Team
Since the Space Exploration Initiative was founded in 2016, the team has grown to support 50+ students, staff, and faculty. This includes a support staff team of 10+ members—scientists, engineers, architects, designers, and a mission integrator. This team offers many resources to the MIT community, including but not limited to: mechanical and electrical contract engineering; astronaut ethnography and user research to inform human-factors prototyping; rapid prototyping and fabrication advising; visual communication and arts curation; and direct mission integration support for everything from microgravity research to lunar payloads. SEI also regularly welcomes undergraduate student researchers (UROPs), visiting students, Research Affiliates, and outside research collaborators.
Leadership & Faculty Advisors
Dr. Ariel Ekblaw, Founder & Director
Prof. Joe Paradiso, MIT Media Lab
Prof. Dava Newman, MIT Media Lab Director
Prof. Maria Zuber, MIT VP for Research
SEI Core Team
Sean Auffinger, Mission Integrator
Maggie Coblentz, Researcher and Designer
Albert R. Antosca, Program Manager
Xin Liu, Arts Curator
Sana Sharma, Staff Designer
Sands Fish, Staff Designer
Kate McCall-Kiley, Space Governance Lead
Noah Feehan, Staff Engineer
Jaime Milliken, Staff Engineer
Nadia Khan, Lunar Open Architecture Lead
Collaborators
MIT Research Collaborators
Oli de Weck, ESL, AeroAstro
Jeffrey Hoffman, HSL, AeroAstro
Kerri Cahoy, STAR Lab, AeroAstro
Julien de Wit, EAPS
Ben Weiss, EAPS
Nicholas de Monchaux, SA+P
Stefanie Mueller, CSAIL
Chris Carr, Georgia Tech
Recent Alumni
Mehak Sarang
Che-Wei Wang
Avery Normandin
Pete Dilworth
Becca Browder
Affiliated Graduate Researchers
Martin Nisser
Fangzheng Liu
Pat Pataranutaporn
Juliana Cherston
Maya Nasr
Rachel Bellisle
Irmandy Wicaksono
Don Derek Hadad
Manwei Chan
Somayajulu Dhulipala
Jess Todd
Larissa Zhou
Sydney Dolan
Thomas Roberts
David Colby Reed
Michelle Lin
2021-2022 Undergraduate Researchers
Valeria Gutierrez
Claire Wichman
Isabella Torres
Ariel Mobius
Bernardo Hasbach
Nory Klop-Packel
Rohan Wagh
Lilly Papalia
Kelly Ho
Elissa Gibson
Ciarra Ortiz
Simone Williams
Antonella Masini
Aiden Padilla
Emma Kelley
Nicholas Salvesen
Research Affiliates + Close Collaborators
Sunanda Sharma
Mehak Sarang
Becca Browder
Ari Melanciano
Cady Coleman
Ara Knaian
Ebru Kurbak
Aswin Karthik Ramachandran Venkatapathy
Paolo Nespoli
Leland Melvin
2021 Undergraduate Researchers
Our home base at the MIT Media Lab enjoys a unique academic structure, with over 25 deliberately different, cutting-edge research groups under the same roof. The Lab cultivates a collaborative research environment, with science, engineering, art, and design used together to invent new disciplines. Media Lab research is supported by governments, foundations, and over 60 member companies as diverse as retail, publishing, and pharmaceuticals. This environment brings a wealth of expertise and ideas to the SEI, in disciplines ranging from materials science to architecture, aerospace engineering to biological engineering, social robotics to social justice, and more.