sciences as of January 2018. Within the Media Lab, Dr. Wood leads the Space Enabled Research Group which seeks to advance justice in earth's complex systems using designs enabled by space. Dr. Wood is a scholar of societal development with a background that includes satellite design, earth science applications, systems engineering, and technology policy for the US and emerging nations. In her research, Dr. Wood applies these skills to design innovative systems that harness space technology to address development challenges around the world. Wood’s research also develops systems analysis tools to improve decision making during the design of complex systems. Most recently, Dr. Wood worked as the Applied Sciences Manager within the Earth Science Division of Goddard Space Flight Center.

Hajime Yano  is a planetary scientist at ISAS/JAXA and teaches as associate professor at graduate schools including Keio University and University of Tokyo.  Born in Tokyo, Yano received his PhD in space science at University of Kent at Canterbury, UK in 1995 and conducted research at NASA Johnson Space Center in 1998-1999.  Specialized in cosmic dust and small bodies, he has been involved in more than a dozen of space exploration and experiment projects in Japan, the US, and Europe to develop a number of sampling systems, dust detectors/collectors and analytical techniques for Antarctic micrometeorites, orbital debris, deep space meteoroids, cometary grains, and asteroidal regolith, including Hayabusa and Hayabusa-2 sample return missions.  He now leads interdisciplinary research between oceanography and astrobiology for Ocean World explorations like Enceladus plume sample return.  Yano is IAA Academician, Chair of COSPAR solar system small body sub-commission, and Vice Chair of COSPAR planetary protection panel.

Jordi Puig-Suari received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. Degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University. Currently, Dr. Puig-Suari is a Professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at CalPoly, San Luis Obispo. Dr. Puig-Suari’s areas of expertise include spacecraft design, low-cost space systems, integration and testing, and vehicle dynamics and control. Dr Puig Suari is the author or co-author of over 75 papers and presentations.

Julien Cantegreil is CEO of OURSPACE LABS and chairman of the board of ODYSSEUS. Before that, he was Deputy Group General Counsel of KERING; taught law, arbitration and philosophy at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and Sorbonne; did research at the Max Planck Institute, Collège de France; was director of programs for the French policy think tank EN TEMPS REEL; and served as speechwriter for the French Minister of Economy and Finance. He has completed two decades of pro bono work. He earned degrees in economics and philosophy (BA, MPhil, Agregation) from Ecole Normale Supérieure); his LLM from Yale Law School and Sorbonne; and a PhD in law, summa cum Laude and awarded the Georges Scelle Prize). He has been a Young Leader (French American Foundation) and a Fulbright Fellow.

Space Industry Talk: Planetary Resources

Chris Lewicki has been intimately involved with the lifecycle of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers and the Phoenix Mars Lander. Lewicki performed system engineering development and participated in assembly, test and launch operations for both Mars missions. He was Flight Director for the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the Surface Mission Manager for Phoenix. The recipient of two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals, Lewicki has an asteroid named in his honor: 13609 Lewicki. Chris holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona. At Planetary Resources, Mr. Lewicki is responsible for the strategic development of the company’s mission and vision, engagement with customers and the scientific community, serves as technical compass, and leads day to day operations.

Space and the Arts Panel: new visions for humanity’s interplanetary future

Honor Harger is executive director of the ArtScience Museum in Singapore. A curator from New Zealand, she has a strong interest in artistic uses of technologies, and in science as part of culture. She has 15 years of experience of working as a curator at the intersection between art, science, and technology in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Germany, Latvia, and now in Singapore. She has organized exhibitions of artists from Leonardo Da Vinci to Semiconductor, and commissioned new work extensively. She co-founded AV Festival and Brighton Digital Festival. She creates art collaborative with Adam Hyde using the name r a d i o q u a l i a; projects include Radio Astronomy, a radio station broadcasting sounds from space. She has lectured widely, including TED, LIFT, the European Space Agency, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the California Institute of the Arts, and the American Film Institute.

Nicolas de Monchaux is associate professor of architecture and urban design at the University of California, Berkeley, where he serves as director of the Berkeley Center for New Media. He is the author of Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo (MIT Press, 2011), winner of the Eugene Emme award from the American Astronautical Society and shortlisted for the Art Book Prize, as well as the recently published Local Code: 3,659 Proposals about Data, Design, and the Nature of Cities (Princeton Architectural Press, Fall 2016). He is a partner in the Oakland-based architecture practice Modem; his work has been exhibited at the Biennial of the Americas, the Venice Architecture Biennale, SFMOMA, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. He is a Fellow of the the American Academy in Rome.

Nicole Stott has explored from the heights of outer space to the depths of our oceans, and believes that sharing these perspectives has the power to increase everyone’s appreciation of and obligation to our home planet and each other. A veteran astronaut with two spaceflights and 104 days living and working in space on both the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS), she is also a NASA aquanaut who, in preparation for spaceflight, lived and worked along with her NEEMO9 crew during an 18-day saturation mission–the longest to date–on the Aquarius undersea habitat. A personal highlight of Nicole’s spaceflight was painting the first watercolor in space. She now combines her artwork and spaceflight experience to inspire creative thinking about solutions to our planetary challenges, raise awareness of the surprising interplay between science and art, and promote the amazing work being done every day in space to improve life right here on Earth.

Tom Sachs is a New York-based sculptor known for his work inspired by icons of modernism and design. With modest studio materials, he creates parallel universes incorporating semi-functional sculpture, sometimes deployed by the artist and his studio assistants for interactive projects. His work is in the collections of MoMA, the Met, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney (all in New York) as well as, among others, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Centre Georges Pompidou, SFMoMA, and the Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst. He has had solo exhibitions at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Noguchi Museum,  Brooklyn Museum, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Deutsche Guggenheim, Bohen Foundation, SITE Santa Fe, and others. His film A Space Program (Zeitgeist, 2016) offers a glimpse into the artist’s studio practice, philosophy, and the narrative surrounding his 2012 project with Creative Time at the Park Avenue Armory.

Sarah Jane Pell an experienced commercial diver, performance artist, and interdisciplinary researcher, Sarah Jane Pell is best known for her creative practice in underwater performance and connecting sea and space exploration with imagination. Pell is also a commercial suborbital spaceflight candidate, spacesuit validation test pilot, and concept designer. She served as the Simulation Astronaut for Project Moonwalk, EU subsea lunar analogue human-robotic cooperation trials in 2016, and continues to design and prepare for future undersea missions and spaceflight. Her work has been shown in galleries, museums, and in space. Pell holds a PhD in visual arts, a master’s in human performance, and qualifications in space sciences, biotechnology and bioinformatics, and suborbital mission operations. Pell is currently an Australia Council Fellow in “performing astronautics” and testing “bending horizons 360°” augmented, 3D live performance with the Monash Immersive Visualisation Platform. She is a TED Fellow, and Gifted Citizen.

Space Industry & Research Talk: MIT STAR Lab

Kerri Cahoy is Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. She received her BS in electrical engineering from Cornell University, and her MS and PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University working with the Radio Science Team on Mars Global Surveyor. Prior to joining the MIT faculty, she was a Senior Payload and Communication Sciences Engineer at Space Systems Loral in Palo Alto, CA, a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow in Exoplanet Exploration at NASA Ames Research Center, and a Radio Science research scientist on the MIT Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar mission team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Prof. Cahoy currently holds the Rockwell International Career Development Chair.

Frontiers for Life in Space Panel: from human physiology to astrobiology and exoplanets

Alexandra Pontefract is a postdoctoral associate with the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science at MIT, and has a MSc in biology from McMaster University and a PhD in planetary science from the University of Western Ontario. She is a geomicrobiologist interested in habitat generation through impact bombardment, deep subsurface life as well as life-detection techniques and instrumentation. Pontefract has extensive arctic field experience, and has served as science and instrument leads on several analog mission deployments. Currently she is working on SETG, the Search for Extraterrestrial Genomes project, a portable DNA sequencer being designed for a rover payload to Mars.

The Mason Laboratory develops and deploys new biochemical and computational methods in functional genomics, with a focus on multi-omic, longitudinal profiling for both patients on Earth and NASA astronauts in space. Christopher Mason completed a dual BS in genetics and biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his PhD in genetics from Yale University, and his postdoctoral training in clinical genetics at Yale Medical School, while also serving as the first Visiting Fellow of Genomics, Ethics, and Law at Yale Law School. He is currently an associate professor of computational genomics at Weill Cornell Medicine, with multiple other appointments at Cornell; he also directs the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction. His awards include the NIH’s Transformative R01 and the CDC Honor for Clinical Testing.

Darlene Lim is a geobiologist based at the NASA Ames Research Center, and actively involved in the development of operational concepts for human scientific exploration of our solar system.  She is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) of the NASA BASALT (Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains), SUBSEA (Systematic Underwater Biogeochemical Science and Exploration Analog), and PLRP (Pavilion Lake Research Project) research programs. She is also the Deputy PI of NASA SSERVI FINESSE (Field Investigations to Enable Solar System Science and Exploration). Her research programs are focused on seamlessly blending field science research with the development of human exploration capabilities, technologies and concepts that serve to directly inform various NASA Design Reference Missions. Darlene has served on a number of NASA MEPAG (Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group) committees and including as the MEPAG Goal IV (Prepare for Human Exploration) Co-Chair (2009-2015).  She is currently a member of the NOAA Ocean Exploration Advisory Board (OEAB).

Franck Marchis is a senior planetary astronomer and chair of the exoplanet group at the Carl Sagan Center of the SETI Institute. Prior to this he had a joint position with the Institute and the department of astronomy at UC Berkeley. Marchis’s research focuses specifically the search for asteroids with moons, using mainly ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive optics (AO). Recently he has been involved in the definition of new generation of AOs for 8 -10 m class telescopes and future Extremely Large Telescopes. He is the collaboration manager of the Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey and is involved in startups related to astronomy (Unistellar, R2Planets). He is a member of numerous science committees and has co-authored more than 380 scientific publications. The asteroid (6639) was named Marchis in honor of his discovery of the first triple-asteroid system in 2007. He has been an affiliated Astronomer at Observatoire de Paris since 2003.

Sara Seager is a planetary scientist and astrophysicist at MIT where she is a Professor of Planetary Science, Professor of Physics, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, and holds the Class of 1941 Professor Chair. She has pioneered many research areas of characterizing exoplanets—planets that orbit stars other than the sun—with concepts and methods that now form the foundation of the field of exoplanet atmospheres. Her present research focus is on the search for life by way of exoplanet atmospheric “biosignature” gases. Professor Seager works on space missions for exoplanets including as: the PI of the CubeSat ASTERIA; the Deputy Science Director of the MIT-led NASA Explorer-class mission TESS; and as a lead of the Starshade Rendezvous Mission (a space-based direct imaging exoplanet discovery concept under technology development) to find a true Earth analog orbiting a Sun-like star. Among other accolades, Professor Seager was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015, is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, is a recipient of the 2012 Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences, and has Asteroid 9729 named in her honor.

Space Industry Talk

Paul Wooster joined SpaceX in 2007, and has led the development of a diverse set of capabilities, including space-to-space communications, relative navigation, and proximity operations with the ISS; he is now a lead in the technical development of SpaceX’s Mars architecture and vehicles, including precursor activities and human-scale systems. He previously served as Manager of Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control, overseeing the integrated system design, fault tolerance, and vehicle performance associated with Dragon’s missions to the International Space Station. As a research scientist in the Aero/Astro department at MIT–where he also received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering–his research included the design and evaluation of a wide range of human exploration system architectures and development of strategies for affordable human Moon and Mars exploration.

The Future of Space Research Panel: where we’ll be in 10, 50, and 100 years

Dava Newman is a former Deputy Administrator of NASA. Newman is the Apollo Program Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Harvard–MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology faculty member in Cambridge, MA. She is also a MacVicar Faculty Fellow (awarded for contributions to undergraduate education), former Director of the Technology and Policy Program at MIT (2003–2015), and former Director of the MIT–Portugal Program (2011–2015). As the Director of MIT’s Technology and Policy Program (TPP), she led the Institute’s largest multidisciplinary graduate research program, with over 1,200 alumni. She has been a faculty member in her home department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and MIT’s School of Engineering since 1993.

Jennifer Rocca has been with Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) for 18 years, serving in numerous flight and project system design, development, and operations roles on GRACE, Deep Impact, SIM, Dawn, and Juno. Rocca is currently the capture lead and project systems engineer for the SPHEREX Middle Explorer Astrophysics Proposal, and technical group supervisor for the External Build Project Systems Engineering Group. She has a BS in aerospace engineering (minor: philosophy) from the University of Colorado, Boulder and an MS in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. She is a proud recipient of the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals for her work on Deep Impact and Juno.

Ariel Waldman creates unusual collaborations that infuse serendipity into science and space exploration. She sits on the council for NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, a program that nurtures radical, science fiction-inspired ideas that could transform future space missions. She is the co-author of a congressionally requested National Academy of Sciences report on the future of human spaceflight, and the author of the book What’s It Like in Space?: Stories from Astronauts Who’ve Been There. She founded Spacehack.org, a directory of ways for anyone to participate in space exploration, and is global director of Science Hack Day, a grassroots endeavor now in over 25 countries. In 2013, Ariel received an honor from the White House for being a Champion of Change in citizen science.

Blakesley Burkhart is an Institute for Theory and Computation Postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. She works on simulations and observations of turbulence on a variety of scales, ranging from examining turbulence in the solar wind, the interstellar medium within galaxies, and the intergalactic medium within clusters of galaxies. Dr. Burkhart has been involved in Project Starshot since its inception and is particularly interested in how spacecraft materials will interact with the interstellar medium.

Tim Shank is an associate scientist in the Biology Department and former Director of theOcean Exploration Institute at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He is the leadis a deep-sea biologist, associate scientist in the Biology Department and the Director of the Ocean Exploration Institute at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He is the lead investigator of the Hadal Exploration Program and co-lead investigator of Pathways to Ocean Worlds, a new program to foster cooperation between the oceanographic and planetary science communities for the exploration of ocean worlds and to test ideas and models for the emergence of life. He is known for his research on the ecology and evolution of fauna in deep-ocean hydrothermal, seamount, canyon and deep trench systems. He combines multiple molecular genetic approaches and ecological field studies to understand the conditions and adaptations that allow various species to migrate, evolve, and thrive in ocean habitats, including chemosynthetic, seamount and cold-water coral ecosystems.

Nahum, Artist and Musician

Nahum is an artist and musician who creates alternative and unconventional perspectives of human experience using outer space technology, illusionism, and other strategies. He has directed space missions for artistic purposes such as Matters of Gravity, a zero gravity project at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia. He currently chairs the International Astronautical Federation Committee for the Cultural Utilisations of Space. Nahum is the founding director of KOSMICA, a global institute that focuses on the cultural, critical and artistic aspects of outer space activities and their impact on Earth. KOSMICA has ongoing activities in Mexico City, London, Paris, and Berlin, and has produced 20 festivals worldwide. He is a fellow of the National System of Art Creators, National Fund for Culture and Arts in Mexico, was named a Young Space Leader, is a visiting lecturer at the International Space University (ISU), and associate artist at the Arts Catalyst, London.

Workshops

Erika Wagner serves as Business Development Manager for Blue Origin, LLC, a developer of vehicles and technologies to enable human space transportation. Prior to joining Blue Origin, Dr. Wagner worked with the X PRIZE Foundation as Senior Director of Exploration Prize Development and founding Executive Director of the X PRIZE Lab@MIT. Previously, she served at MIT as Science Director and Executive Director of the Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program, a multi-university spacecraft development initiative to investigate the physiological effects of reduced gravity. From 2009 to 2012, Erika was a member of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s Suborbital Applications Researchers Group, furthering the research and education potential of commercial suborbital launch vehicles. Today, she serves on the Boards of the Washington Aerospace Scholars and American Society for Gravitational and Space Research, as well as the National Academies Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space.

George Dyson is an independent historian of technology whose subjects have included the development (and redevelopment) of the Aleut kayak (Baidarka, 1986), the evolution of artificial intelligence (Darwin Among the Machines, 1997), a path not taken into space (Project Orion, 2002), and the transition from numbers that mean things to numbers that do things in the aftermath of World War II (Turing’s Cathedral, 2012).

Danny Hillis is an American inventor, entrepreneur, scientist, writer, and visionary who is particularly known for his work in computer science. He is best known as the founder of Thinking Machines, the pioneering parallel supercomputer manufacturer, and subsequently was a Fellow at Walt Disney Imagineering. More recently, Hillis cofounded Applied Minds, the technology R&D think-tank. Currently, he is cofounder of Applied Invention, an interdisciplinary group of engineers, scientists, and artists that develops technology solutions in partnership with leading companies and entrepreneurs. Hillis is Visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab and Judge Widney Professor of Engineering and Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). He holds hundreds of U.S. patents, and is the designer of a 10,000-year mechanical clock. Hillis is a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

As the adjunct curator for space history at The Museum of Flight, Geoff Nunn leads the museum’s efforts to tell the story of the first 50 years of human spaceflight and beyond. He holds a master’s degree in museology (museum studies) from the University of Washington and has spent the past decade working in science and technology museums as an educator, exhibit developer, and curator. Geoff is responsible for conducting the primary research and exhibit writing for all the museum’s space- related exhibits. He also serves as a liaison with space industry groups, and represents The Museum of Flight as part of NASA’s Museum Alliance, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, the Washington State Space Coalition, and the U.S.-Japan Space Forum. Nunn has presented on the Museum’s efforts to tell the story of space at conferences nationwide, and also regularly writes about space-related topics for Aloft magazine.

Dava Newman is a former Deputy Administrator of NASA. Newman is the Apollo Program Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Harvard–MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology faculty member in Cambridge, MA. She is also a MacVicar Faculty Fellow (awarded for contributions to undergraduate education), former Director of the Technology and Policy Program at MIT (2003–2015), and former Director of the MIT–Portugal Program (2011–2015). As the Director of MIT’s Technology and Policy Program (TPP), she led the Institute’s largest multidisciplinary graduate research program, with over 1,200 alumni. She has been a faculty member in her home department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and MIT’s School of Engineering since 1993.

Katy Croff Bell is the Founder and Lead of the Open Ocean initiative at the MIT Media Lab. She is a deep sea explorer with a background in ocean engineering, maritime archaeology, and geological oceanography, and has led dozens of expeditions around the world. Bell is passionate about developing new ways to better understand the ocean and and make it more accessible to everyone around the world. 

Darlene Lim is a geobiologist based at the NASA Ames Research Center, and actively involved in the development of operational concepts for human scientific exploration of our solar system.  She is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) of the NASA BASALT (Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains), SUBSEA (Systematic Underwater Biogeochemical Science and Exploration Analog), and PLRP (Pavilion Lake Research Project) research programs. She is also the Deputy PI of NASA SSERVI FINESSE (Field Investigations to Enable Solar System Science and Exploration). Her research programs are focused on seamlessly blending field science research with the development of human exploration capabilitiess, technologies and concepts that serve to directly inform various NASA Design Reference Missions. Darlene has served on a number of NASA MEPAG (Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group) committees and including as the MEPAG Goal IV (Prepare for Human Exploration) Co-Chair (2009-2015).  She is currently a member of the NOAA Ocean Exploration Advisory Board (OEAB).

Caitlin Mueller is an academic who works at the intersection of architecture and structural engineering. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Architecture and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, in the Building Technology Program, where she leads the Digital Structures research group. Professor Mueller earned a PhD in Building Technology from MIT, a SM in Computation for Design and Optimization from MIT, a MS in Structural Engineering from Stanford University, and a BS in Architecture from MIT, and has practiced at several architecture and engineering firms across the U.S., most recently as a structural designer at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger in Boston.

Gui Trotti is an internationally recognized architect and industrial designer. His work covers a wide range of fields, from the International Space Station, to the South Pole Station, and many green projects from the Caribbean to Japan. He has circumnavigated the Earth in his sailboat and explored every continent on Spaceship Earth. Mr. Trotti has extensive design and research experience in modular and inflatable structures, construction methods in Space, and space mission architectures. His team won the NSF/AIA National Competition for a new South Pole Station, utilizing many parallels and lessons learned from the design of Lunar and Mars bases. His design thesis entitled "Counterpoint: A Lunar Colony" is part of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum permanent collection. He has taught Space Architecture design at the College of Architecture at the University of Houston, and Industrial Design courses for extreme environments at the Rhode Island School of Design, and has lectured extensively at universities throughout the world. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Studio Arts College International (SACI) in Florence, Italy.

Valentina Sumini is a postdoctoral associate at the MIT Media Lab in the Tangible Media group, investigating human-material and inter-material interaction for sustaining astronaut life in space. Her previous postdoctoral research at MIT in the Digital Structures research group explored form finding and structural optimization strategies for deep space exploration habitats on extraplanetary surfaces such as the Moon and Mars. New computational design methods for space surface habitats that respond to architectural, structural, functional, and physical requirements, were explored, offering new ways to support future space exploration. After completing her PhD, she was adjunct professor at Politecnico di Milano.

Michael Morris founded Morris Sato Studio Architecture with his late wife and partner Yoshiko Sato; after her death, he took the lead of her Space Architecture studio program at Columbia University. He was a Subject Matter Expert in NASA’s Net Habitable Volume Consensus Session to define the volume of a future Mars Transit Habitat, and become a research fellow at Pratt after receiving two consecutive NASA Exploration (X-HAB) Innovation Grants; the first X-HAB project, Mars Transit Habitat, was exhibited at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. He co-founded the Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch) group, and led (in collaboration with Clouds Architecture Office) the MARS ICE HOUSE project, which won first prize in NASA’s Centennial Challenge. Current work includes projects with NASA Langley on future Martian Surface Habitats, and research and development on robotic and life-support technology. Morris is a graduate of The Cooper Union and Parsons, and was a Fulbright Scholar.

Chris Maurer is an architect and innovator based in Cleveland, Ohio. His office, redhouse studio, balances market rate work, humanitarianism, research, and education. He has lived and worked as an architect in New York City, Anchorage, Firenze, Kigali, and Lilongwe; in Africa he served as director for studioMDA and MASS Design Group, designing and building humanitarian projects for clients such as Madonna, Partners In Health, the UN Millennium Village Project, the Clinton Global Initiative, and Noella Coursaris. His experience innovating in limited-resource environments has led to his work being considered for space architecture. redhouse is now building with bio-utilized and bio-inspired methods that can decrease the building industry’s carbon footprint, increase food security, and recycle waste materials, all while providing dignified shelter at low cost.

Kerri Cahoy is Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. She received her BS in electrical engineering from Cornell University, and her MS and PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University working with the Radio Science Team on Mars Global Surveyor. Prior to joining the MIT faculty, she was a Senior Payload and Communication Sciences Engineer at Space Systems Loral in Palo Alto, CA, a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow in Exoplanet Exploration at NASA Ames Research Center, and a Radio Science research scientist on the MIT Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar mission team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Prof. Cahoy currently holds the Rockwell International Career Development Chair.

Paul Bierden serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of Boston Micromachines Corporation. Mr. Bierden Co-Founded Boston Micromachines in 1999, he has led pioneering research efforts in optical MEMS fabrication, system integration and compact AO while overseeing multiple R&D contracts resulting in over $5M in research funding. Mr. Bierden has also spearheaded the commercialization efforts of Boston Micromachines, which has resulted in worldwide sales of BMC's optical MEMS systems. He spent over 10 years working with small businesses. Prior to joining Boston Micromachines, he served with Prism Corporation as Chief Research Engineer, where he helped launch the commercialization of optical disc manufacturing technology. Mr. Bierden received his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University.

Ryan McDevitt is an associate professor of economics at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, where he teaches the core Managerial Economics course. Professor McDevitt received a B.A. from Williams College and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, both in economics. Before joining the faculty at Duke, he worked as an analyst in Morgan Stanley's Investment Banking Division and taught Competitive Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management and the Simon School of Business. Professor McDevitt’s research focuses primarily on the field of empirical industrial organization. He has conducted large-sample studies on various topics, including firms’ responses to changes in their reputations and the correlation between a firm’s name choice and its quality. In a separate line of research, Professor McDevitt and his co-authors have estimated structural models of firms' decisions to differentiate in health care and venture capital.

Karl Hoose is the CEO/CTO of VALT Enterprises, a revolutionary company developing the VALT launch system, specifically to address the fast-growing launch demand and space access requirements of the emerging nanosatellite industry.  Beginning with the National Aerospace Plane Program, Karl has over 30 years of experience with high-speed air-breathing and rocket propulsion, high performance piston and combined cycle engines, and advanced vehicle systems.  He was the Founder and President of Applied Thermal Sciences, Inc. an award winning, Maine-based research and development (R&D) engineering firm that earned a national reputation for developing cutting edge technologies, and has successfully transitioned concepts to commercial product.  He has been awarded patents for his innovative technologies, including an innovative internal combustion engine and variable thrust rocket motor. Karl is a licensed professional engineer, and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Maine.

Louis Perna co-founded Accion with the goal of increasing the ease of access to and utilization of space, starting by enabling a growing commercial space industry with Accion’s high-performance satellite propulsion technology. His daily work focuses on product design, development, and testing, and on advanced research to increase performance. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he specialized in space propulsion and microfabrication, and where he helped develop the novel ion electrospray technology Accion implements today. Prior to his time at Accion, Perna worked both academically and professionally with NASA to investigate ion engine operating modes; design, test, and assemble interplanetary exploration rovers; and estimate technical and programmatic risks for manned spaceflight systems. Louis was named one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016 and 2017 and Inc. 30 Under 30 in 2017.

Alexis Hope is a designer and research affiliate at the MIT Media Lab and the Center for Civic Media. She currently serve as the creative director for TEN FWD, a design studio focused on creating playful digital experiences. TEN FWD's flagship project is FOLD, an open publishing platform originally developed at MIT to help journalists, educators, and organizations tell complex stories. Prior to joining MIT, Alexis led a project to develop a portable ultrasound machine for midwives in Kenya, Uganda, and Seattle. She was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow from 2012-2015, focusing on bringing human-centered and participatory research methods to technology design. As part of her commitment to participatory design, she helped organize unique hackathons and civic technology workshops around the world.

Lucy McRea is a sci-fi artist, film director, TED Fellow and body architect, placing the human body in complex, futuristic scenarios that confound the boundaries between the natural and artificial; inventing iconic artworks that take people beyond the expectations of themselves. Trained in classical ballet and interior design, her approach is to influence culture by exploring scientific breakthroughs relating to health and the human body, while providing a feminine point of view on emerging technology.

Dr. Richard Jennings attended the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine and completed training in ob/gyn and aerospace medicine. He served as a NASA flight surgeon from 1987-1995 and was chief of the Flight Medicine Clinic and chief of Medical Operations-Space Shuttle. He was the lead crew surgeon for 14 Shuttle missions and provided direct mission support to 45 Shuttle flights. After joining the faculty at UTMB, he served as director for the UTMB NASA-JSC aerospace medicine residency program and provided gynecologic care at JSC Flight Medicine. He supervised the UTMB HBR-Wyle physicians that support NASA in operations and advanced projects at JSC, GCTC, and Kazakhstan. As lead flight surgeon for Space Adventures, he supported 5 Soyuz missions to the ISS. He is currently a clinical professor at UTMB and serves as flight surgeon for Space Adventures, member of the SpaceX Safety Advisory Panel and medical consultant to Virgin Galactic. 

Dr. Joshua Sparrow is director of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center in the Division of Developmental Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he also holds an appointment in the Department of Psychiatry. He is a co-principal investigator for the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (Office of Head Start, Office of Child Care, ACF, HHS), and is part-time associate professor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In 2010 he was appointed to the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Head Start Research and Evaluation Committee. He serves on the American Pediatric Association’s Child Poverty Task Force, and on the American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) Head Start Collaborative Advisory Council.

Xin Liu is an artist and engineer. She is currently the Arts Curator of the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative and the Van Lier fellow at Museum of Arts and Design. Mixing scientific research with personal narratives, she creates transformative, participatory experiences and bodily objects to actively participate in the paradigm shift between technological advances and humanity. The goal is to reconfigure the tools of technology, not for exploitation but the recovery of human feelings, affects, and emotions. Xin has shown her work internationally at events and venues including Ars Electronica (2017), Boston Museum of Fine Art (2016\2017), Sundance Film Festival (2017), The Walker Art Center (2017), OCAT Shanghai (2015), Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum (2017), Eyebeam (2015), International Symposium on Electronic Art (2013\2016\2017) and Music Tech Festival Berlin (2016). As a researcher, Xin has worked in institutions including Microsoft Research NYC, Microsoft Research Asia, Google ATAP, TASML and presented her research at international conferences including UIST, UbiComp, TEI, DIS and Augmented Human.

Viktoria Modesta is bionic artist, multimedia performance artist, creative director, DJ and a supporter of future innovations. Her work explores modern identity through performance, fashion, avant garde visuals, technology and science. VM has the well-earned reputation of an artist consistently working outside the box. Her life story is a journey of exploration and pushing at boundaries. Born in USSR in 1987 into a troublesome childhood and health struggles in the restricted society of the Soviet regime, she escaped to London at the age of 12. Going from the extremes of hospital confinement in Latvia due to trauma during birth she fell into yet another extreme: the underground subculture of London. Overwhelmed with constant discomfort about her predetermined identity she found the perfect playground for self discovery amongst iconic clubs and fashion personalities. 

Andrea Lauer is a costume/set designer and fashion stylist.  Recent credits include Richard The II at The Old Globe, Lovely Rita, a multi- media event in celebration of the Beatles 50th release of Sgt. Peppers, and A Chorus Line at the MUNY. Her work has been seen on Broadway (American Idiot, Bring it On), around the country and internationally. Upcoming projects this year are the world premiere of Christopher Oscar Peña's The Strangers (set and costumes), an Evening with Meow Meow with London Philharmonic at the Royal Festival Hall (production design), and a new interpretation of Cyrano at The Goodspeed Opera (costumes).

Lee Anderson is the founder of Starkweather, creative strategist and fashion advocate. Lee was a producer and co-founder of Paris FashionTech week, and of Pioneer Mode, two multi-format conference series that address pressing issues in the fashion industry and its future, related to technology, sustainability, and new business models. Currently, Lee designs the Starkweather private label, as well as outerwear and strategy for other fashion and active wear companies with an equal interest in bridging fashion and function. As an advocate, she has spoken at events and led workshops around the country. Lee is also the founder of FAAR, an initiative to bring together the industries of Fashion and Aerospace through events, a shared knowledge base, and collaborative opportunities. 

Dan Novy (also known as NovySan) is a PhD student at the MIT Media Lab, where he works to decrease the alienation fostered by traditional passive media consumption; increase social interaction through transparent, interconnected and fluid media; and create enriched, active, and inspired immediate experiences. He is an Emmy- and Visual Effects Society Award-winning VFX Technical Supervisor, Transmedia Experience Designer, and Artist. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he received a BFA in Theatre and an MA in Theatre History, with a double emphasis in the technical history of the theatre and shamanic ritual performance in pre-agrarian societies. He is the former Chair of the Visual Effects Society's Technology Committee, former Visiting Scientist at Magic Leap, and Co-Instructor of the Media Lab's 'Science Fiction-Inspired Prototyping' and 'Indistinguishable From Magic' classes.

Plenary Panel: Astronaut Augury

Cady Coleman recently retired from NASA after spending over six months in space over three missions. She flew twice on the Space Shuttle Columbia, and spent 159 days on the International Space Station in 2010-2011 as the expedition lead for both science and robotics on the mission. She led supply-ship operations with NASA’s commercial partners for the Astronaut Office, and finished her NASA career in NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist working on open innovation and public private partnerships. She graduated from MIT with a BS in chemistry, and from the University of Massachusetts with a PhD in polymer science and engineering. She was commissioned in 1983 as a second lieutenant and served in the US Air Force for 26 years.

After spending eight years with the Italian Army right out of high school, Paolo Nespoli obtained a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering and a master’s of science in aeronautics and astronautics from the Polytechnic University of New York (currently NYU). He then worked in Italy as a design engineer, then as a training engineer at the European Space Agency (ESA) at the newly formed European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. In 1998 he was selected as an astronaut by the Italian Space Agency, and sent to train at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He flew his first space flight in 2007 on STS-120, a short-duration Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). He flew on the ISS long-duration mission Expedition-26/27 (2010-11), and the ISS Expedition-52/53 (2017). He has logged a total of 313 days in space.

Denis Matveev graduated from the Moscow-Bauman State Technical University in Moscow in 2006. This engineer at RKK Energia was selected to be cosmonaut in 2010 in the group RKKE18. His basic training ended two years later. Denis Vladimirovich Matveev was born on April 25, 1983, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2006  he attended Moscow State Technical University, Moscow to earn an Engineering degree in Information Technology. Since then he has held many positions through out his career including; Junior Research scientist, 50th Division at Gagarin Training Cosmonaut Center; Lead Engineer, 5th Department at GCTC; Candidate Test-Cosmonaut at GCTC;Test-Cosmonaut at Roscosmos Cosmonauts Corps and is currently the Director of Operations in Houston/JSC

Plenary Panel: The New Space Age

Joichi "Joi" Ito has been recognized for his work as an activist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and advocate of emergent democracy, privacy, and internet freedom. As director of the MIT Media Lab, he explores how radical new approaches to science and technology can transform society in substantial and positive ways. Together with The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, Ito is promoting the contribution that awareness and focus can bring to the creativity process. He is chairman of the board of PureTech and as served as both board chair and CEO of Creative Commons, and sits on the boards of Sony Corporation, Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and The New York Times Company. In Japan, he was a founder of Digital Garage, and helped to establish the country’s first commercial Internet service provider. He is co-author with Jeff Howe of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future (Grand Central Publishing).

Carissa Bryce Christensen is the founder and CEO of Bryce Space and Technology. She previously co-founded The Tauri Group, LLC and was a partner in CenTauri Solutions, LLC (acquired by CSC in 2010). Ms. Christensen is an internationally- recognized expert in commercial space. For over two decades she has engaged the leading edge of the space industry with innovative analysis of space systems and advanced technology. She led the creation of widely-used financial and economic indicators now considered global metrics for the commercial space and satellite sectors. A frequent speaker and author on space and satellite trends, Carissa serves as a strategic advisor to government and commercial clients, and has been an expert witness and testified before Congress on market dynamics. She is also an active investor in technology-focused startups and advises several companies she has helped seed. She serves on the board of QxBranch, an early stage quantum computing software firm in which she is a partner.

Debra D. Facktor is the vice president and general manager of Strategic Operations for Ball Aerospace, where she is responsible for increasing Ball Aerospace’s profile in the market and facilitating collaboration across the company. Facktor is the company’s senior executive in the Washington, DC area and leads Washington Operations, Marketing & Communications, and Strategic Development. Most recently, Facktor took on the additional responsibility of leading the Commercial Aerospace business unit where she created and executed an integrated company-wide commercial strategy that leverages Ball’s heritage of capabilities in areas such as remote sensing, transformational communications and data analytics. She has since returned her focus to Strategic Operations and Ball’s commitment to deepen its presence and engagement at all levels in the Washington, DC metro area.

Rob Meyerson has overseen the steady growth of Blue Origin since 2003, evolving a 10-person research-focused organization into the more than 1000-person organization of today. Under Rob’s leadership, Blue Origin developed the New Shepard system for suborbital human and research flights, the BE-3 LOX/LH2 rocket engine, the BE- 4 LOX/LNG rocket engine, as well as the manufacturing and test capabilities to enable all the above. As the leader of Blue’s Advanced Development Programs business, Rob oversees the development of the systems and technologies that will enable a future where millions of people are living and working in space. Prior to joining Blue, Rob was a Senior Manager at Kistler Aerospace, responsible for the landing and thermal protection systems of a two-stage reusable launch vehicle, as well as all technical activities related to Kistler’s Space Launch Initiative contract with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Chris Lewicki has been intimately involved with the lifecycle of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers and the Phoenix Mars Lander. Lewicki performed system engineering development and participated in assembly, test and launch operations for both Mars missions. He was Flight Director for the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the Surface Mission Manager for Phoenix. The recipient of two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals, Lewicki has an asteroid named in his honor: 13609 Lewicki. Chris holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona. At Planetary Resources, Mr. Lewicki is responsible for the strategic development of the company’s mission and vision, engagement with customers and the scientific community, serves as technical compass, and leads day to day operations.

Ariel Ekblaw is the founder and lead of the MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative, a team of over 50 students, faculty and staff engaged in actively prototyping our Sci-Fi space future. For the Initiative, Ariel coordinates space research and launch opportunities across the spectrum of science, engineering, art, and design and builds collaborations on this work with MIT and Space Industry partners. Ariel is simultaneously a graduate research assistant at the MIT Media Lab, where she is completing a Ph.D. in Aerospace Structures in Dr. Joseph Paradiso's Responsive Environments group. Her current research explores self-assembling space architecture with natively embedded sensor networks. Ariel brings an interdisciplinary approach to her research at the Media Lab, with undergraduate degrees in Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy from Yale University and a master’s in blockchain research from MIT. Her past work experience includes cloud computing analytics at Microsoft Azure, microgravity research with NASA, and Mars2020 rover hardware systems engineering at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Ariel’s work has been featured in AIAA, IEEE, Wired, Ars Technica, MIT Technology Review, Harvard Business Review, and more.