Tentative Title: New Engineering Education Transformation
By: Amitava “Babi” Mitra, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
Amitava “Babi” Mitra is the Executive Director of the New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET) program at MIT and responsible for the strategic direction, tactical execution and operational oversight of the program. Mitra is co-leading what is arguably one of the most impactful initiatives in higher education today, an initiative launched by MIT’s School of Engineering in 2016 to reimagine and transform MIT’s undergraduate engineering education. NEET’s vision is that it will deliver a new program and pedagogy in engineering education with a focus on new machines and systems that cuts across existing departmental boundaries, and with a strengthened emphasis on synthesis (design and engineering) of these new machines and systems. The program is being built on a modern engineering pedagogical approach, with the integration of leadership, service, and professional experiences, including entrepreneurial thinking and action. Two pilot threads, Autonomous Machines and Living Machines were launched in Fall 2017; they were oversubscribed and sophomores in the NEET programs are enthusiastic. These two threads together with two more new pilots, Advanced Materials Machines and Clean Energy Systems launched on the Fall 2018.
Tentative Title: Gender Balance and Diversity in Engineering”
By: Zita Martins, Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), PT
Zita Martins is an Astrobiologist, an Associate Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, Portugal), and the Co-Director of the MIT-Portugal Program. She works in the field of Astrobiology and Cosmochemistry. She has a 5-year undergraduate degree (Licenciatura) in Chemistry from IST (2002) and a PhD in Astrobiology from Leiden University (The Netherlands, 2007). She was an Invited Scientist at NASA Goddard (2005 and 2006), and an Invited Professor at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (France) (2012). In 2009 she was awarded a Royal Society Research Fellowship worth 1 Million British Pounds, and she was a Royal Society University Research Fellow at Imperial College London (UK) until 2017. Zita Martins has been actively involved in several space missions: she is a Co-Investigator of the OREOcube and EXOcube missions, a Member of the ARIEL space mission from ESA, a Member of the Japanese space mission Hayabusa2 from JAXA, and the only Portuguese scientist in the class-F space mission Comet Interceptor from ESA. She has an active involvement with public outreach activities, including more than 100 international media interviews, and public talks at museums and Science festivals. She had the honour of having her portrait sketched (special commission) for the Royal Society exhibit about successful women in science. She was selected by the BBC as an Expert Women Scientist, and as one of “100 Women in Science” by the Portuguese Agency of Science and Technology “Ciência Viva”. In 2018 she received a Barbie Award 2018 on the International Girl Child Day for being an inspiration to girls. In 2015 Zita Martins was appointed Oficial da Ordem Militar de Sant’Iago da Espada (OSE) by the President of Portugal.