Video: “To Look Ahead, Look Up,” Says AeroAstro Department Head

What’s next for MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics? 

In this Faculty Forum Online video, that department’s head, Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor Daniel E. Hastings SM ’78, PhD ’80, lays out its strategic plan. His talk addresses the growth of entrepreneurial aerospace, the creation of the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, a continued emphasis on diversity and inclusion, and other factors shaping the future of the department.

What matters to us is we’re pushing forward the boundaries of the possible in aerospace,” says Hastings, who has led MIT AeroAstro since 2019. An expert in space system-environment interactions and space system architecture, Hastings joined the MIT faculty in 1985 and has held numerous leadership roles at the Institute, including as director of the MIT Technology and Policy Program, director of the Engineering Systems Division, dean for undergraduate education, and director of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). Among his roles outside MIT, he has served as chief scientist for the US Air Force. 

Watch the full recording of the webcast, held live on June 19 and including a Q&A with alumni moderated by science communicator Erin Winick. 

Then, explore more archived Faculty Forum Online webinars and register for upcoming MIT Alumni Association virtual programming.

Portrait of Daniel Hastings: Lillie Paquette/School of Engineering.

This story was originally posted on the Slice of MIT Blog.