Danielle Wood

“Danielle’s talent and dedication to using Earth observations to advance justice worldwide makes her an inspiration to all of us.”— Lawrence Friedl, Director of NASA’s Earth Applied Sciences Program

“How can a satellite be an instrument of justice?” asks space engineer, teacher, and scholar Danielle Wood. As Director of the MIT Media Lab’s Space Enabled program, Danielle considers how we can repurpose satellites, which we already use for cell phone and Internet service, to change the world for the better. Collaborating with local and national governments, non-profits, and entrepreneurial firms, Danielle and her team identify opportunities for space technology to improve sustainability, public services, and solve global problems. This includes working with NASA on advancing the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals or joining local scientists in Ghana to combat environmental threats.

Danielle serves as head of MIT’s Zero Robotics program, where middle and high school students code robots that are used on the International Space Station for future missions to Mars. She’s inspiring the next generation of great minds by giving them the access and resources to explore science, technology, engineering, and math through collaboration. She is committed to creating new opportunities for every student who is interested in STEM fields, securing the program a $1.18 million grant from NASA to increase the participation of Native and Hispanic students in STEM education.

Recently, Danielle was invited to speak before the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology for a hearing on Space Situational Awareness. There, she spoke about the nation’s role in achieving global sustainability on land, in the ocean, in the atmosphere, and in space, drawing from her work with the Space Enabled Lab, as well as with the Space Sustainability Rating—an initiative developed by The World Economic Forum to reduce debris and encourage responsible behavior in space—where she serves as a co-lead.

Her integral work is reflected in the multi-award-winning documentary Zero Gravity, directed by Thomas Verrette—a powerful and inspirational story of three diverse middle-school students and their teacher as they embark on a personal quest to challenge teams across the nation in a coding competition that sees them working on International Space Station satellites in real-time.

A scholar of societal development, Danielle’s background is a mix of research and hands-on creation, including satellite design, earth science applications, systems engineering, and technology policy. Prior to serving as faculty at MIT, Wood held positions at NASA Headquarters, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Aerospace Corporation, Johns Hopkins University, and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. A prolific MIT alum herself, Wood earned a PhD in engineering systems, SM in aeronautics and astronautics, SM in technology policy, and SB in aerospace engineering.

For her cutting-edge work on the relationship between space science, Earth observations, and justice, Danielle was inducted into the International Academy of Astronautics. “Space belongs to all countries,” she says. “Every country deserves equal opportunities to pursue scientific achievement for societal benefit.”