Dava Newman
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dava J. Newman (born 1964) is an American aerospace engineer. She is the director of the
MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fi ...
and a former deputy administrator of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
. Newman is the Apollo Program Professor of
Aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...
and
Astronautics Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the practice of sending spacecraft beyond atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science is its overarching field. The term ''astronautics' ...
and Engineering Systems at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
. She has been a faculty member in the department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and MIT's School of Engineering since 1993. Newman earned her PhD in aerospace biomedical engineering, and Master of Science degrees in aerospace engineering and technology and policy all from MIT, and her Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
. She is a member of the faculty at the Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology and a MacVicar Faculty Fellow. She formerly directed the Technology and Policy Program at MIT (2003–2015) and the MIT Portugal Program since 2011.


Research

Newman's research expertise is in aerospace biomedical engineering, investigating human performance in varying gravity environments. Newman was the principal investigator on four spaceflight missions. The Space Shuttle Dynamic Load Sensors (DLS) experiment measured astronaut-induced disturbances of the microgravity environment on mission STS-62. The Enhanced Dynamic Load Sensors experiment flew on board the Mir Space Station from 1996–1998. Newman was a Co-Investigator on the Mental Workload and Performance Experiment (MWPE) that flew on STS-42 to measure astronaut mental workload and fine motor control in microgravity. She also developed the MICR0-G space flight experiment to provide a sensor suite and study human adaptation in extreme environments. She was the MIT Principal Investigator on the Gravity Loading Countermeasure Suit, or Skinsuit, which flew the International Space Station as an ESA technology demonstration from 2015 to 2017. Newman has promoted the development of space activity suits, namely the Bio-Suit, which provides pressure through compression directly on the skin via the suit's textile weave, patterning, and advanced materials rather than with pressurized gas. The suit is designed to help astronauts move around more easily than gas-filled suits allow. These spacesuit technologies are now being applied to "soft suits" to study and enhance locomotion on Earth. Newman is the author of ''Interactive Aerospace Engineering and Design'', an introductory engineering textbook, has published more than 300 papers in journals and refereed conferences, and holds numerous compression technology patents.


NASA deputy administratorship

In October 2014, Newman was
nominated A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...
by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
as deputy administrator of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
, but the
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
returned the nomination to the president in December 2014 when the
113th Congress The 113th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, during the fifth and sixth years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the ...
adjourned without having
confirmed In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on of hands. Catholicis ...
her for the position.Presidential nomination no
2091
"Dava J. Newman, of Massachusetts, to be Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, vice Lori Garver, resigned", 113th Congress, November 12, 2014. Accessed March 26, 2015.
Under
Senate rules Parliamentary procedures are the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Their object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense ...
, in order for Newman to be confirmed, Obama needed to re-nominate her to the Senate of the
114th Congress The 114th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from Ja ...
, and he did so on January 8, 2015.Presidential nomination no
43
''Dava J. Newman, of Massachusetts, to be Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, vice Lori Garver, resigned'', 114th Congress, January 8, 2015. Accessed March 26, 2015.
Her confirmation hearing before the
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate. Besides having broad jurisdiction over all matters concerning interstate commerce, science and technology policy, a ...
was held March 25, 2015, and the committee unanimously recommended approval by the full Senate. She was confirmed by the Senate on April 27, 2015. She resigned the position upon the end of the Obama administration on January 20, 2017.


Honors

Select honors include named among World's Most Influential Women Engineers (2021), Lowell Thomas Award (Explorer's Club (2018), the NASA Distinguished Service Medal (2017), Women in Aerospace Leadership Award (2017), and the Aerospace Medical Association's Henry L. Taylor Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Aerospace Human Factors (2017). Her BioSuit spacesuit system has been exhibited at the Venice Biennial (2015), the American Museum of Natural History (2012), the Victoria and Albert and Museum, London (2012), the Paris City Museum of Science and Industry (2010), the London Museum of Science and Industry (2009), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2008). She was awarded Best Invention of 2007 by ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine, named in 100 Extraordinary Women Engineers in 2004, and received the Women in Aerospace National Aerospace Educator Award (2001). Newman is a former housemaster of MIT's Baker House.


Partial bibliography

*Newman, D.J., ''Interactive Aerospace Engineering and Design'', introductory engineering textbook with accompanying interactive CD-ROM, McGraw-Hill, Inc., January 2002. *Saleh, J.H., Hastings, D.E., and D.J. Newman, "Weaving Time into System Architecture: Satellite Cost per Operational Day and Optimal Design Lifetime", ''
Acta Astronautica ''Acta Astronautica'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all fields of physical, engineering, life, and social sciences related to the peaceful scientific exploration of space. The journal is widely known as one of the top ae ...
'', 54:413-431, 2004. *Ferguson, P. A., Krebs, C. P., Stirling, L. A., Newman, D. J., "Kinetic and Kinematic Sensing System for the MICRO-G /Adapt International Space Station Experiment", ''IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement'', June, 2006. *Jordan, N. C., Saleh, J. H., Newman, D. J., "The extravehicular mobility unit: A review of environment, requirements, and design changes in the US spacesuit", ''Acta Astronautica'', Volume 59, Issue 12, Pages 1135-1145, July 2006. *Newman, D.J., Canina, M. Trotti, G.L., "Revolutionary Design for Astronaut Exploration – Beyond the Bio-Suit", CP880, Space Technology and Applications International Forum—STAIF-2007, Albuquerque, NM, February 11–15, 2007. *Carr, C. E., Newman, D. J., "Space Suit Bioenergetics: Framework and Analysis of Unsuited and Suited Activity", ''
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine ''Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance'' (''AMHP'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of aviation and aerospace medicine. It was founded as the ''Journal of Aviation Medicine'' in 1930 by Louis H. Bauer, M.D., and is publish ...
'', 78:1013-1022, 2007. *Johnson, A.W., Hoffman, J.A., Newman, D.J., Mazarico, E.M., and Zuber, M.T., "An Integrated Traverse Planner and Analysis Tool for Future Planetary Exploration", AIAA 2010-8829, SPACE 2010, Anaheim, CA, 2010. *Stirling, L., Newman, D.J., Willcox, K., "Self-Rotations in Simulated Microgravity: Performance Effects of Strategy Training" ''Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine'', vol. 80 no. 1, pp. 5–14, 2009. *Stirling, L., Willcox, K., Newman, D., "Development of a Computational Model for Astronaut Reorientation", ''Journal of Biomechanics'', Vol. 43, Issue 12, pp. 2309–2314, August 2010. *R. A. Opperman, J. M. Waldie, A. Natapoff, D. J. Newman, J. A. Jones, "Probability of Spacesuit-Induced Fingernail Trauma is associated with Hand Circumference", ''Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine'', 81, 907-913, 2010. *Wagner, E.B., Granzella, N.P., Saito, N., Newman, D.J., Young, L.R., Bouxsein, M.L., "Partial weight Suspension: A Novel Murine Model for Investigation Adaptation to Reduce Musculoskeletal Loading", ''
Journal of Applied Physiology The ''Journal of Applied Physiology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal of physiology published by the American Physiological Society. The journal was established in 1948, and is currently edited by Sue Bodine. According to the ''Journa ...
'', 109:350-357, 2010. *Waldie, J., Newman, D., "A Gravity Loading Countermeasure Skinsuit", ''Acta Astronautica'', 68(7-8):722-730, 2011. *Pfotenhauer, Sebastian M., et al. "Seeding Change through International University Partnerships: The MIT-Portugal Program as a Driver of Internationalization, Networking, and Innovation", ''Higher Education Policy'', 2012. *Wessendorf, A.M. and Newman, D.J., Dynamic Understanding of Human-Skin Movement and Strain-Field Analysis, ''IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering'', 59(12):3432-3438, 2012. *Duda, K., Vasquez, R., Newman, D.J., "Variable Vector Countermeasure Suit (V2Suit) for Space Exploration",
IEEE Explore IEEE Xplore (stylized as IEEE ''Xplore'') digital library is a research database for discovery and access to journal articles, conference proceedings, technical standards, and related materials on computer science, electrical engineering and elec ...
, , 2013. *Holschuh, B., Obropta, E., Newman, D.J., "Low Spring Index NiTi Coil Actuators for Use in Active Compression Garments, ''IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics'', 20(3):1264-1277, 2015. *Melo, P., Silva, M., Martins, J., and Newman, D.J., "Technical Developments of Functional Electrical Stimulation to Correct Drop Foot: Sensing, Actuation and Control Strategies", ''Clinical Biomechanics'', 30(2):101-113, 2015. *Holschuh, B., and Newman, D. "Two-Spring Model for Active Compression Textiles with Integrated NiTi Coil Actuators", '' Smart Materials and Structures'', 24, 2015. *Anderson, Y. Menguc, R. Wood, D. Newman, "Development of the Polipo Pressure Sensing System for Dynamic Space-Suited Motion", ''
IEEE Sensors Journal The ''IEEE Sensors Journal'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal, covering research on sensors. It is published by the IEEE Sensors Council. The editor-in-chief is Zeynep Celik. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the jou ...
'', Vol. 15(11):6229-6237, 2015. *P. L. Melo, M. T. Silva, J. M. Martins, D. J. Newman, "A Microcontroller Platform for The Rapid Prototyping of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)-based Gait Neuroprostheses", ''
Artificial Organs An artificial organ is a human-made organ device or Tissue (biology), tissue that is Implant (medicine), implanted or integrated into a humaninterfacing with living tissueto replace a natural Organ (anatomy), organ, to duplicate or augment a spec ...
'', 39(5):E56-66, May 2015. *B Holschuh, D Newman, "Morphing Compression Garments for Space Medicine and Extravehicular Activity Using Active Materials", '' Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance'' 87 (2), 84-92, 2016. *Newman, D.J., Wood, D., Roos, D., Pfotenhauer., S., "Architecting complex international science, technology and innovation partnerships (CISTIPs): A study of four global MIT collaborations", ''
Technological Forecasting and Social Change ''Technological Forecasting and Social Change'' (formerly ''Technological Forecasting'') is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier covering futures studies, technology assessment, and technology forecasting. Articles focus on method ...
'', Volume 104, March 2016, Pages 38–56. *Wood, D. and Newman, D. "The Innovation Landscape within a Large Government Agency: Promising Practices from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)", 67th
International Astronautical Congress The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is an annual meeting of the actors in the discipline of space science. It is hosted by one of the national society members of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), with the support of ...
, Guadalajara, Mexico, Sept. 2016. * Anandapadmanaban, E., Tannady, J., Norheim, J., Newman, D., and Hoffman, J., "Holo-SEXTANT: an Augmented Reality Planetary EVA Navigation Interface", 48th
International Conference on Environmental Systems International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
, Albuquerque, New Mexico, July 2018. * Ekblaw, A., Prosina, A., Newman, D.J., and Paradiso, J., "Space Habitat Reconfigurability: TESSERAE platform for self-aware assembly", 30th IAA Symposium On Space and Society (Space Architecture: Habitats, Habitability, and Bases). ''Proceedings of the IAF International Astronautical Congress, 2019''. *Kenza Amara, David Dao, Björn Lütjens, Dava Newman, Tom Crowther, and Ce Zhang. 2020. "OneForest: Towards a Global Species Dataset by Fusing Remote Sensing and Citizen Science Data with Graph Neural Networks". In ''Proceedings of KDD 2020 Virtual Conference (KDD2020)''. ACM, New York, NY, US. *Lütjens, B., Leshchinskiy, B., Requena-Mesa, C.*, Chishtie, F., Diaz-Rodriguez, N., Boulais, O., Pi a, A., Newman, D., Lavin A., Gal Y., Raissi, C (2020) "Physics-Informed GANs for Coastal Flood Visualization", *equal contribution, in review at NeurIPS workshop on Tackling Climate Change with AI, demo at trillium.tech/eie *Lütjens, B., Veillette, M., Newman, D., "Uncertainty-Aware Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Parametrizations in Ocean Modeling", AGU Annual Mtg., 2020.


References


External links


Brief bio page at MIT website


Appearance on WMBR's

'' radio show February 18, 2004
MIT Portugal Program
*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Dava 1964 births Living people Deputy administrators of NASA American aerospace engineers Engineering educators MIT School of Engineering faculty University of Notre Dame alumni MIT School of Engineering alumni People from Helena, Montana 21st-century American inventors American women inventors Recipients of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal Obama administration personnel 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American women engineers 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American women engineers Engineers from Montana