MIT Professor Named Deputy Administrator at NASA

Dava Newman, professor of aeronautics and astronautics and professor of engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been nominated by President Obama as deputy administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). When confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Professor Newman will be the second-highest ranking official at NASA.

Professor Newman has been on the faculty at MIT since 1993 and is the director of the university’s Technology and Policy Program. She is the author of the textbook Interactive Aerospace Engineering and Design (McGraw-Hill, 2002). Her research has included the development and design on new space suits.

“It’s very exciting, and an enormous honor,” Professor Newman remarked about her appointment to NASA. “Aerospace engineering, of course, is my passion. Maybe I’ve been training for this my whole life.”

Dr. Newman is a 1986 graduate of the University of Notre Dame. She earned two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in aerospace biomedical engineering from MIT.