Daniel Hastings
Dean for Undergraduate Education, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems at MIT
Daniel Hastings, the MIT Dean for Undergraduate
Education, is a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering
Systems. Hastings has taught
courses and seminars in plasma physics, rocket propulsion, advanced space power
and propulsion systems, aerospace policy, technology and policy, and space
systems engineering.
Dr. Hastings served as chief scientist to the U.S.
Air Force from 1997 to 1999. In that role, he served as chief scientific
adviser to the chief of staff and the secretary and provided assessments on a
wide range of scientific and technical issues affecting the Air Force mission.
He led several influential studies on where the Air Force should invest in
space, global energy projection, and options for a science and technology
workforce for the 21st century.
Dr. Hastings, who earned a Ph.D. and an S.M, from MIT
in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1980 and 1978 respectively, received a B.A.
in Mathematics from Oxford University in England in 1976. He joined the MIT
faculty as an assistant professor in 1985, advancing to associate professor in
1988 and full professor in 1993. Dr. Hastings served ESD as Associate Director
from July 2001 - April, 003, Co-Director from May, 2003 - June, 2004, and
Director from July 2004 - December 2005.
Dr. Hastings’ recent research has concentrated on
issues of space systems and space policy, and has also focused on issues
related to spacecraft-environmental interactions, space propulsion, space
systems engineering, and space policy. He has published many papers and a book
in the field of spacecraft-environment interactions and several papers in space
propulsion and space systems. He has led several national studies on government
investment in space technology.
Dr. Hastings is a Fellow of the AIAA and a member of
the International Academy of Astronautics. He is serving as a member of the
National Science Board, the Applied Physics Lab Science and Technology Advisory
Panel, as well as the chair of Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. He is a
member of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Advisory Committee and is on the Board of Trustees of the Aerospace Corporation. He has served on several national
committees on issues in National Security Space. Dr. Hastings was elected as a Fellow of INCOSE (the International Council on System Engineering) in June 2007.