Beyond the Cradle

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Space Exploration Initiative

Space Exploration Initiative

Beyond the Cradle 2024: Program

8:00 AM     Breakfast and registration

8:45 AM     We are go for launch | Ariel Ekblaw and Cody Paige

9:00 AM     Keynote 

Dr. Sara Seager, Professor of Physics, Professor of Planetary Science, and a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, astrophysicist

9:40 AM     Break

9:50 AM     Our Sci-Fi Space Future panel

Samantha Harvey, novelist 

Jason Ning, TV producer and screen writer of shows such as The Expanse

Moderated by Rick Loverd, Director of The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences

10:30 AM     Democratizing Access to Space panel

Dr. Darlene Lim, Research Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, Deputy Project Scientist for the NASA VIPER Lunar Rover Mission

Dr. Gordon “Oz” Osinski, Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, Geologist on NASA's Artemis III mission

Dr. Christianna Taylor, Chief Product Officer, G-Space

Maggie Coblentz, fieldwork producer

Moderated by Dr. Cody Paige, Director, MIT Space Exploration Initiative

11:15 AM     Space Architecture panel

Georgi Petrov, Senior Associate Principal, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Brent Sherwood, space architect, and consultant

Gui Trotti, President, Trotti & Associates, Inc

Melodie Yashar, VP, Building Design and Performance, ICON

Moderated by Dr. Ariel Ekblaw, CEO, Aurelia Institute, Founder,  MIT Space Exploration Initiative

12:00 PM     Lunch

1:00 PM  Future Worlds fireside chat

Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, Professor and leader, Space Programs at ETH Zurich, formerly NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate

Dr. Erika Wagner, Senior Director of Emerging Market Development, Blue Origin

Marc Weiser, Founder and Managing Director, RPM Ventures

Sita Sonty, CEO, Space Tango

Moderated by Dr. Dava Newman, Director of the MIT Media Lab and Apollo Professor of Astronautics

(in Lecture Hall) SEI Alum & Student Lightening Talks

Rachel Bellisle, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program

Phillip Cherner, MIT Media Lab 

Sana Sharma, Co-Founder and Chief Design Officer, Aurelia Institute

Irmandy Wicaksono, Responsive Environments, MIT Media Lab 

Larissa Zhou, food scientist and engineer

Don Derek Haddad, NASA Research Engineer

1:45 PM     Space and the Arts panel

Lita Albuquerque,  Artist

Julius von Bismarck, Artist

Sydney Skybetter, Choreographer, Deputy Dean and Professor, College for Curriculum, Brown University

Moderated by Xin Liu, Artist and Engineer

(in Lecture Hall) Space Start-Up Lightening Talks

Imelda Alexopoulos, Director of Exploration Strategy, Fleet Space Technologies

Scarlett Elizabeth Koller, Co-founder and CEO, Mithril Technologies

Jordan Wachs, Director of Business Development, SpaceRake

Nicole Wagner, President and CEO, Lambda Vision

Van Wagner, Project Manager, Lunar Outpost

2:30 PM     Breakout Workshops

(in E14-240) Perseid STEM Curriculum Development - Educational development for our future space leaders

(in E14-244) Designing the MIT Lunar Mission Control 

(in E14-514b) Ethics of AI & Space Exploration

4:15 PM     Explorer Fireside Chat

Dr. Katy Croff Bell, Founder and President of the Ocean Discovery League and National Geographic Explorer and Fellow

John Shoffner, Private Astronaut, Axiom Mission 2

Moderated by Dr. Aleksandra Stankovic, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard, Director of the Human Performance Lab and Executive Director of the Center for Space Medicine Research at Massachusetts General Hospital

5:00 PM     Closing remarks

5:30 PM    Reception