Julie Shah ’04, SM ’06, PhD ’11, the H.N. Slater Professor in Aeronautics and Astronautics, has been named the brand new head of the Division of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), efficient Could 1.

“Julie brings an distinctive report of visionary and interdisciplinary management to this position. She has made substantial technical contributions within the area of robotics and AI, significantly because it pertains to the way forward for work, and has bridged vital gaps within the social, moral, and financial implications of AI and computing,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT’s chief innovation and technique officer, dean of the Faculty of Engineering, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science.

Along with her position as a college member in AeroAstro, Shah served as affiliate dean of Social and Moral Duties of Computing within the MIT Schwarzman Faculty of Computing from 2019 to 2022, serving to launch a coordinated curriculum that engages greater than 2,000 college students a yr on the Institute. She at present directs the Interactive Robotics Group in MIT’s Pc Science and Synthetic Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), and MIT’s Industrial Efficiency Middle.

Shah and her crew on the Interactive Robotics Group conduct analysis that goals to think about the way forward for work by designing collaborative robotic teammates that improve human functionality. She is increasing using human cognitive fashions for synthetic intelligence and has translated her work to manufacturing meeting strains, health-care purposes, transportation, and protection. In 2020, Shah co-authored the favored guide “What to Anticipate When You’re Anticipating Robots,” which explores the way forward for human-robot collaboration.

As an skilled on how people and robots work together within the workforce, Shah was named co-director of the Work of the Future Initiative, a successor group of MIT’s Process Pressure on the Work of the Future, alongside Ben Armstrong, govt director and analysis scientist at MIT’s Industrial Efficiency Middle. In March of this yr, Shah was named a co-leader of the Working Group on Generative AI and the Work of the Future, alongside Armstrong and Kate Kellogg, the David J. McGrath Jr. Professor of Administration and Innovation. The group is analyzing how generative AI instruments can contribute to higher-quality jobs and inclusive entry to the most recent applied sciences throughout sectors.

Shah’s contributions as each a researcher and educator have been acknowledged with many awards and honors all through her profession. She was named an affiliate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 2017, and in 2018 she was the recipient of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Educational Early Profession Award. Shah was additionally named a Bisplinghoff College Fellow, was named to MIT Know-how Evaluation’s TR35 Listing, and acquired an NSF College Early Profession Growth Award. In 2013, her work on human-robot collaboration was included on MIT Know-how Evaluation’s record of 10 Breakthrough Applied sciences.

In January 2024, she was appointed to the first-ever AIAA Aerospace Synthetic Intelligence Advisory Group, which was based “to advance the suitable use of AI expertise significantly in aeronautics, aerospace R&D, and house.” Shah at present serves as editor-in-chief of Foundations and Traits in Robotics, as an editorial board member of the AIAA Progress Sequence, and as an govt council member of the Affiliation for the Development of Synthetic Intelligence.

A devoted educator, Shah has been acknowledged for her collaborative and supportive method as a mentor. She was honored by graduate college students as “Dedicated to Caring” (C2C) in 2019. For the previous 10 years, she has served as an advocate, group steward, and mentor for college students in her position as head of home of the Sidney Pacific Graduate Neighborhood.

Shah acquired her bachelor’s and grasp’s levels in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, and her PhD in autonomous methods, all from MIT. After receiving her doctoral diploma, she joined Boeing as a postdoc, earlier than returning to MIT in 2011 as a college member.

Shah succeeds Professor Steven Barrett, who has led AeroAstro as each interim division head after which division head since Could 2023.