6 ms·

Dava Newman Named Director of MIT Media Lab

105 points by madars 6y ago

jph 6y ago
Congratulations Dr. Newman! She spoke recently at the AWS public sector summit, and it's a good overview about Mars expeditions, space suit designs, climate change, and how tech can help. It's a good layperson intro to her interests. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q0Xr-iLnuU&t=57s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q0Xr-iLnuU&t=57s
ubicomp 6y ago
Thank goodness.
CJefferson 6y ago
[deleted]
- neffy 6y ago
  Hard to say - but personally I think it's a positive that they went with an MIT^3. The Media Lab has many issues, but one of them is that it deliberately set itself aside from the main campus, and that attitude was part of what got them into this mess. You would also need to be an MIT insider to manage the byzantine way everybody does things there, and get moving quickly - an external person wouldn't have a chance on that score. More interestingly, I hope this is also a signal that Space is back on the agenda in the US.
  - xhkkffbf 6y ago
    Yes, poor Joi Ito even felt the need to write some silly thesis to earn a doctorate just so he could fit in. But I don't see it as a positive. It just means more inbreeding. The goal for the Media Lab was to bring a different kind of person into MIT. Perhaps that was a mistake. Perhaps the flashy demos were rather superficial. But if this just going to turn into an outpost of her old department and some folks from material science, I don't see that as adding anything to MIT.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      I can see it both ways. Yes, they were always intended to be something different and were definitely the "new hotness" at one point. But, although good work has certainly come out of the Media Lab, when was the last time you saw them in the news other than for, well, that? Certainly not intended to be a knock on everyone at the Media Lab. But there was certainly a point when it was viewed as one of the places that was "inventing the future" as it said in the title of Stewart Brand's book. How much real impact has it had lately?
- xhkkffbf 6y ago
  Could I ask you to enumerate, now that we've had the distance of time, just what went wrong? As best I can tell, Ito wasn't guilty of doing rogue fundraising. The President of the University signed off -- literally -- on the gifts. The other folks who were angry struck me as particularly odd. The best was the visiting researcher who announced that he wasn't coming back after his contract was over -- and pretended that he was somehow quitting or making a statement or virtue signaling. So can you explain what I'm missing?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - whymauri 6y ago
    >The President of the University signed off -- literally -- on the gifts. They were both wrong in doing so. And the idea that Reif was a naïve first year college president does not make sense (an argument used to gaslight the MIT community). He'd spent years in positions of bureaucratic power at MIT and is masterful at playing Institute politics.
    - selfishgene 6y ago
      Mr. Reif allegedly was promoted to president of MIT for his role as then-provost of MIT in covering up a several hundred million dollar fraud in missile defense research at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, which some observers believe led Susan Hockfield to unexpectedly resign from her position as president of MIT when the university was forced to enter into a sealed settlement agreement with MIT Prof. Ted Postol under the threat of facing potential criminal obstruction of justice charges after a closed-door investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee was opened and FBI agents were placed on notice. The idea that Mr. Reif was somehow a "naive" rookie in this game is pure nonsense ... he's earned his stripes for running a very well-greased protection racket, whether he's masterminding the cover-up of a massive fraud in the defense contracting business or laundering money from the sex-trafficking one.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    >Ito wasn't guilty of doing rogue fundraising He sort of was. I don't remember all the details but he apparently deliberately obscured where the money was coming from. >The President of the University signed off As I recall, he did sign a routine thank you letter but it was a committee of three people in treasurer's office who actually OKd it. Two had already left and the EVP of finance resigned to do a pursue other interests sort of thing, presumably because he saw the writing on the wall. I would guess it was a very near thing for Reif but he didn't quite have his fingerprints on it.
areoform 6y ago
While there are those who will write about the broader failings of the MIT Media Lab, and there is much to be written about, it's important to take a minute to recognize just how prescient and important this choice is. Newman's work on space suit design is something I'm familiar with and have followed for quite some time, there is - simply put - nothing out there like her work. https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/617047main_45s_building_future_spacesuit.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/617047main_45s_building_future_spac... (Submitted to HN here, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21620979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21620979 ) She also helped design the weird idea variant of dynamic/static loading on an astronaut's body to reduce bone loss, https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/strg/2012_nstrf_kendrick.html https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/strg/2012_nstrf_... http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/www/people/dnewman/pdf2/WaldieNewman_AA_GLCS_2011.pdf http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/www/people/dnewman/pdf2/WaldieN... The GCLS did not work out. But it was far more interesting than the rougher Roscosmos variant. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingvin_exercise_suit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingvin_exercise_suit) I believe that Prof. Newman is the right choice for the Media Lab, because she has Gotten Stuff Done. Stuff that has flown in space and has made meaningful contributions to her field. She's an excellent choice.
- xhkkffbf 6y ago
  Yes, getting things done is very important because the tendency around MIT is to get lost in all of the interesting intellectual distractions. But her experience with space suits seems to be pretty different from the computers and artistry that dominated the Media Lab in the past. There has been lots of robotics but not much material science. Of course she's in the right social circles. She knows how to navigate MIT politics. But so did Ito-- until he was fragged. I just don't see much in her past that overlaps with what made the Media Lab interesting. So maybe she'll adapt. Or maybe she'll just turn it into some kind of combination of fashion and materials place.
  - nhf 6y ago
    A good football coach doesn't have to be great at playing the style that they coach their players for. Having worked with her before, Dava is a great leader and manager - which is I think what's needed for a position like this.
jorgBaller 6y ago
Epstein. Media lab bad

105 points by madars 6y ago

jph 6y ago

Congratulations Dr. Newman! She spoke recently at the AWS public sector summit, and it's a good overview about Mars expeditions, space suit designs, climate change, and how tech can help. It's a good layperson intro to her interests. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q0Xr-iLnuU&t=57s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q0Xr-iLnuU&t=57s

ubicomp 6y ago

Thank goodness.

CJefferson 6y ago

[deleted]

neffy 6y ago
Hard to say - but personally I think it's a positive that they went with an MIT^3. The Media Lab has many issues, but one of them is that it deliberately set itself aside from the main campus, and that attitude was part of what got them into this mess. You would also need to be an MIT insider to manage the byzantine way everybody does things there, and get moving quickly - an external person wouldn't have a chance on that score. More interestingly, I hope this is also a signal that Space is back on the agenda in the US.
- xhkkffbf 6y ago
  Yes, poor Joi Ito even felt the need to write some silly thesis to earn a doctorate just so he could fit in. But I don't see it as a positive. It just means more inbreeding. The goal for the Media Lab was to bring a different kind of person into MIT. Perhaps that was a mistake. Perhaps the flashy demos were rather superficial. But if this just going to turn into an outpost of her old department and some folks from material science, I don't see that as adding anything to MIT.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    I can see it both ways. Yes, they were always intended to be something different and were definitely the "new hotness" at one point. But, although good work has certainly come out of the Media Lab, when was the last time you saw them in the news other than for, well, that? Certainly not intended to be a knock on everyone at the Media Lab. But there was certainly a point when it was viewed as one of the places that was "inventing the future" as it said in the title of Stewart Brand's book. How much real impact has it had lately?
xhkkffbf 6y ago
Could I ask you to enumerate, now that we've had the distance of time, just what went wrong? As best I can tell, Ito wasn't guilty of doing rogue fundraising. The President of the University signed off -- literally -- on the gifts. The other folks who were angry struck me as particularly odd. The best was the visiting researcher who announced that he wasn't coming back after his contract was over -- and pretended that he was somehow quitting or making a statement or virtue signaling. So can you explain what I'm missing?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- whymauri 6y ago
  >The President of the University signed off -- literally -- on the gifts. They were both wrong in doing so. And the idea that Reif was a naïve first year college president does not make sense (an argument used to gaslight the MIT community). He'd spent years in positions of bureaucratic power at MIT and is masterful at playing Institute politics.
  - selfishgene 6y ago
    Mr. Reif allegedly was promoted to president of MIT for his role as then-provost of MIT in covering up a several hundred million dollar fraud in missile defense research at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, which some observers believe led Susan Hockfield to unexpectedly resign from her position as president of MIT when the university was forced to enter into a sealed settlement agreement with MIT Prof. Ted Postol under the threat of facing potential criminal obstruction of justice charges after a closed-door investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee was opened and FBI agents were placed on notice. The idea that Mr. Reif was somehow a "naive" rookie in this game is pure nonsense ... he's earned his stripes for running a very well-greased protection racket, whether he's masterminding the cover-up of a massive fraud in the defense contracting business or laundering money from the sex-trafficking one.
- ghaff 6y ago
  >Ito wasn't guilty of doing rogue fundraising He sort of was. I don't remember all the details but he apparently deliberately obscured where the money was coming from. >The President of the University signed off As I recall, he did sign a routine thank you letter but it was a committee of three people in treasurer's office who actually OKd it. Two had already left and the EVP of finance resigned to do a pursue other interests sort of thing, presumably because he saw the writing on the wall. I would guess it was a very near thing for Reif but he didn't quite have his fingerprints on it.

areoform 6y ago

While there are those who will write about the broader failings of the MIT Media Lab, and there is much to be written about, it's important to take a minute to recognize just how prescient and important this choice is. Newman's work on space suit design is something I'm familiar with and have followed for quite some time, there is - simply put - nothing out there like her work. https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/617047main_45s_building_future_spacesuit.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/617047main_45s_building_future_spac... (Submitted to HN here, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21620979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21620979 ) She also helped design the weird idea variant of dynamic/static loading on an astronaut's body to reduce bone loss, https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/strg/2012_nstrf_kendrick.html https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/strg/2012_nstrf_... http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/www/people/dnewman/pdf2/WaldieNewman_AA_GLCS_2011.pdf http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/www/people/dnewman/pdf2/WaldieN... The GCLS did not work out. But it was far more interesting than the rougher Roscosmos variant. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingvin_exercise_suit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingvin_exercise_suit) I believe that Prof. Newman is the right choice for the Media Lab, because she has Gotten Stuff Done. Stuff that has flown in space and has made meaningful contributions to her field. She's an excellent choice.

xhkkffbf 6y ago
Yes, getting things done is very important because the tendency around MIT is to get lost in all of the interesting intellectual distractions. But her experience with space suits seems to be pretty different from the computers and artistry that dominated the Media Lab in the past. There has been lots of robotics but not much material science. Of course she's in the right social circles. She knows how to navigate MIT politics. But so did Ito-- until he was fragged. I just don't see much in her past that overlaps with what made the Media Lab interesting. So maybe she'll adapt. Or maybe she'll just turn it into some kind of combination of fashion and materials place.
- nhf 6y ago
  A good football coach doesn't have to be great at playing the style that they coach their players for. Having worked with her before, Dava is a great leader and manager - which is I think what's needed for a position like this.

jorgBaller 6y ago

Epstein. Media lab bad