Daniel Hastings
Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor and Head, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Biography
Daniel E. Hastings is an American physicist, currently the Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor and the former director of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hastings became head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics on January 1, 2019. He has served as the Chief Scientist of the US Air Force and on many national level boards.
Dr. Hastings earned his B.A. at Oxford University in the UK (1976) and his S.M. (1978) and Ph.D. (1980) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, writing his doctoral thesis on "The high‐β universal drift mode."
Dr. Hastings was an associate professor (1980-1993) and later full professor for the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT (1993-present). He was also the associate department head of research (1993-1996). He took a short sabbatical to be the Chief Scientist of the US Air Force (1997-1999) and served on the National Science Board from 2002-2008. Dr. Hastings was asked to direct the Technology and Policy Program (TPP) at MIT (2000-2003) as well as associate director and co-director of the Engineering Systems Division (2000-2004), and later became its director (2004-2005). Dr. Hastings became the Dean for Undergraduate Education (2006-2013) and then the CEO and Director of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (2014-2018). As of January 1, 2019, he is the head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr. Hastings has received many honors, including membership to the National Academy of Engineering (2017), fellowship in the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences (1998), and the Air Force Distinguished Civilian Award (1997, 1999).
Academic biography
https://aeroastro.mit.edu/daniel-hastingsResearch topics
- What is the most cost effective way to move groups of satellites in near earth space so as to efficiently observe natural disasters?
- How can we get rid of orbital debris that is cluttering up near earth space and is left over when users abandon space systems?
- How can the deep uncertainty caused by long term policy decisions be incorporated in the design of space missions?
- What does resiliency look like for a complex system composed of space, air and undersea assets designed to monitor the environment?