Dava Newman

Videos

Becoming Interplanetary & Accelerating Positive Change for Spaceship Earth | Dava Newman | TEDxMIT
What’s Next in Clean Tech? Expert Panel on Fusion, Cement, and Natural Capital | Davos 2025
Satellites as Storytellers | Davos 2024 | World Economic Forum
Mars is not 'Plan B': we are all astronauts on Spaceship Earth | Dava Newman | TEDxBoston
How to create a space suit | Dava Newman
Mars and Beyond: Exploring Today for Tomorrow | Dava Newman | Talks at Google
Journey to Mars | Dava Newman
Dava Newman: Space Fashion
"Building the Future Spacesuit" -Dava Newman (MIT)
Earth & Space Keynote 2019 - Dr. Dava Newman
Dava Newman: A better built space suit
Women At NASA - Dava Newman

Learn More About Dava Newman

Given the rapid evolution of technology, science and innovation, how can organizations prepare for what’s coming so they can be relevant, sustainable and profitable years from now?

As the former director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, Dava Newman, Ph.D. (DAY-vuh NEW-man) – rocket scientist-engineer, inventor, author and global explorer – is a rare expert who offers leaders an up-close view of the future of emerging technologies that will change how we live, work and play. An interdisciplinary leader, longtime MIT educator and former NASA deputy administrator (the first woman engineer to serve in the role), Newman helps organizations in every sector prepare for the exciting changes ahead in such areas as artificial intelligence, engineering, design, biomedical research and wearable technologies. Her framework for innovation, developed and deployed at NASA, helps organizations create technologies that enhance society in a variety of areas, from health care and entertainment to sustainability and social justice. A technology pioneer perhaps best known for her second skin BioSuit™ planetary EVA system, Newman has a “moonshot” mindset when it comes to innovation.

“My philosophy is, ‘let’s not do the same thing we’ve always done.’ No incremental design, if you will. What haven’t we thought of? I think a lot of innovation comes from asking, ‘how else could we attack this problem, what else and who should be at the table contributing their creative ideas?’” says Newman. “As a technologist and designer myself, what am I doing every day to positively impact society? Sure, as an engineer we create technologies and experiences, but we have to remember that our mantra is to create technologies that benefit society.”

While she is on a personal mission to make humanity an interplanetary species, Newman is equally passionate about taking lessons learned from space exploration and applying them to big problems here on earth, such as climate resilience and security. A faculty leader in her home department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT’s School of Engineering for almost 30 years, Newman is also immersed in the study of human-machine robotic interactions. Recognizing that organizations can literally invent the work of the future by designing human-centered autonomous-AI systems, she is optimistic about the endless possibilities for people and businesses.

Chief among Newman’s passions is her leadership in changing the conversation around STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) to ensure excellence by including people from all walks of life as part of innovation teams, regardless of gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. A staunch advocate for women and people of color, she now uses the term STEAMD, expanding the definition to include arts and design. As an advisor, educator and leader, Newman emphasizes the powerful roles inclusion and empathy play in fueling innovation, unearthing new inventions and accelerating transformation for all.

“No more filtering anyone out,” says Newman, one of the world’s most influential women engineers according to Forbes. “Rather, we must strive for infinite diversity in infinite combinations, empowering the women leaders of tomorrow.”

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Dr. Dava Newman is the former director of the MIT Media Lab. Her BioSuit™ has been exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Paris’ Cite des Sciences et de L’Industrie, the Chicago Museum of Science + Industry and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In addition to holding numerous design and compression technology patents, Newman is the author of Interactive Aerospace Engineering and Design, an introductory engineering design textbook. She has published more than 300 papers in journals, supervised 90 graduate student theses and supervised and mentored over 200 undergraduate researchers.

Newman has received honors from entities including the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Explorer’s Club. She is an AIAA Fellow and, separately, was named a Margaret MacVicar Faculty fellow in the year 2000, which is a distinguished 10-year MIT chair “granted for excellence in undergraduate teaching and innovation in education.”

Newman earned her Ph.D. in aerospace biomedical engineering and Master of Science degrees in aerospace engineering and technology and policy from MIT, and her Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Dava Newman is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group^®.

How the Workforces of Tomorrow Will Learn, Work and Thrive Alongside Machines

Organizations are carefully considering what the future of work will look like and how related skills will be built. Leaders must understand how AI and machine learning (ML) will shape both future jobs and education programs of tomorrow. What tasks will be reserved for humans; what will be augmented by machines; what will AI exclusively handle; and what will be the next generation of high-paying jobs? In this forward-looking presentation, MIT Apollo Program Professor and former Media Lab director Dava Newman, Ph.D. draws on her decades of interdisciplinary work at MIT and NASA to reveal how AI and ML will influence today’s learners and tomorrow’s workforces. Empowering leaders to reinvent the work of the future to ensure that human capital remains relevant, Newman reveals leading-edge solutions surrounding both the intricacies and panoramic landscape of the “work of the future.”

Love, Act, Discover, Innovate

We live in a time when courage and audacity are two of the most important skills for success. A true role model in being a bold advocate for your work despite challenging times is MIT Apollo Program Professor and former Media Lab director Dava Newman, Ph.D. In this inspiring presentation, she details the personal ethos that guides her work: “Love, Act, Discover, Innovate.” Empowering attendees to become their most impactful, Newman details how humanity itself can benefit when individuals courageously double down on their most important work in times of adversity. She highlights “moonshot” thinking and reveals an innovation framework for empowering individuals and organizations.

Exploring NASA’s Innovation Framework

Understanding the complex intersection between new technology and various types of innovative companies is crucial for success in today’s marketplace. MIT Apollo Program Professor and former Media Lab director Dava Newman, Ph.D., a co-developer of NASA’s Innovation Framework, showcases a unique innovation spectrum comprised of established and startup companies, working with both existing and new technologies. In this presentation, Newman not only explains what these paradigms mean, but demonstrates their significance for government organizations and companies of all types within a 21st century innovation ecosystem.

Leveraging Space Policy Expertise for Both Private and Public Investment Success

As nations around the world consider their role in today’s tech world, leaders frequently turn to MIT Apollo Program Professor, former Media Lab director and pioneering expert on space policy Dava Newman, Ph.D. to understand the opportunities of the future. “If you are going to have impact, you have to develop policy with tech,” she explains. At the forefront of some of the most important in public-private space partnerships in the U.S. such as SpaceX, Newman was highly instrumental in working with European, Japanese, Canadian and Russian space agencies and parliaments to extend the International Space Station agreement. In this presentation, she speaks to private and public sector leaders to share her tested space development strategies that have been created through nearly three decades as both a faculty leader in the MIT School of Engineering’s department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and as a NASA deputy administrator. Audiences will gain a better understanding of how advanced countries in the space industry built their infrastructure and developed their human resource engines, as well as strategies for gaining government support and launching operations centers.

Exploring Space for Earth: Our Home Planet’s Vital Signs Revealed

Can looking at data from beyond our home planet provide solutions to Earth’s growing environmental concerns? In this fascinating talk, MIT Apollo Program Professor and former Media Lab director Dava Newman, Ph.D. reveals what’s been learned from recent space missions to Pluto and Jupiter, the discovery of thousands of exoplanets, and orbital missions that monitor our own home, “Spaceship Earth.” According to Newman, while humanity is working to become interplanetary and is on a journey to Mars, Earth is the most magnificent planet to inhabit. Mars should not be seen as an easy “Plan B,” she explains. As the Earth is speaking to us, Newman urges attendees to consider the question “are we listening?” She reveals detailed supercomputer visualizations which implement artificial intelligence to curate “the systems data” of our planet. Audiences are empowered to help regenerate the Earth’s oceans, land and air through accessible local to global personal actions and solutions.

Women Leaders in STEAMD

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that the “future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Dava Newman, Ph.D., MIT Apollo Program Professor and former Media Lab director, thinks the most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance the kind of science, math and engineering education that will help humanity explore Mars and beyond. As an aerospace engineer and rocket scientist, Newman has spent her entire career dedicated to furthering STEM education. In this talk, she explains why she may have delivered the wrong message. “We made STEM a thing – you were either in or out,” she reveals. “I’d like to change the conversation. I now call it STEAMD. I bring in the arts, I bring in design – the Makers. No more filtering anyone out, but rather, we must strive for infinite diversity in infinite combinations, empowering the women leaders of tomorrow!” An inclusive, distributed leadership framework will be highlighted along with stories of untold women innovators and leaders.