Melissa Choi has been named the subsequent director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, efficient July 1. Currently assistant director of the laboratory, Choi succeeds Eric Evans, who will step down on June 30 after 18 years as director.
Sharing the information in a letter to MIT college and employees as we speak, Vice President for Research Ian Waitz famous Choi’s 25-year profession of “outstanding technical and advisory leadership,” each at MIT and in service to the protection neighborhood.
“Melissa has a marvelous technical breadth as well as excellent leadership and management skills, and she has presented a compelling strategic vision for the Laboratory,” Waitz wrote. “She is a thoughtful, intuitive leader who prioritizes communication, collaboration, mentoring, and professional development as foundations for an organizational culture that advances her vision for Lab-wide excellence in service to the nation.”
Choi’s appointment marks a brand new chapter in Lincoln Laboratory’s storied historical past working to maintain the nation protected and safe. As a federally funded analysis and growth middle operated by MIT for the Department of Defense, the laboratory has offered the federal government an impartial perspective on crucial science and know-how points of nationwide curiosity for greater than 70 years. Distinctive amongst nationwide R&D labs, the laboratory makes a speciality of each long-term system growth and fast demonstration of operational prototypes, to guard and defend the nation towards superior threats. In tandem with its function in creating know-how for nationwide safety, the laboratory’s integral relationship with the MIT campus neighborhood allows impactful partnerships on basic analysis, instructing, and workforce growth in crucial science and know-how areas.
“In a time of great global instability and fast-evolving threats, the mission of Lincoln Laboratory has never been more important to the nation,” says MIT President Sally Kornbluth. “It is also vital that the laboratory apply government-funded, cutting-edge technologies to solve critical problems in fields from space exploration to climate change. With her depth and breadth of experience, keen vision, and straightforward style, Melissa Choi has earned enormous trust and respect across the Lincoln and MIT communities. As Eric Evans steps down, we could not ask for a finer successor.”
Choi has served as assistant director of Lincoln Laboratory since 2019, with oversight of 5 of the Lab’s 9 technical divisions: Biotechnology and Human Systems, Homeland Protection and Air Traffic Control, Cyber Security and Information Sciences, Communication Systems, and ISR and Tactical Systems. Engaging deeply with the wants of the broader protection neighborhood, Choi served for six years on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, with a time period as vice chair, and was appointed to the DoD’s Threat Reduction Advisory Committee. She is presently a member of the nationwide Defense Science Board’s Permanent Subcommittee on Threat Reduction.
Having devoted her whole profession to Lincoln Laboratory, Choi says her lengthy tenure displays a dedication to the lab’s work and neighborhood.
“Through my career, I have been fortunate to have had incredibly innovative and motivated people to collaborate with as we solve critical national security challenges,” Choi says. “Continuing to work with such a strong, laboratory-wide team as director is one of the most exciting aspects of the job for me.”
Success by way of collaboration
Choi got here to Lincoln Laboratory as a technical employees member in 1999, with a doctoral diploma in utilized arithmetic. As she progressed to steer analysis groups, together with the Systems and Analysis Group after which the Active Optical Systems Group, Choi discovered the worth of pooling experience from researchers throughout the laboratory.
“I was able to shift between a lot of different projects very early on in my career, from radar systems to sensor networks. Because I wasn’t an expert at the time in any one of those fields, I learned to reach out to the many different experts at the laboratory,” Choi says.
Choi maintained that mindset by way of all of her roles on the laboratory, together with as head of the Homeland Protection and Air Traffic Control Division, which she led from 2014 and 2019. In that function, she helped carry collectively numerous know-how and human techniques experience to determine the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Group. Among different achievements, the group offered help to FEMA and different emergency response companies after the 2017 hurricane season prompted unprecedented flooding and destruction throughout swaths of Texas, Florida, the Caribbean, and Puerto Rico.
“We were able to rapidly prototype and field multiple technologies to help with the recovery efforts,” Choi says. “It was an amazing example of how we can apply our national security focus to other critical national problems.”
Outside of her technical and advisory achievements, Choi has made an affect at Lincoln Laboratory by way of her commitments to an inclusive office. In 2020, she co-led the examine “Preventing Discrimination and Harassment and Promoting an Inclusive Culture at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.” The work was half of a longstanding dedication to supporting colleagues within the office by way of in depth mentoring and participation in worker useful resource teams.
“I have felt a sense of belonging at the laboratory since the minute I came here, and I’ve had the benefit of support from leaders, mentors, and advocates since then. Improving support systems is very important to me,” says Choi, who would be the first lady to steer Lincoln Laboratory. “Everyone should be able to feel that they belong and can thrive.”
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Choi helped the laboratory navigate the disruptions — with its operations deemed important — which she says taught her so much about main by way of adversity.
“We solve hard problems at the laboratory all the time, but to get thrown into a problem that we had never seen before was a learning experience,” Choi says. “We saw the entire lab come together, from leadership to each of the divisions and departments.”
That synergy has additionally helped Choi type strategic partnerships inside and outdoors of the laboratory to boost its mission. Drawing on her information of the laboratory’s capabilities and its historical past of creating impactful techniques for NASA and NOAA, Choi just lately led the formation of a brand new Civil Space Systems and Technology Office.
“We were seeing this convergence between Department of Defense and civilian space initiatives, as going to the Moon, Mars, and the cislunar area [between the earth and moon] has become a big emphasis for the entire country generally,” Choi explains. “It seemed like a good time for us to pull those two sides together and grow our NASA portfolio. It gives us a great opportunity to collaborate with MIT centrally, and it ties in with our other strategic directions.”
Building on success
Choi believes her trajectory by way of the technical ranks of Lincoln Laboratory will assist her lead it now.
“That experience gives me a view into what it’s like at multiple levels of the laboratory,” Choi says. “I’ve seen what’s worked and what hasn’t worked, and I’ve learned from different perspectives and leadership styles. Strong leaders are crucial, but it’s important to recognize that the bulk of the work gets done by the technical, support, and administrative employees across our divisions, departments, and offices. Remembering being an early staff member helps you understand how hard and exciting the work is, and also how critical those contributions are for our mission.”
Choi says she can also be trying ahead to increasing the laboratory’s collaboration with MIT’s essential campus.
“So many areas, from AI to climate to space, have opportunity for us to come together,” Choi says. “We also have some great models of progress, like the Beaver Works Center or the Department of the Air Force – MIT Artificial Intelligence Accelerator program, that we can build from. Everyone here is very excited about doing that, and it will absolutely be a priority for me.”
Ultimately, Choi plans to steer Lincoln Laboratory utilizing the strategy that’s confirmed profitable all through her profession.
“I believe very much that I should not be the smartest person in the room, and I rely on the smart people working with me,” Choi says. “I’m part of a team and I work with a team to lead. That has always been my style: Set a vision and goals, and empower and support the people I work with to make decisions and build on that strategy.”