Women in Aerospace

A pre-Leaps symposium for the next generation of technical leaders

MIT’s tribute of the legacy of Apollo focuses not just on the history of this project, but also on how we will embrace the great challenges and opportunities of our future. We will explore how aerospace has inspired the innovators of our past and present, and will how it can inspire the technical leaders of the next generation.

As part of our celebration, on April 2 and 3, 2009, we held a two-day Women in Aerospace symposium; an activity that we anticipate will become an annual MIT event. We invited 15 top women doctoral candidates from around the world to present their work, and network with each other and with invited leading professionals from academia, industry, and government.

The Women in Aerospace symposium was also the venue for the Aeronautics and Astronautics department’s annual Lester D. Gardner Lecture. Our April 2 speaker this year was Ms. Yvonne Brill, a veteran of 60 years in aerospace, a pioneer in space propulsion, and a revered mentor and role model for aspiring young women engineers.