12/17/2008

Draper Identified as a Member of "Mystery Team" Competing for Google X Prize

Next Giant Leap (www.nextgiantleap.com) publically revealed itself at a press conference on Dec. 17 at NASA’s Ames Research center as the “Mystery Team” – the fourth team to register for the Google Lunar X-Prize. In addition to Draper, “Mystery Team” members include MicroSat Systems, MIT, Busek, and Aurora Flight Sciences. .

The Google-sponsored X-Prize competition was announced in the fall of 2007. To win, a privately funded team must be able to send a spacecraft to the moon, land safely, and then move at least 500 meters across the surface; while there, it must send high-resolution images and video back to Earth. Twelve teams are currently registered for the competition.

Press Release

12/03/2008

Draper's Work on a 3-D Endoscope Featured on Discovery Channel Online

View video: http://dsc.discovery.com/video/player.html?bctid=3643004001

Discovery Tech

12/03/2008

Sargent Named Fellow of AIAA

Draper Vice President of Programs Darryl Sargent was elected as one of the AIAA’s 2009 Fellows. According to the AIAA, “The distinction of Fellow is conferred by AIAA and its Board of Directors upon those members of the Institute who have made notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics or astronautics.” 

More Information

12/03/2008

Draper's Personal Navigation System Technology Featured on Discovery Channel Online

View video:  http://dsc.discovery.com/video/player.html?bctid=2468334001

Discovery Tech

11/13/2008

Draper Staff Members Receive NASA Group Achievement Award for Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle

Four members of the Draper technical staff supporting the development of NASA's Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle were recently recognized with a Group Achievement Award. 

Bob Brown, Nick Harrison, Roger Racine, and Gary Schwartz were selected as Draper recipients for the Ares I Avionics Reference Architecture Team and were recognized by NASA for "engineering excellence associated with analysis and development of the Ares I Avionics Reference Architecture."  The NASA Group Achievement Award is given in recognition of outstanding accomplishments which have been made through the coordination of individual efforts and has contributed substantially to the accomplishment of the NASA mission.

11/03/2008

Draper Part of MIT Team Developing Scaffolding for Engineered Heart Tissue

View full article: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn15101-honeycomb-to-mend-a-broken-heart.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

10/29/2008

Len Polizzotto Named 1 of 10 Tampa Bay Business Leaders to Watch

"Newcomer cutting-edge tech firms SRI of California and Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, Mass., claim ties to Stanford and MIT, respectively. But what they also have in common is Len Polizzotto, now Draper's head of business development. His roots can be found years ago at Polaroid where, as new business development chief, he helped lead the painful journey from a business model based on the quick-developing snapshot to the digital world. He was SRI vice president when that company negotiated economic development incentives from the city and state, leading to SRI putting down roots in St. Petersburg. Now at Draper, which has plans for both Hills­borough and Pinellas counties, Polizzotto's helping show off the company's technology, from robotics to microelectromechanical systems, at an open house this Tuesday (1-4 p.m.) and Wednesday (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) at USF, 3802 Spectrum Blvd. in Tampa."

View full article: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article860277.ece

10/09/2008

General John A. Gordon Elected as Chairman of the Board of Draper Laboratory

Cambridge, Mass. -- The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. announced today that General John A. Gordon (retired, U.S. Air Force) will be its new Chairman of the Board. He replaces retiring chairman Dr. John R. Kreick.  

Currently a private consultant, Gordon served as the President’s Homeland Security Advisor from June 2003 until June 2004. From June 2002 to June 2003 he was the Deputy National Security Advisor for Counter Terrorism and the National Director for Counter Terrorism for the National Security Council.  Prior to these White House appointments, he was the first administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration and Under Secretary of Energy, responsible for the entirety of the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

As an Air Force four-star general, he was the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from October 1997 until June 2000. Gordon’s 32-year Air Force career included significant concentration on research and development, strategic planning, missile and space operations, intergovernmental operations, and international negotiations.

“John has a remarkable depth and breadth of experience across the spectrum of national security and a strong technical background. We look forward to the insight and perspective he will be able to provide to Draper in the coming years,” said Draper President & CEO Jim Shields.

Gordon holds a B.S.  in Physics from the University of Missouri (1968), an M.S. in Physics from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (1970), and an M.A. in Business Administration from New Mexico Highlands University(1972).

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit engineering research and development laboratory dedicated to serving the national interest in applied research, engineering development, advanced technical education, and technology transfer. Areas of technology development include guidance, navigation, and control: inertial, strategic and tactical systems; miniature low-power systems; information & decision systems; complex, reliable systems; and biomedical engineering.

09/12/2008

Draper Laboratory and Employees Honored for Philanthropy Sept. 5, 2008

Draper employees were recognized as the tenth most generous in Massachusetts based on their charitable payroll deductions in 2007 by the Boston Business Journal (BBJ). In a separate ranking Draper Laboratory was recognized by the BBJ at its Corporate Citizenship Summit on Sept. 5, 2008, as one of the area's largest corporate charitable contributors based on donations made in Draper fiscal year 2007.

BBJ compiled its list of most generous employees in Massachusetts by comparing total employee charitable payroll deductions in 2007 for philanthropic organizations in Massachusetts from employees in Massachusetts. The deductions by Draper employees that fit the criteria for BBJ's survey were for United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley (UWMBMV); deductions directed to other United Way organizations, deductions by Lab employees outside Massachusetts, and donations to UWMBMV made by check or cash did not qualify for inclusion in BBJ's formula. By BBJ's calculations, during 2007 charitable payroll deductions by Draper employees in Massachusetts averaged $166.

Ranked by cash donations during 2007, Draper Lab placed #72 out of 78 in a list published in a supplement to the Sept. 5-11 issue of the Boston Business Journal. To be included in the list, companies had to have contributed at least $100,000 to Massachusetts nonprofit agencies in their 2007 fiscal years. Draper Laboratory's corporate cash contributions in DFY07 totaled $168,150. Included in that total was $125,000 disbursed through Draper's Corporate Contributions Program; a $10,000 grant to the Math, Science and Technology Initiative of the UWMBMV; Draper's in-kind donations; and other contributions made within the state of Massachusetts.

09/12/2008

Trevejo Honored as One of 20 on the Move by Boston Business Journal & El Planeta

Jose Trevejo has been named one of 20 on the Move by Boston Business Journal and El Planeta through their inaugural awards recognizing Hispanic executives making a difference in Boston. The recipients will be honored at an event on Oct. 17, 2008. Trevejo, a physician researcher, is the principal investigator for the rapid and sensitive Tuberculosis Diagnosis Project at Draper Laboratory’s Biomedical Engineering Center. He and his team are developing a portable device to detect TB metabolites in sputum and perform diagnostic analysis in the field, particularly in resource-poor settings around the globe. This project is funded in part by the World Health Organization, Draper’s internal research and development program, and private industry. Trevejo holds a joint appointment at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he sees patients in the infectious disease clinic.

Trevejo makes time to mentor and encourage Hispanics and other members of minority groups to pursue careers in medicine, science, and engineering. With the Northeastern University biology student he currently is mentoring, Trevejo will represent Draper at the national conference of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science in October. He serves on Draper’s Diversity Team, working closely with the director of Draper’s Education Office to attract minority students to the Draper Laboratory Fellow Program for graduate students. Previously in his career and education, Trevejo actively supported such diversity outreach activities at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

For more information about 20 on the Move, visit http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2008/08/25/daily21.html

Press Release: click here

08/26/2008

Draper Laboratory Names Elizabeth Mora as New Vice President for Finance & Administration

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., has selected Elizabeth (Beth) Mora as its new Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer. In this role, Mora will be responsible for all financial, contracts, legal, security, facilities and information technology activities of the Laboratory. She will report to President & CEO Jim Shields.

Mora was most recently the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President for Finance at Harvard University, where she was responsible for overseeing the university’s $3 billion operating budget and coordinating the financial affairs of Harvard’s eleven schools. In her more than decade long career at Harvard, she was also the Associate Vice President, Research Administration and the Director of the Office of Sponsored Research, where she was responsible for all management, financial and compliance matters for over 7,000 research grants totaling over $650 million. Prior to joining Harvard, Beth was one of the founding members of Coopers and Lybrand’s national regulatory consulting practice (now Pricewaterhouse Coopers).

“Beth brings to Draper the experiences from a very successful career,” said Shields. “She is very familiar with the contract research and government compliance aspects of our business in addition to being a seasoned finance professional."

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit engineering research and development laboratory dedicated to serving the national interest in applied research, engineering development, advanced technical education, and technology transfer. Areas of technology development include guidance, navigation, and control: inertial, strategic and tactical systems; miniature low-power systems; information & decision systems; complex, reliable systems; and biomedical engineering.

08/25/2008

MEMS-based Device Proposed By Draper Researchers Could Improve Bioartificial Kidney Technology

Jeff Borenstein, director of Draper’s Biomedical Engineering Center, and Eli Weinberg, a former Draper Fellow, are authors of a new study proposing a MEMS-based bioartificial device that could replicate the function of a single nephron. Their design could present a large improvement in bioartificial kidney technology.

Read study: Click here

08/11/2008

Bedrossian Receives NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal

In the past, large angle rotations of the International Space Station (ISS) have required significant usage of propellant. A 180 degree maneuver of the space station could use over 100 pounds of propellant at a cost of about $10,000 per pound. Dr. Nazareth Bedrossian, a Group Leader for Manned Space Systems at Draper, knew that this was an area where NASA could use his help.

Enter the Zero Propellant Maneuver (ZPM), a technique to rotate the ISS without using the stations thrusters and consuming propellant. "I had three Draper Laboratory Fellows work with me on this over the years and an opportunity arrived where they had to rotate the station," said Bedrossian, who recently was honored by NASA with an Exceptional Public Service Medal. "It was a Draper invented capability. We convinced them to try it out and they tried it out twice - first in November 2006 and then in March 2007."

The first flight demonstration rotated the station by 90 degrees and the second by 180 degrees. ZPM was developed by Bedrossian and Sagar Bhatt, a graduate student supported under the Draper Laboratory Fellow program, in collaboration with Dr. Yin Zhang, a professor of computational and applied mathematics at Rice University. ZPM is a new attitude control concept that takes advantage of the orbital environment - gravity and aerodynamics - to perform maneuvers with the ISS Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs). It has demonstrated how a non-propulsive maneuver can be accomplished using system dynamics. NASA describes it as being similar to the way a sailboat would tack against the wind.

Bedrossian, who has been involved in spacecraft simulation development, control system design and verification for over 15 years at Draper, is recognized by his colleagues as both a bright mind and a generous mentor for the next generation of aerospace engineers. "ZPM typifies Nazareth's ability to have an innovative technical solution and have it applied to a flight program and train the next generation of engineers," says Seamus Tuohy, Draper's Space Programs Director. By reducing propellant consumption, Tuohy notes that ZPM will allow for less stress on the ISS supply and logistics chain. The maneuver also avoids the solar array plume impingement and contamination issues associated with thruster firings.

Bedrossian has not had an easy road to success. He was born and raised in Cyprus, which was invaded by Turkey in 1974. Bedrossian was living in refugee camps before immigrating to the US as a teenager in 1977.

Upon arriving in the States, he lived with an uncle in northern Virginia while working and taking classes. Just as he was getting settled in his new country, another obstacle arrived. Bedrossian had contracted Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system. He had to undergo chemotherapy and it took a year for him to recuperate.

Once he was healthy, Bedrossian fit everything he owned in his car and went to Florida to join friends. He hoped to gain admittance to the University of Florida but was not accepted the first time he applied; the school suggested that he attend community college and then transfer. His persistence ultimately paid off. After a year and a half of community college, Bedrossian was accepted by the University of Florida. He graduated with high honors in 1984, earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

The next step would be graduate school and Bedrossian was accepted by both MIT and Stanford. However, no scholarships were available, posing yet another challenge. "I stayed in Florida in 1985, looking for funding, and then I took a trip up to MIT to visit some professors and see if there were any TA positions available," said Bedrossian. "Most of them didn't have anything. However, one professor, Warren Seering, said there's a place called Draper that offers support for graduate students under the Draper Laboratory Fellow program, and maybe you ought to apply to them."

Bedrossian visited Draper and talked with a number of staff, including current Vice President of Programs Darryl Sargent. He was ultimately awarded a Draper Laboratory Fellow appointment and began working at the lab during the summer of 1985. Even the move to Boston had an inauspicious start. "Darryl likes to tell the story about how I came up there. Housing wasn't available and for two weeks I lived in a campsite in Littleton, a KOA," said Bedrossian. "It was pretty fun. I enjoyed it there, sleeping in a tent."

Bedrossian earned his Masters and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. "Essentially, Draper paid for school. You can't get a better deal than that," said Bedrossian. "I also worked a couple summers as staff. That was actually nice earning extra money." Once he finished his PhD work, Bedrossian became a full-time staff member. He moved to Houston in late 1991, working for Sargent's Space Systems group.

As NASA acknowledges his public service, Bedrossian is still making vital contributions to the agency and its future plans. Project Constellation, which aims to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020, is relying upon a new generation of rockets - Ares I, which will carry astronauts into space aboard an Apollo-like capsule, and Ares V, an unmanned heavy-lift cargo ship. Draper is designing the controller to fly this next generation of NASA rockets. Bedrossian serves as task leader for the Ares I launch vehicle attitude control design and Draper is helping the Marshall Space Flight Center design avionics and flight software for the platform. The technical challenges are daunting. Ares I has a long, slender body - the ratio of height to body diameter is 18:1 - which will actually bend as it moves in flight. "It's a very flexible, tall body that you need to steer," says Tuohy.  Bedrossian is applying his knowledge in control of flexible structures to keep the Ares 1 stable during its flight.

As always, Bedrossian is focused on both his projects and what is being done to prepare the next generation of aerospace engineers. In 1998, he established a Draper Laboratory Fellow program at Rice University in Houston and the program has been a huge success with 13 graduates. For 2008, the program has 7 fellows.

And Bedrossian hasn't stopped there. He is looking to soon establish a fellow program at Draper's new location in Huntsville, Alabama. "The Draper Laboratory Fellow program provides another means by which Draper serves the national interest by developing the next generation of guidance, navigation and control talent," said Bedrossian, who is now giving back to the program which offered him such a tremendous opportunity.

07/28/2008

Draper Laboratory to Establish Bio MEMS R&D Center and Multi Chip Module Center in Tampa Bay

Cambridge, Mass. --The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., announced today that it will be establishing a BioMEMS R&D Center at the University of South Florida in Tampa and a Multi Chip Module (MCM) Center in St. Petersburg. These facilities will enable Draper to better meet the needs of its customers for advanced, highly complex MCMs and to further its achievements in the biomedical arena.
 “These centers will provide an excellent opportunity for Draper Laboratory to further its work in developing technology solutions to some of the nation’s most critical problems in healthcare, security, and energy,” said Draper President & CEO James D. Shields. “We look forward to working with USF, the Tampa Bay Partnership, Cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, Progress Energy, and the economic development team in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and the State of Florida in executing our mission to serve the national interest.”

Between these two facilities, Draper will create 165 new high wage jobs. Furthering the educational aspect of its mission, Draper will sponsor two Draper Lab Fellows (DLFs) at USF each year, paying for their graduate education and co-advising their thesis research.

BioMEMS R&D Center
The BioMEMS R&D Center will be working in partnership with USF and its medical school for the application of MEMS technologies to medical and biological problems. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are miniature mechanical devices built using semiconductor manufacturing techniques. MEMS components measure 1 to 100 micrometers -- the average human hair is 50 micrometers in diameter. BioMEMS applications include diagnostic tools, surgical instruments, tissue repair, artificial organs, and drug delivery systems. BioMEMS technologies could address pressing global challenges ranging from the detection of infectious disease to the organ shortage.

“We’re thrilled at the opportunity to work with the people of the University of South Florida to develop BioMEMS-based solutions for critical problems in healthcare,” said Dale Larson, Draper’s director of biomedical engineering.

Multi Chip Module Facility
The Multi Chip Module (MCM) pilot facility in St. Petersburg will allow Draper to meet the increasing demand from its government customers for highly complex, technologically advanced systems in small packages. Multi chip modules are specialized electronic packages where multiple integrated circuits, semiconductor dies and other components work together. Through this integration, MCMs dramatically reduce the size and weight of complex electronic systems.

“For applications in which size and weight are at a premium, this is the best technology available,” said Paul Rosenstrach, Draper’s special operations director.

Draper Laboratory as Collaborator
The USF relationship will extend Draper’s practice of partnering with academic institutions and medical research organizations. Draper is a founding member of the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT), joining organizations such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and many others.

Click below for additional information:
http://www.flgov.com/release/10126

http://www.draper.com/mems_background/

07/15/2008

Jose Trevejo, M.D., Chats Online with Discovery Editor: "Diagnosing TB Via a Breath Analyzer"

Click below for full story:
http://dsc.discovery.com/technology/im/diagnos-tuberculosis-trevejo.html

07/09/2008

Robert Seamans, 89: NASA Administrator During Apollo Era Was A Protégé of Charles Stark Draper

Robert C. Seamans Jr., a leading NASA administrator during the Apollo program and former Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, died on June 28 at his home in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. He was 89.

Seamans, a graduate student of Doc Draper and teaching assistant for him at MIT in the 1940s and 1950s, maintained close ties to his mentor and the Draper Laboratory throughout his life. He became a Member of the Corporation in 1973, served on the Board of Directors from 1973-1974 and 1977-1978, and became a Member Emeritus in 1988.

Dr. Seamans was a 1939 engineering graduate of Harvard University, and earned a master’s degree in aeronautics from MIT in 1942. He completed his doctorate in instrumentation (guidance equipment) in 1951, with Draper supervising his work. During the 1950s, Seamans taught aeronautical engineering at MIT and also entered the private sector from 1955-1960, serving as chief engineer of RCA’s Airborne Systems Lab and Missile and Controls Division.  

Seamans became NASA’s associate administrator in 1960 and was instrumental in helping put men on the moon and return them safely to Earth during the Project Apollo effort. He and Doc Draper remained in close contact during this time. Draper even approached him about becoming an astronaut. “Following up our various conversations of recent days, I would like to formally volunteer for service as a crew member on the Apollo mission to the moon, and also for whatever suborbital and orbital flights that may be made in preparation for the lunar trip,” wrote Draper to Seamans in a letter dated November 21, 1961. “I realize that my age of 60 years is a negative factor in considering my request, but General Don Flickinger tells me that this is no sure bar to my selection as a crew member. I will gladly undergo any physical examinations and tests that may be prescribed and will take any courses of training that may be recommended.”  

Doc Draper further believed that by volunteering, he would show his utmost confidence in the Apollo guidance work that the Instrumentation Laboratory was performing for NASA. “If I am willing to hang my life on our equipment, the whole project will surely have the strongest possible motivation and discussions of general design and details will be most responsible to my inputs,” wrote Draper.

Replying shortly thereafter, Seamans assured Draper that he would bring his request  to the attention of the right people. “It is most reassuring to have the Instrumentation Laboratory working with us on the Apollo project and the tremendous value of your own personal interest is most appreciated,” wrote Seamans. While NASA did not ultimately take Doc Draper up on his offer to fly to the moon, the Instrumentation Laboratory delivered on its promise of building a top notch guidance and navigation system.

During an interview conducted with Seamans in December 1987, he recalled the reaction of then NASA administrator James E. Webb to Doc Draper’s offer. Doc “always found it was important that the people who designed and developed equipment had a chance to use it, and they were there at the time it was first being used, and (he said) he was available to go on the first lunar trip,” recalled Seamans. “I took this (letter) in and showed it to Webb, and he thought it was terrific. As far as he was concerned, he was going to go over and see the President and say, ‘There may be some scientists in the country that aren’t for the program, but here’s one that’s not only for it, he wants to go.’”

After leaving NASA in 1968, Seamans returned to his alma mater of MIT and served as a visiting professor. But he returned to government shortly thereafter, becoming the ninth secretary of the Air Force in 1969. During his four year tenure, he helped push for new Air Force weapons systems even as the US was withdrawing from Vietnam and military spending was being reduced. In 1974, he transitioned to another government post, becoming the first administrator of the new Energy Research and Development Administration.

From 1978 until his retirement in 1984, Dr. Seamans served as dean of MIT’s engineering school. Even after his retirement, Seamans would return to the classroom to teach freshman seminars in aeronautics. He was active right up until his death – as recently as two weeks ago, Seamans was playing tennis and looking forward to trips on his sailboat.

There will be a memorial service at a time to be announced at Harvard’s Memorial Church. 

07/08/2008

Draper's Work Supporting NASA-Funded Mars Soil Research Highlighted in Mass High Tech

The University of Vermont, Tufts University and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory are getting their hands dirty in the Martian soil and dust to determine what, if anything, once may have lived on the red planet — and who might live there yet.

Click below for full story:
http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2008/06/30/weekly12-Mars-plane,-anti-dust-tech-follow-NASA-grants.html

06/30/2008

Jana Schwartz Awarded National Reconnaissance Office Fellowship

Jana Schwartz has been awarded a 2008-2009 Technology Fellowship from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). During this one year assignment which begins July 1, she will work to develop a system for evaluating the synergistic operations of overhead sensors. She also will participate in the Technology Fellows Enrichment Program, gaining knowledge of government operations through tours of government facilities, prime contractor facilities, national laboratories, and visits with military customers. The NRO Tech Fellows Program supports the development of future technology leaders and aims to stimulate industry participation in the R&D areas critical to NRO and the intelligence community. This is the second year a Draper engineer has participated in the program, with Technical Staff Member Dorothy Poppe serving as a Fellow during 2007-2008. Poppe’s project involved the evaluation and analysis of specific satellite constellations.

06/03/2008

Draper Laboratory Fellow Jason Furtado Wins MIT 2008 Reintjes Award

Draper Fellow Jason Furtado (left) received the Reintjes Award from MIT Prof. Joel Schindall during the EECS Annual Spring Fling and Awards Presentation held May 18, 2008, at the MIT Museum. Photo provided by Patricia Sampson of MIT.

Draper Fellow Jason Furtado received the J. Francis Reintjes Excellence in VI-A Industrial Practice Award on May 18, 2008. It was presented during the MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Annual Spring Fling and Awards Presentation, held at the MIT Museum. The award is presented to students in VI-A who have demonstrated “outstanding performance” in a VI-A work assignment and/or “exceptional quality” in a master’s of engineering thesis performed at a company affiliated with the VI-A program.

The award is named after a past director of the MIT EECS VI-A M.Eng. Thesis Program with Industry. Winners are selected by a VI-A Awards Committee organized by the VI-A director. Furtado split this year’s $1,000 award with Doris Lin, who works at Analog Devices.

The EECS curriculum is also known as course 6 at MIT, from which arises the name of the VI-A program. This EECS program enrolls undergraduate students who plan to pursue MIT’s master of engineering degree. It places undergraduate students at affiliated companies, where they start as interns; once they begin the master’s program, the students start work on their thesis projects at the companies.

Furtado began work at Draper as an undergraduate in 2005 under the supervision of Autonomous Mission Control Group Leader Lauren Kessler. Furtado’s MIT advisor and Kessler nominated him for the award. Kessler describes Furtado as “highly innovative, attentive to detail, and has a strong sense of perspective.”

Furtado’s thesis research at the Lab has focused on helping to design the Human Interactive Mission Manager (HIMM). This software will enable people to intervene in real time as mission planning is being performed autonomously by control software. Although the default state of a system to which this software is applied would be autonomous, the software would allow for human supervisory control and immediate intervention in case a problem was identified. In a letter to the VI-A director recommending Furtado for the Reintjes Award, Kessler wrote that his “software design and implementation for the Human-Interactive Mission Manager are both elegant and creative, and will be extended into the precision lunar landing technology program at NASA.”

According to Furtado his work at Draper allowed him to apply his technical knowledge to a real-world project. Commenting on his receipt of the Reintjes Award, Furtado said he is honored that Kessler and his MIT advisor took the time to nominate him and that the award “was a nice ending to my time as a Draper Fellow.”

05/28/2008

Draper's microfluidic work featured in Technology Review, May 23

"Microfiltering Sepsis: A microfluidic device may effectively filter out pathogens that trigger septic shock" discusses Draper's miniature filtration device that can clear infectious agents from blood in the case of sepsis.  This work is being developed under funding from CIMIT and in collaboration with Children's Hospital. Draper PI Jason Fiering, Jeff Borenstein, Mark Mescher, Mathew Varghese (formerly of Draper), and three co-inventors from Children's Hospital have a patent application pending.

Click below for full story:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/20816/

05/01/2008

Jana Schwartz profiled in Diversity/Careers in Engineering Magazine April/May 2008 Issue

Draper Engineer Jana Schwartz was profiled in Diversity/Careers in Engineering Magazine, in an article discussing careers in the aerospace and defense industries.

Click below for full story:
http://www.diversitycareers.com/articles/pro/08-aprmay/chg_tech_aero_defense.htm

04/23/2008

Draper is Member of Two Teams Selected by DARPA for Vulture Air Vehicle Program

Draper Laboratory will be part of two of the three teams selected by DARPA to complete Phase1 concept development of an unmanned aerial system that will be able to stay aloft for five years. 

Draper will be part of the Aurora Flight Systems’ team developing a design called “Odysseus” and a separate team led by Boeing.  DARPA has awarded a third Phase 1 contract to Lockheed Martin.

The Vulture program’s objective is to create an aircraft with “pseudo-satellite” capabilities that can carry a 1,000-pound, 5-kilowatt payload and is able to stay airborne for an uninterrupted period of at least five years while maintaining its on-station position 99 percent of the time.

According to DARPA, a system able to remain on station for five years could have utility in a variety of missions such as communications relay, surveillance and reconnaissance, and signals intelligence.

Click below for full stories:
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q2/080421d_nr.html

http://www.darpa.mil/body/news/2008/vulture.pdf

http://www.aurora.aero/Communications/Item.aspx?id=apr-210

04/18/2008

Director of Biomedical Engineering Center profiled in Mass High Tech

Dale Larson's diverse career path profiled in April 18th issue.

Click below for full story:
http://masshightech.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2008/04/21/newscolumn1.html

02/27/2008

Draper part of MIT-led team to create gecko-inspired adhesive bandage for surgical use

The biodegradable bandage has the same kind of nanoscale hills and valleys that allow the lizards to cling to walls and ceilings. A thin coating of glue is layered over this to help the bandage stick in wet environments. Draper was responsible for fabricating the nanomolds involved in the work, which is described in the Feb. 11 online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Click below for full stories:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/adhesive-0218.html

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/short/105/7/2307

02/27/2008

DARPA Urban Challenge article in National Defense includes Draper Engineer

National Defense Magazine’s article, “Robots Ger Smarter, But Who Will Buy Them?” about applying the technology developed for the DARPA Urban Challenge to commercial and military applications quotes Draper engineer Paul DeBitetto.

Click here for full story:
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2008/March/RobotsGet.htm

02/27/2008

Draper’s Tissue Engineering Work Featured in National Defense Magazine

Draper’s Tissue Engineering Work was featured in Grace Jean’s “Inside Science & Technology” column in the March issue of National Defense Magazine.

Click here for full story: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2008/March/SciTech.htm

02/21/2008

Fuhrman Honored with New England Achievement Award by National Engineers Week Committee of Boston

Draper’s Education Department Director Linda Fuhrman was the recipient of the New England Achievement Award 2008 by the National Engineers Week Committee of Boston at the 51st Annual National Engineers Week Awards Luncheon, held Feb. 15, 2008.

The New England Achievement Award recognizes outstanding achievement in advancing engineering in New England and fostering measurable and beneficial change. In a letter to Fuhrman notifying her of her selection as the award winner, Co-chair of Boston NEW Katie Moulton wrote, “We feel that you are very deserving of this award through your great efforts at both Draper Lab and JPL, balancing your design projects with community, and particularly educational, outreach. You were selected because you are an inspiration to other engineers, displaying both dedication and excellence in your technical work and your commitment to professional societies and your community.”

The citation presented to Fuhrman reads, “Ms. Fuhrman has been active in public education and outreach about science and engineering throughout her career, and has participated at the local, regional, and national levels in efforts to advance science, technology, engineering, and math education. As Director of Education at Draper Laboratory, she has worked with students, science teachers, guidance counselors, and other groups to promote technical education, and raise awareness of aerospace as a career through discussing her own work and NASA’s current space exploration programs.”

Fuhrman spoke briefly about what inspired her into engineering when accepting her award. Citing the people who influenced her interest in engineering, she encouraged audience members to share their enthusiasm for engineering with youth to cultivate the next generation of engineers.

Draper Laboratory was a gold sponsor for 2008 NEW Boston, and participated in the NEW Boston Students’ Career Fair, held Feb. 14.

01/07/2008

2008 Draper Prize to be Awarded to Rudolf Kalman for his development of the Kalman Filter

Rudolf Kalman will receive the prestigious Charles Stark Draper Prize -- a $500,000 annual award that honors engineers whose accomplishments have significantly benefited society -- "for the development and dissemination of the optimal digital technique (known as the Kalman Filter) that is pervasively used to control a vast array of consumer, health, commercial, and defense products."

Read full article:
http://www.nae.edu/nae/awardscom.nsf/weblinks/JMAN-7A4HZV?OpenDocument

12/20/2007

Draper Works with MIT towards a Method for Engineering Blood Vessels

Using Draper’s microfabrication technology, MIT and Draper scientists have found a way to induce cells to form parallel tube-like structures that could potentially function as tiny engineered blood vessels.  Engineered vessels could one day be transplanted into tissues such as the kidneys, liver, heart or any other organs that require large amounts of vascular tissues.

By growing endothelial progenitor cells on a silicone elastomer substrate molded from a Draper-fabricated nanopatterned master wafer, scientists have been able to control the cell’s development—creating elongated capillary-like tubes that form along the ridges and grooves of the template.

A paper on the work was posted in an online issue of Advanced Materials. Draper Laboratory Graduate Student Fellow, Chris Bettinger, was lead author of the paper, along with Jeffrey Borenstein, director of Draper’s Biomedical Engineering Center; Robert Langer and Zhitong Zhang of MIT; and Sharon Gerecht of Johns Hopkins University.
For more information, see the article posted by the MIT News Office.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/vascular-1217.html

12/20/2007

President Jim Shields is one of nine CEO's featured in R&D Magazine's annual article, "Challenges and Opportunities in the World of Independent Research"

Challenges Opportunities in the World of Independent Research: Contract research organizations see a strong future for their style of R&D.

For the ninth consecutive year, the editors of R&D Magazine interviewed the chief executive officers of the leading independent research and development laboratories in North America to determine the issues and challenges confronting these long-standing supporters of R&D.

See PDF for full article.

11/30/2007

Draper Part of the Team Selected for CIMIT’s Kennedy Award for Healthcare Innovation

Boston, Mass., Nov. 13---Draper Laboratory was part of a large team of researchers and medical professionals to receive the Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology (CIMIT) 2007 Kennedy Award for Healthcare Innovation for the Medical PnP program (known as Plug-and-Play).

Plug-and-Play, led by Dr. Julian Goldman of Massachusetts General Hospital, was established in 2004 to create open standards, and develop technology to ensure interoperability and communication of various electrical and digital medical device systems in operating rooms and other hospital areas. Plug-and-Play will ultimately improve patient safety and healthcare efficiency, because networked medical device systems will support the widespread clinical use of the same medical data, and enable medical device integration to produce complete and accurate electronic health records, create error-resistant systems, and reduce healthcare costs.

Plug-and-Play is a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary program sponsored by a number of government and commercial sponsors. As part of this effort, Draper recently has teamed with Live Data on a Small Business Innovative Research grant awarded by the Telemedicine and Advanced Technologies Research Center to develop a system for coordinating the operation of medical-electrical devices in a patient-centric clinical environment. Draper will collaborate with clinicians and biomedical engineers to develop context-sensitive decision support and device management software.

Dr. John Parrish, founder and director of CIMIT, said of the team, “[They] are to be commended for both their scientific and organizational work. Their effort will likely benefit many institutions, and that means better care for patients.”

11/14/2007

MIT/Draper Team Places Fourth in 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge

Victorville, Calif. --- The MIT DARPA Urban Challenge team, of which Draper was a member, placed fourth in the Urban Challenge finals held Nov. 3.

According to the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) event brochure, competing vehicles had to autonomously complete a complex 60-mile
urban course with live traffic in less than 6 hours. Vehicles were entirely under the control of their onboard mission computer--observers were only allowed to intervene for the purposes of safety. The driving capabilities of the vehicles had to meet the same standards required to pass the California DMV road test. Of the 11 finalists competing, only six finished the course.

Seven of the MIT team members had Draper ties; three were Draper engineers, and four were Draper summer students.  The Draper team members led system engineering, vehicle integration & test, and navigation analysis efforts. Their participation was funded through the Lab’s Internal Research and Development program.

The 2007 Urban Challenge drew an initial pool of 89 entrants, of which 35 progressed after the first event. The qualifying rounds whittled the field to the 11 finalists.

This year’s contest was the first DARPA challenge that Draper or MIT participated in. The three teams that placed ahead of the MIT team all had participated in previous DARPA competitions for robotic vehicles.

DARPA’s goal for the Urban Challenge is to accelerate the development of autonomous ground vehicle technology that can someday be used to save lives on the battlefield. It also is designed to inspire youth to pursue careers in science, technology, and engineering.

11/07/2007

Draper Laboratory names Linda Fuhrman as new Director of Education

Cambridge, Mass. --- Draper Laboratory has named Linda Robeck Fuhrman, aeronautical engineer and space science program manager, as its new education director. Fuhrman will oversee all of the Lab’s education programs. This includes the Draper Fellow program in which engineering and science graduate students perform their thesis research at Draper while earning their degree at a partnering university. She also will be responsible for University relations; identifying and developing partnerships with a variety of advanced educational institutions and consortia to promote and advance technical education.

Fuhrman joined Draper in 2002 after more than 10 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , and most recently held the position of Space Science Program Manager for Draper’s Space Systems program office. She holds an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford and a S.B. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. 

Fuhrman has been active in public education and outreach about science and engineering throughout her career, and has given numerous public lectures at museums, conferences, and schools.  She has received many awards, including six NASA Group Achievement Awards; the “Hero of Public Service” award from the Partnership for Trust in Government; and the iVillage.com “Eighteen Women Who Will Rule the World” award.  She was designated an Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Advancement of Engineering in 2000, and was named one of ten “Women to Watch in Science and Engineering” by Mass High Tech in 2006. This year she was honored with a Shining Star Award at Draper Laboratory for her work in educational outreach. She holds memberships in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Society of Women Engineers, and Association of Women in Science.

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit, research and development laboratory, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Primarily focused on applied development for the Department of Defense and NASA, Draper’s mission is to serve the national interest in applied research, engineering, development, education and technology transfer. Key technology areas include guidance, navigation, and control; precision weapons; information management and decision systems; autonomous systems; reliable, fault-tolerant embedded software; miniature, low-power electronic and mechanical systems; and biomedical engineering.

11/02/2007

Corporate Communications and Community Relations Director Kathleen Granchelli honored with Children's Champion Award

Kathleen Granchelli, second from left

Draper Laboratory’s Corporate Communications and Community Relations Director Kathleen Granchelli was honored with a Children's Champion Award by Tutoring Plus of Cambridge, Inc. at its 4th Annual Celebration, held Oct. 26, 2007. Also receiving a Children's Champion Award was Robin Harris, principal of the Fletcher Maynard Academy in Cambridge.

In a profile of Granchelli's work in the community printed in the event program, Tutoring Plus cited her work on various Cambridge Chamber of Commerce committees and with the Kendall Community Group, a collaboration of which Draper is a founding member.

In her remarks following presentation of her award, Granchelli noted that Tutoring Plus was one of the first agencies to receive a grant from Draper's Contributions Program when it was formalized in 1985. To date, Draper has donated more than $84,000 to the agency through its Contributions Program or through the Kendall Community Group. She expressed appreciation for the support of Draper's management, and the employees who volunteer for helping to facilitate Draper's educational outreach.

10/07/2007

New Director and Members Elected to the Corporation of Draper Laboratory

Cambridge, Massachusetts—President & CEO James D. Shields announced that one new director and six new members were elected to Draper’s corporation at the research and development organization’s annual meeting of the corporation on Oct. 3. “I am pleased with the depth of experience that these distinguished leaders in industry, government, and academia bring to the Draper Corporation,” said Shields. “They will contribute expertise in defense, intelligence, public policy, finance, and selected industries to the governance of the Laboratory and help guide us in the continued development of Draper’s traditional business areas as well as in newer initiatives in geospatial systems, energy, and biomedical engineering.”

Dr. George M. Milne, Jr., Venture Partner of Radius Ventures, LLC and former Vice President of Research & Development for Pfizer, Inc., was elected a director.

Joining the corporation as members are:

	Wendy Abt, President, WPA, Inc., a specialized investment management company, and former Managing General Partner of the Kellett Group;
	Dr. Wanda M. Austin, President & CEO Elect, The Aerospace Corporation, former Senior Vice President of Aerospace’s National Systems Group, and former member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board;
	Dennis Fitzgerald, Former Principal Deputy Director, National Reconnaissance Office, and former Deputy Director of the CIA’s Office of Research and Development;
	Lena G. Goldberg, Executive Vice President, Strategic Corporate Initiatives, Fidelity Investments, former General Counsel of Fidelity Investments, and former Partner and a Member of the management committee at Sullivan & Worcester;
	Sherwin Greenblatt, Director, MIT Venture Mentoring Service, former President of the Bose Corporation, and former Executive Vice President and Treasurer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
	Franklin C. Miller, Vice President, The Cohen Group, member of the U.S. Strategic Command Advisory Group, and former Acting Assistant Secretary for International Security Policy for the Department of Defense;
	Dr. M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, Professor & Chair, Department of Management Science & Engineering, Stanford University, and a past President of the Society of Risk Analysis.

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit, research and development organization dedicated to serving the national interest in applied research, engineering development, advanced technical education, and technology transfer. Business is focused in strategic, tactical, and geospatial systems, special operations, biomedical engineering for clinical and defense applications, and energy solutions to meet challenges of safety, security, and efficiency.

09/26/2007

Draper Laboratory President & CEO Jim Shields receives Mission Patch from NASA Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria

NASA Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria (right) presents a Mission Patch commemorating his International Space Station Flight, Expedition 14, to Draper Laboratory President & CEO Jim Shields on Sept. 17.  Lopez-Alegria was at the Lab to talk about his experiences living and working in space, then toured the facility and heard presentations from Draper staff about the Lab's space systems work being conducted for NASA.

View "Living and Working on the ISS" presentation by NASA Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria

08/17/2007

Retired Head of Draper Laboratory's Scientific Research Department Philip N. Bowditch, 1921-2007

Philip Nairne Bowditch, retired head of Draper Laboratory’s Scientific Research Department and head of Ocean and Scientific Systems Department, died August 1, 2007, at the age of 86. Residing most recently in Scarborough, Maine, he had lived previously in Cohasset, Mass., for many years. Bowditch worked at Draper Laboratory for more than 35 years.

During World War II Bowditch served in the U.S. Coast Guard as a chemical warfare expert. He later worked as an engineer on the Manhattan Project. He earned his S.B. in metallurgy from MIT in 1946. After working for Jackson & Moreland, Consulting Engineers of Boston, Bowditch joined the MIT Instrumentation Lab in 1950 as a design engineer for the FEBE project, the first inertial navigation system ever built.

Bowditch’s contributions to projects at Draper Lab include design of the mechanical aspects of SPIRE (Space Inertial Reference Equipment, the navigation system that directed an Air Force B-29 cross-country without the aid of a pilot) and the TITAN missile; the invention of the FLIMBAL (Floating Inertial Measurement Ball) used in the MX missile; and development of the total optical subsystem for the Apollo spacecraft, including a sextant designed specifically for use in space and the Alignment Optical Telescope for the Lunar Landing Module.

Throughout Bowditch’s career at Draper, he was a champion of cross-disciplinary problem solving and collaboration, which he felt was in keeping with the educational component of Draper’s mission. Bowditch’s wide-ranging interests were given scope in the Scientific Research Department. The varied projects pursued by the group included medical technology, oceanography, and industrial process control. Bowditch initiated the Lab’s work in oceanography and industrial automation. As head of the group, his special charge was instrumentation developments related to geophysical, oceanographic, and other scientific field measurement activities.

At the invitation of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Bowditch went to Venice, Italy, in 1968 as one of MIT’s scientific advisors to evaluate the city’s problems with air, soil, and hydrology. He also started a project with the Soil Mechanics Lab at MIT that was the catalyst for an invention to identify the sliding of soils.

Bowditch became head of the Oceans and Scientific Systems Department in 1983, the position from which he retired in 1986. During those years he pursued marine interests that may have come down to him from his great-great-grandfather Nathaniel Bowditch, author of The New American Practical Navigator (1802). Periodically updated, that book is still in print.

Bowditch held patents on a Profiling Current Meter, a Vertical Displacement Meter, and methods relating to manufacture of tailored clothing.

Bowditch was the husband of Marion Coulter Bowditch for 60 years and father of Nathaniel of Kittery, Maine; of Jean Stuckey of Squaw Valley, Calif.; of Stephen of Newburyport, Mass.; and of Eleanor Pettipaw of Ellicott City, Maryland. He was the brother of Nathaniel of Peterborough, N.H., and grandfather of 10. A memorial service for Bowditch was scheduled for Aug. 17 at 11:30 a.m. at Saint Alban’s Episcopal Church in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

06/14/2007

Dorothy Poppe Awarded Fellowship by National Reconnaissance Office

Technical Staff Member Dorothy Poppe has been awarded a fellowship at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Advanced Systems & Technology directorate. The objectives of the NRO Technology Fellowship Program are to stimulate industry participation in research and development areas critical to the NRO and the intelligence community, to support the development of future technology leaders, and to forge strategic relationships with industry. Fellowships are a one-year assignment working at the NRO’s office in Chantilly, Virginia.

Up to 80 percent of the Fellowship year is spent working directly on a project. Poppe’s project will involve the evaluation and analysis of specific satellite constellations. The remaining 20 percent of the year will be spent participating in the Technology Fellows Enrichment Program, which is designed to improve the Fellow’s knowledge of government interactions and operations through tours of government facilities, prime contractor facilities, and national laboratories, and visits with military customers.

06/13/2007

Retired Vice President Joseph O'Connor, 1929-2007

Joseph F. O’Connor, 1929-2007

Joseph F. O’Connor, Draper Laboratory’s retired vice president of human resources and administration (1981-1994) and secretary of the corporation (1994-2005), died June 11, 2007, of cancer at the age of 77.

For more than a dozen years, O’Connor was the face of the Laboratory in the Cambridge community. On Draper’s behalf, he presented its viewpoint on topics of public interest, such as the Nuclear-free Cambridge Referendum of 1983, and he provided leadership for many civic organizations. After retirement, he continued his philanthropic involvement by serving on the board of Dental Service of Massachusetts, Inc., most recently as vice chairman, a position he had held since 2002 after serving as chairman for two years.

Draper Laboratory President James Shields said, “Joe O’Connor was a great champion of collaboration between the Laboratory and the Cambridge community. He always saw the two as intertwined, and he cultivated a mutually beneficial relationship, notably through the intersection of the educational aspect of the Laboratory’s charter and opportunities to work with the Cambridge Public Schools. Just as Joe had foreseen, Draper employees have enjoyed working with the students and faculty.”

O’Connor was a past president of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce and vice president of its Business Education committee. For the Rotary Club of Cambridge, O’Connor performed the roles of president, director, and vice president, as well as chairman of its Vocational Service Committee. O’Connor also served Cambridgeport Savings Bank as a corporator and director, and later its parent company, Port Financial, as a director. He was a director for Junior Achievement of Eastern Mass., Inc., and a corporator of Mount Auburn Hospital.

Fellow Rotarian and civic leader Robert A. Jones, former principal of the Athenaeum Group, noted that Joe O’Connor spearheaded support to and was a founding member of such unique community collaborations as The Cambridge Partnership for Public Education and the Kendall Community Group. “I have been privileged to know the public and civic side of Joe,” said Jones. “In our 30-year association, I was a witness to his humor, intellect, integrity, and strength. We have been fortunate to have such a man and business leader among us in this community.” Both O’Connor and Jones were honored at the 2007 Kendall Community Group annual meeting for their service to the group and the agencies it supports.

For his service to the community, O’Connor was recognized by the Cambridge City Council and Mayor Sheila Russell in 1997. The resolution, sponsored by councilor Frank Duehay, lauded the “extraordinary example Joseph F. O’Connor has provided to all those who live and work in Cambridge.”

Born June 15, 1929, in Brookline, Mass., O’Connor received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1951. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1951 to 1953. During 1954 and 1955 O’Connor completed the requirements for a master’s degree in business administration at Boston University. He worked at Tracer Lab, Inc., in human resources for approximately 16 months before joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Central Personnel Office in 1957.

O’Connor began his long association with Draper Laboratory in 1964, when he became the personnel director for its forerunner, the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. In 1967, he became administrative assistant to the vice president for special laboratories, including the Instrumentation Lab. Three years later he took on the roles of assistant to the vice president for research and assistant secretary of Draper Laboratory (renamed that year). In those capacities he was deeply involved in the process of evaluating how to transition the Laboratory from being a division of MIT to operating as an independent, private, not-for-profit organization.

Upon the Laboratory’s divestment from MIT in 1973, O’Connor became executive assistant to the president of Draper Lab. That year he also became assistant secretary of the corporation. In 1981, O’Connor was named vice president for human resources and administration. Upon his retirement in 1994, he was elected secretary of the corporation, a position he held through 2005.

Longtime colleague David C. Driscoll, former Vice President of Finance and Treasurer of Draper Laboratory, said, “Joe and I were friends for 35 years and very close business associates for 25. Like an older brother would do, Joe offered his advice and counsel which I valued.  I had a deep respect for the professionalism, diplomacy, and sense of fairness that he brought to all his business interactions. He was a cherished friend, colleague, and golf partner.”

For further information, check http://www.morrisoconnor.com/FuneralHome/

06/01/2007

Draper Celebrates its Volunteers with Community Relations Recognition Program

Recipients of Shining Star awards for their volunteerism in support of Draper’s community relations program include (front row, left to right) Ted Hartnett, Drew Crete, Rick Flanagan, Linda Fuhrman, (back row, second from left) Helen Gillis, and (third from left, back row) Peter Wender. President Jim Shields (left, back row) presented the awards with Ellen Avery (right, back row). Corporate Communications and Community Relations Director Kathleen Granchelli offered her appreciation for the efforts of all of Draper’s volunteers. Missing from the picture are recipients Dorri Poppe and former employee Angela Zapata.

Draper Laboratory celebrated its volunteers for their contributions to the Laboratory’s community relations program with a Community Relations Recognition Program on May 30, 2007. President Jim Shields offered his thanks to the Lab volunteers, as did Community Relations Director Kathleen Granchelli and Community Relations Associate Ellen Avery. Shields and Avery recognized a group of volunteers for their efforts with Shining Star awards. The program also featured remarks by Massachusetts Teachers Association Vice President Paul Toner, who spoke about the importance of companies sharing the experience of the work environment with students and teachers. Following the formal program, refreshments were served. Attendees included vice presidents Darryl Sargent and Joe Wolfe and principal directors Jack Barry, Fred Greenberg, and Len Polizzotto.

The Shining Star award is a new form of recognition. It recognizes employees who have made outstanding, notable, and long-term contributions to Draper’s community relations programs. In addition to receiving a silvertone star-shaped paperweight with the Draper logo, each honoree will be able to designate a non-profit agency to receive a $250 donation from the Lab. Recipients were Drew Crete, Rick Flanagan, Linda Fuhrman, Helen Gillis, Ted Hartnett, Dorri Poppe, and Peter Wender. Additionally, former employee Angela Zapata was honored for her community relations efforts while a Draper employee.

Drew Crete
In addition to volunteering in the Key Pal Program, Crete was a participant in the Employee Activities Committee Stitch Club donation to Project Linus. This year she took over supervision and mentorship of two high school student interns from the North Cambridge Catholic High School.

Rick Flanagan
A Key Pal for 11 years, Flanagan last year was recognized by Cambridge School Volunteers, Inc., for his decade of service. He also serves on Draper’s Contributions Committee and its Human Services Subcommittee. Flanagan initiated Draper’s involvement with the U.S. Marines’ Toys for Tots program, which evolved into Draper’s annual holiday toy drive.

Linda Fuhrman
Fuhrman has participated at the local, regional, and national levels in efforts to advance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. She has worked with students, science teachers, guidance counselors, and other groups to raise awareness of aerospace as a career through discussing Draper’s work and NASA’s current space exploration programs.

Helen Gillis
Gillis has been an ongoing supporter and member of the Draper Contributions Committee; she was a Key Pal for six years; and she has participated regularly as a Community Care Day volunteer. She also volunteers with Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services, helping seniors maintain their independence through a money-management program.

Ted Hartnett
Hartnett has supported the Contributions Program’s in-kind printing services and donations projects with outreach to the human service organizations that receive the services. He is an ongoing Community Care Day volunteer, was a past member of the Draper Contributions Committee, and provides support to the annual meeting of the Kendall Community Group.

Dorri Poppe
Poppe was the first Draper employee to volunteer with the Science Club for Girls in Cambridge. Now in her seventh year of service to the organization, she works with elementary school girls in this after-school program, fostering interest in science and technology and helping to develop leadership skills among these young women.

Peter Wender
Of the years since Draper established its Contributions Committee in 1984, Wender has served on the committee for more than 20 of them. He has devoted countless hours to guiding the fair and equitable distribution of grant funds. In particular, he has served on the Arts & Culture Subcommittee.

Angela Zapata
Zapata initiated a biotechnology internship for Cambridge high school students two years ago, hired other Cambridge high school students for summer jobs, and supported the Rindge School of Technical Arts biotechnology program that she helped established. She volunteered with Science Club for Girls and spoke many times to various audiences about STEM education and careers.

05/29/2007

Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Honors Draper Lab with Award

Draper Laboratory was honored by the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce with The Leading Edge award, presented May 24, 2007, at the Chamber’s Excellence in Business Awards banquet at the Hyatt Regency. The award was accepted on behalf of the Laboratory by Kathleen Granchelli, director of Corporate Communications and Community Relations. The City of Cambridge also recognized each award nominee with a copy of a resolution expressing its congratulations to all of the nominees.

The Leading Edge award recognizes a business that demonstrates leadership and innovation in the technology or biotechnology industries, dedication to product/process development to enhance and enrich people’s lives, and that has been a member of the Chamber for at least one year. The winner of the award was determined by an election in which a random subset of the Chamber membership was invited to vote. Approximately 300 members, including the Chamber’s board, voted on three finalists: Draper Laboratory, Akamai Technologies Inc., and Pfizer Research Technology Center.

Draper has been a member of the Chamber for more than 30 years and has supported the chamber through service in various offices and on committees. Granchelli currently serves as clerk of the board, sit on its Executive & Finance Committee, and chairs its Nominating committee. Previously, she served on the Community Outreach committee. Former Vice President for HR and Administration Joe O’Connor was a president of the chamber and vice president of its Business Education committee prior to retiring from Draper in 1994.

Draper was honored by the Chamber in 1999 as Corporate Citizen of the Year.

05/15/2007

Polizzotto Named Head of Draper's Strategic Business Development and Marketing

Cambridge, Massachusetts— Dr. Len Polizzotto recently joined Draper Laboratory as a senior executive responsible for Strategic Business Development and Marketing. Reporting to the President & CEO, he is leading efforts to raise the Laboratory’s profile to help capture new opportunities for sponsored research and bring the Laboratory’s emerging technologies to market to benefit the public good.

Draper President & CEO James D. Shields said, “Len thoroughly understands the market environment and challenges facing a not-for-profit, independent lab like Draper.  His extensive experiences in both the corporate and educational sectors make him a unique fit for the Laboratory.”

For the past six years, Polizzotto served as Corporate Vice President for Business Development and Marketing for SRI International, a world leader in contract R&D services. A 25-year tenure at the Polaroid Corporation preceded this, concluding with the assignment of Corporate Vice President for New Business Development.

Between corporate experiences, Polizzotto directed the Center for the Globalization of Technology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.  He led the University’s efforts to form partnerships with corporations in applying new technology for business development. He was a Professor of Practice in the Electrical Engineering Department as well, where he established a new course on business and technology and advised more than 50 undergraduate students. In the past eight years, he founded one and led another high tech start-up, both in the biomedical area.

Polizzotto received his Ph.D. in visual sciences from Tufts University. He earned M.S. and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and he completed The Executive Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business. He holds nine patents and is the author of numerous articles on human color perception, digital imaging, and microphotography. He also authored two books on drum set instruction.

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit, research and development laboratory, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Primarily focused on applied development for the Department of Defense and NASA, the Laboratory also works with selected members of private industry. Key technology areas include guidance, navigation, and control; precision weapons; information management and decision systems; autonomous systems; reliable, fault-tolerant embedded software; miniature, low-power electronic and mechanical systems; and biomedical engineering.

04/02/2007

Draper Laboratory Cuts Ribbon on One Hampshire at Kendall Square

Draper Laboratory officially opened its newly expanded and rebuilt property on Hampshire St., One Hampshire at Kendall Square, at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Feb. 14.  Draper Vice President of Finance and Administration Joe Wolfe served as master of ceremonies for the event.

“The Laboratory has been eagerly awaiting this day since starting construction in 2004,” stated Draper President Jim Shields. “This project represents a shared vision for all of us and benefits Draper Laboratory as well as the City of Cambridge, by providing an innovative space for us [Draper] and other scientific and technical organizations.”  

In addition to housing Draper facilities, the building will be home to anchor tenant Schlumberger, who has relocated its Doll Research Center from Ridgefield, Conn., the biotech company Percivia, and long-time tenants Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and MIT’s Kavli Center for Astrophysics and Space Research.

In reference to the wintry weather that hit Cambridge the day of the event, Cambridge Mayor Ken Reeves commented, “Despite the weather, it’s a real pleasure to come this morning.  This is truly something to celebrate and a little snow won’t chill it.”  Reeves continued by noting how much the City appreciates Draper’s long-standing track-record of corporate citizenship and technical expertise, and how such a reputation has helped to attract additional technology companies to the Kendall Square area. “Draper, you put us on the map,” said Reeves.

Jack Barry, Draper’s Principal Director of Administration, who served as Draper’s project manager for the building construction was equally appreciative of the City of Cambridge staff who were involved with the project, including the city council, the Community Development Dept. and Planning Board, and Cambridge’s inspection services, traffic, police and fire departments. 

One Hampshire at Kendall Square was designed by Tom Coffman of Symmes Maini & McKee Assoc.; construction was managed by Leggat McCall Properties and performed by John Moriarty and Associates.

Draper Laboratory’s Ribbon Cutting for One Hampshire at Kendall Square
(left to right) Principal Director of Administration Jack Barry, Vice President for Finance and Administration Joe Wolfe, President Jim Shields, Cambridge Mayor Ken Reeves, Former Draper President Vince Vitto, Former V.P. of Finance and Admin. Dave Driscoll.

For more information about Draper Laboratory, visit http://www.draper.com

03/19/2007

03/16/2007

Draper's Timeliner Software to Function as Mission Manager on DARPA Orbital Express Mission

Please click the link or type it into your browser to view.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/09mar_orbitalexpress.htm

03/13/2007

Draper Announces Summer Fellowship Opportunity for Massachusetts Middle and High School Teachers of Science, Engineering and Technology

Draper Laboratory is pleased to announce the Draper Engineering Fellowship for Teachers, which will be offered to Massachusetts Public School teachers of science, technology and/or engineering.

The Fellowship will provide up to three selected teachers in grades 6-12 the opportunity to spend two weeks at Draper Lab during the summer of 2007 in order to observe firsthand the application of science and math in the Engineering Design Process outlined in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.

In addition to a stipend offered by Draper, teachers participating in the Fellowship will be eligible for professional development credit and will have access to additional teaching resources from the Laboratory.

Full program details are outlined in the attached document, which is also available online at: http://www.draper.com/outreach/deftproposal.html

For more information about Draper Laboratory, visit http://www.draper.com

03/12/2007

Draper Laboratory Employee Honored as 1 of 10 Women to Watch in New England by Mass High Tech

Cambridge, Massachusetts—March 9, 2007—Angela Zapata, Principal Scientist in biomedical engineering at Draper Laboratory, was honored by Mass High Tech at its 2007 Women to Watch program on March 8 in Boston. The event honors 10 women in New England chosen by the award’s selection committee.

The award’s criteria include five or more years of technical or managerial experience in technology- or science-related business; an engineering or science degree; leadership, including business results, team building, sound decision-making skills, and an active role in the community or as a mentor; and creative thinking and development of new business or commercialization of technology.

Zapata joined Draper in 2000, after earning a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Tufts University.  Most of her technical work is focused on developing novel, miniaturized chemical and biological measuring and detection systems for medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, space exploration and warfare agent detection.

In 2002, she took a two-year sabbatical to establish Cambridge’s Rindge School of Technical Art’s Biotechnology program and laboratory and was the Biotechnology Instructor for two years, while continuing to work at Draper as a consultant. During this time, she led a student team project that won a NASA 2004 Student Involvement Project, part of NASA’s Space Flight Opportunities Competition, and was named Who’s Who among America’s Teachers in 2004. She rejoined Draper full-time in 2004, but has continued to remain actively involved in science education.  She spear-headed the development of a Draper-based biotechnology summer internship for high school students, and has volunteered as a mentor for the Cambridge-based Science Club for Girls—a program that offers free science-based after-school programs to girls in grades K-12.

Zapata is the fourth Draper recipient of the Mass High Tech Women to Watch award, joining Dr. Amy Duwel,   Principal Member Technical Staff in the MEMS and Micro Optics Division, who was honored with the award in 2004;  Heidi Perry, Division Leader of Mission Systems, who was honored in 2005; and Linda Fuhrman, space science program manager, who was honored in 2006.

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit, research and development laboratory dedicated to serving the national interest in applied research, engineering development, advanced technical education, and technology transfer. Areas of technology development include guidance, navigation, and control; highly reliable embedded software; autonomous systems; miniature, low-power electronics; and biomedical engineering.

For more information about Draper Laboratory, visit http://www.draper.com

03/06/2007

Draper-Developed Trajectory Maneuvers Space Station 180° Without Using Propellant

Houston, Texas -- A new method developed by Draper Laboratory for performing large angle spacecraft maneuvers was successfully used to rotate the International Space Station (ISS) on March 3.  This is the second non-propulsive maneuver that has been executed, with the first being a 90° maneuver performed on November 5, 2006. By scheduling a series of commands to the ISS Control Moment Gyro (CMG) attitude controller, the ISS was maneuvered through a pre-planned trajectory, referred to as the Zero Propellant Maneuver (ZPM). The ZPM method does not require modification to the flight software nor use of thrusters.

Prior to the development the ZPM method, large angle re-orientation of Station was performed using thrusters as the CMGs do not have enough capacity to control along a nominal trajectory.  The ZPM has the benefit of saving valuable propellant by not using the station thrusters, and also avoids solar array plume impingement and contamination issues associated with thruster firings.

According to Dr. Naz Bedrossian and Sagar Bhat of Draper Laboratory, the team that developed ZPM, “The pre-planned trajectory is optimized to take advantage of naturally occurring environmental torques in a coordinated manner in order to maintain CMG capacity within operational limits while transitioning the spacecraft between specified initial and final rotational states without firing thruster.”  If the CMGs were used without the ZPM, they would have rapidly reached capacity at which point control would have been switched to thrusters in order to complete the rotation.

This ZPM method successfully completed a 180°-rotation using only three CMGs.  The maneuver used 80 combined attitude and rate commands spaced 125 seconds apart, and was completed in 2 hours and 45 minutes.     

Draper has a long history of contributions to manned space missions, starting with the Apollo Program and continuing through operational support for the Space Shuttle and ISS.  Draper currently is working with NASA to develop the next generation of spacecraft for Space Exploration. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Draper is a non-profit engineering research and development laboratory dedicated to providing technological solutions in areas including guidance, navigation, and control; highly reliable embedded software; autonomous systems; miniature, low-power electronics; and biomedical engineering. Draper serves the national interest through applied research, engineering development, and technology transfer

For more information about Draper Laboratory, visit http://www.draper.com

02/21/2007

Developer of World Wide Web Presented With 2007 Draper Prize in D.C.

WASHINGTON, February 21, 2007 – The National Academies' National Academy of Engineering (NAE) presented Timothy J. Berners-Lee with the prestigious Charles Stark Draper Prize last night at a gala dinner in Washington, D.C. Berners-Lee was recognized for developing the World Wide Web. The Draper Prize is a $500,000 annual award that honors engineers whose accomplishments have significantly enhanced the welfare and freedom of humanity.

The NAE credits Timothy J. Berners-Lee with imaginatively combining ideas to create the World Wide Web, an extraordinary innovation rapidly transforming the way people store, access, and share information around the globe. Despite its short existence, the Web has contributed greatly to intellectual development and plays an important role in health care, environmental protection, commerce, banking, education, crime prevention, and global dissemination of information. 

Berners-Lee demonstrated a high level of technical imagination in inventing this system to organize and display information on the Internet. He devised a number of innovations:

• The uniform resource identifier (URI), which is used to identify or name a particular resource on the Internet. 
• HyperText Markup Language (HTML), which provides structure to text-based information on the Web.  With HTML, text is not restricted to a linear format; it can contain links to text, images, or objects in Web documents located elsewhere. 
• One-way and universal hyperlinks that can point anywhere on the Web, a simple but profound difference from other proposals at that time. 
• HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which conveys or transfers information over the Internet.

Berners-Lee demonstrated brilliant vision by choosing to make the Web with scalable public domain software, so that it can always perform efficiently. Furthermore, the Web's open architecture permits other inventions to build on its unpredictable and limitless potential uses as needs arise.  

Berners-Lee proposed his concept for the Web in 1989 while at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). He launched it on the Internet in 1991 and continued to refine its design through 1993. He persevered over widespread skepticism during these years. 

Berners-Lee is now a senior researcher and holder of the 3Com Founders Chair at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He is also a professor of computer science in the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. In addition, Berners-Lee continues to guide the evolution of the Web as founder and director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an open, international forum that develops standards for the Web.

The Draper Prize was established in 1988 at the request of The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., to honor the memory of "Doc" Draper, the "father of inertial navigation," and to increase public understanding of the contributions of engineering and technology to society. Founded by Doc Draper as a teaching laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Draper Laboratory incorporated as an independent, private not-for-profit in 1973. It continues to lead in its traditional field of expertise--guidance, navigation, and control--as well as in microelectromechanical systems, autonomous systems, and biomedical engineering.

The National Academy of Engineering is an independent, nonprofit institution. Its members consist of the nation's premier engineers, who are elected by their peers for seminal contributions to engineering. The academy provides leadership and guidance to government on the application of engineering resources to social, economic, and security problems. Established in 1964, NAE operates under the congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences in 1863.

For additional information about the Draper Prize visit the NAE’s web site at http://www.nae.edu/nae/awardscom.nsf/weblinks/NAEW-4NHML8?OpenDocument

For more information about Draper Laboratory, visit http://www.draper.com

01/05/2007

2007 Draper Prize to be awarded to Timothy Berners Lee, developer of the World Wide Web

WASHINGTON, January 4, 2007 – The National Academies' National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced today that Timothy J. Berners-Lee will receive the prestigious Charles Stark Draper Prize -- a $500,000 annual award that honors engineers whose accomplishments have significantly benefited society -- "for developing the World Wide Web."

The prize will be presented at a gala dinner in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 20.

According to the NAE, Timothy J. Berners-Lee imaginatively combined ideas to create the World Wide Web, an extraordinary innovation that is rapidly transforming the way people store, access, and share information around the globe.  Despite its short existence, the Web has contributed greatly to intellectual development and plays an important role in health care, environmental protection, commerce, banking, education, crime prevention, and the global dissemination of information. 

Berners-Lee demonstrated a high level of technical imagination in inventing this system to organize and display information on the Internet.  He devised a number of innovations:

• The uniform resource identifier (URI), which is used to identify or name a particular resource on the Internet. 
• HyperText Markup Language (HTML), which provides structure to text-based information on the Web.  With HTML, text is not restricted to a linear format; it can contain links to text, images, or objects in Web documents located elsewhere. 
• One-way and universal hyperlinks that can point anywhere on the Web, a simple but profound difference from other proposals at that time. 
• HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which conveys or transfers information over the Internet. 
  

Berners-Lee demonstrated brilliant vision by choosing to make the Web with scalable public domain software, so that it can always perform efficiently.  Furthermore, the Web's open architecture permits other inventions to build on its unpredictable and limitless potential uses as needs arise.  

Berners-Lee proposed his concept for the Web in 1989 while at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).  He launched it on the Internet in 1991 and continued to refine its design through 1993.  He persevered over widespread skepticism during these years. 

Berners-Lee is now a senior researcher and holder of the 3Com Founders Chair at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He is also a professor of computer science in the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.  In addition, Berners-Lee continues to guide the evolution of the Web as founder and director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an open, international forum that develops standards for the Web.

The Draper Prize was established in 1988 at the request of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., Cambridge, Mass., to honor the memory of "Doc" Draper, the "father of inertial navigation," and to increase public understanding of the contributions of engineering and technology. The prize is awarded annually.

The National Academy of Engineering is an independent, nonprofit institution.  Its members consist of the nation's premier engineers, who are elected by their peers for seminal contributions to engineering.  The academy provides leadership and guidance to government on the application of engineering resources to social, economic, and security problems.  Established in 1964, NAE operates under the congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences in 1863.

For additional information about the Draper Prize visit the NAE’s web site at http://www.nae.edu/nae/awardscom.nsf/weblinks/NAEW-4NHML8?OpenDocument

For more information about Draper Laboratory, visit http://www.draper.com

01/05/2007

Draper-Developed Trajectory Maneuvers Space Station Without Using Propellant

Houston, Texas -- A new method developed by Draper Laboratory for performing large angle rotations of the International Space Station (ISS) was flight tested successfully on November 5.  By scheduling a series of commands to the ISS Control Moment Gyro (CMG) attitude controller, the ISS was maneuvered through a pre-planned trajectory, referred to as the Zero Propellant Maneuver (ZPM).  The ZPM is accomplished using the current Station controllers and effectors without modification to flight software. 

Prior to development of the ZPM method, large angle attitude re-orientation of the ISS was performed using thrusters as the CMGs do not have enough capacity to control along a standard trajectory.  The ZPM has the benefit of saving valuable propellant by not using the station thrusters, and also avoids the solar array plume impingement and contamination issues associated with thruster firings.

According to Draper’s Dr. Naz Bedrossian, who led the development of the ZPM, “The pre-planned trajectory is optimized to take advantage of naturally occurring environmental torques in order to maintain CMG capacity within operational margins while performing the re-orientation.  This is similar to the way a sail boat would tack against the wind.”  

This flight demonstration of the ZPM method successfully completed a 90 degree rotation using only three CMGs.  The maneuver used 80 combined attitude and rate commands spaced 90 seconds apart, taking a total time of approximately 2 hours.  An equivalent maneuver using the Station thrusters would have taken less time but would have consumed costly propellant. The figure to the left shows how well the flight CMG capacity matched the Draper prediction. 

Draper has a long history of contributions to manned space missions, starting with the Apollo Program and continuing through operational support for the Space Shuttle and ISS.  The ZPM is yet another example of how Draper is providing thought leadership in developing technology to enable the nation to meet NASA’s space objectives.  Draper is currently working with NASA to develop the next generation of spacecraft for Space Exploration. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Draper is a non-profit engineering research and development laboratory dedicated to providing technological solutions in areas including guidance, navigation, and control; highly reliable embedded software; autonomous systems; miniature, low-power electronics; and biomedical engineering. Draper serves the national interest through applied research, engineering development, and technology transfer.  

For more information, visit http://www.draper.com

12/29/2006

Draper’s Inertial Stellar Compass Fully Operational in First Space Flight

Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 29, 2006 -- Draper Laboratory’s Inertial Stellar Compass (ISC) is now fully operational on board the TacSat-2 spacecraft, representing the first use of a MEMS gyro in a complete spacecraft attitude determination system. TacSat-2 was launched on December 16 from Wallops Flight Facility. Following basic spacecraft commissioning activities, the ISC was first turned on December 27 and two days of preliminary functional tests show the instrument to be working perfectly.

The ISC combines a star camera and MEMS gyros with a microprocessor to provide a full 3-axis attitude determination system in a low power (3.6 W) and low-mass (2.9 kg) package, less than one-half the power and mass of conventional systems. Developed at Draper Laboratory and utilizing Draper’s own MEMS Tuning Fork Gyro package, this flight validation represents a major leap forward in navigation sensors and MEMS technology for space applications.

The fully autonomous, self-initializing instrument has operated flawlessly since being powered up on Dec. 27. Requiring no more than power and an occasional clock update from the host spacecraft, the ISC initializes upon startup, acquires and identifies stars from its own star catalog, and uses its “lost in space” algorithms to determine the direction in which it is pointing. If all continues to go well aboard the TacSat-2 spacecraft, a series of dedicated tests are planned for the coming weeks that will acquire extensive data to verify ISC performance under a wide variety of conditions.

The ISC development was funded by NASA’s New Millennium Program (NMP), which is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. The TacSat-2 spacecraft was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and is operated out of the AFRL command center at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM.

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. is a non-profit engineering research and development laboratory dedicated to providing technological solutions in areas including guidance, navigation, and control; highly reliable embedded software; autonomous systems; miniature, low-power electronics; and biomedical engineering. Draper serves the national interest through applied research, engineering development, and technology transfer.

For more information about Draper and the Inertial Stellar Compass, visit http://www.draper.com/features/isc.html

For more information about NASA’s New Millennium Program, visit http://nmp.nasa.gov

12/18/2006

Draper Laboratory Contributes Software to Joint Forces Air Drop System

Draper Laboratory played a key role in the development of the U.S. Army and Air Force Joint Precision Air Drop System (JPADS). This guided parachute supply delivery system, designed to reduce the risk to troops during resupply missions, made its combat debut in Afghanistan on Aug. 31. Draper was responsible for the now fielded mission planning system software and also demonstrated the flight of an advanced guidance software package for use on a precision airdrop systems being considered for early field use.

Under the leadership of the U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (Natick), as a joint project of the Army and Air Force, JPADS has been in development for nearly a decade. It features autonomous GPS-guided steering systems that direct parafoils and their payloads to specified drop zones approximately the size of a soccer field.  The laptop computer-based mission planning software is used on cargo aircraft to incorporate the latest data regarding wind and other meteorological information along with airdrop system dynamics and drop zone locations to determine the timing and locations of airdrop system deployments. This enables supplies like ammunition, fuel, food, and water to be delivered precisely in all weather conditions from high altitudes.

JPADS provides greater safety for both ground troops and aircrew.  The high altitude delivery keeps cargo aircraft out of range of enemy fire. The mission planning software and guidance system enables accommodation of short delivery windows with precise payload delivery, reducing the amount of time necessary for ground troops to retrieve supplies, thus minimizing risk.

Draper President and CEO Jim Shields stated that “the Draper Laboratory staff are proud that their mission planning software is making a major contribution to the operational use of the U.S Army and Air Force precision airdrop systems.  Now that JPADS is being used in combat zones, Draper's guidance and planning software extends to safer, more accurate delivery of supplies to troops on the ground. This capability, in collaboration with the other JPADS program participants, is making our military personnel in harm's way safer today.”

Development of the system continues. Eventually there will be four different sizes of JPADS: extra light, light, medium and heavy. The ultimate goal of the heavy system is to be able to deliver 60,000 pounds of cargo— more than the weight of the Army’s Stryker combat vehicle. 

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. is a non-profit engineering research and development laboratory dedicated to providing technological solutions in areas including guidance, navigation, and control; highly reliable embedded software; autonomous systems; miniature, low-power electronics; and biomedical engineering. As a bridge between academic research and real-world applications of technology, Draper serves the national interest through applied research, engineering development, and technology transfer.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Army under Contract No. W9124R-06-C-0110. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of Draper Laboratory, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Army.

11/02/2006

President Jim Shields Named 2006 All-Star by Mass High Tech

President Jim Shields joined 11 other leaders in Massachusetts being honored by Mass High Tech with a 2006 All-Star Award on Oct. 25. The weekly newspaper covers the technology market and selected Shields for his contributions to the defense sector.

10/11/2006

Draper Laboratory Selects Two New Vice Presidents

Cambridge, Massachusetts Oct. 10, 2006 Draper Laboratory has announced the promotions of two members of management to the position of Vice President.

Darryl Sargent will be the new Vice President for Programs.  He succeeds James Shields who recently was elected Draper’s new President and CEO.  Sargent’s previous position was as director of the Space Systems Programs Office. He joined Draper 27 years ago after receiving a master’s degree in physics from MIT, and he has held various management positions within Draper’s space programs. According to Shields, “Darryl will set the direction for, lead the marketing of, and oversee the execution of all Draper’s sponsored research for sponsors outside of the strategic guidance programs area.”

John Stillwell has been promoted to the new position of Vice President for Strategic Systems. He most recently served as principal director of the Strategic Systems Program Office. Stillwell joined Draper as Principal Director of Programs in1998 when he retired from the Navy after 34 years of service, but he first became associated with the Laboratory when he worked as a Draper Fellow in the 1970’s while earning his master’s degree in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School. He spent much of his Navy career associated with the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) office, including serving as Technical Director of SSP from 1994-1998.  “John is being promoted in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments and will continue to provide leadership for Draper’s strategic systems programs,” said Shields.

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit engineering research and development laboratory dedicated to serving the national interest in applied research, engineering development, advanced technical education, and technology transfer. Areas of technology development include guidance, navigation, and control; highly reliable embedded software; autonomous systems; miniature, low-power electronics; and biomedical engineering.

10/10/2006

Draper Honored by City of Cambridge for Youth Employment

Draper Laboratory was honored by the City of Cambridge for “dedication and support of Cambridge Youth Employment” with The Warren P. MacEachern Outstanding Employer of the Year Award on Sept. 28, 2006. The award was presented by Just-A-Start TeenWork and the City of Cambridge’s Office of Workforce Development. The plaque was presented by Vice Mayor Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.

Draper has supported Just-A-Start’s youth employment initiatives, including its TeenWork program, for many years through grants from the Laboratory’s Contributions Program and by providing jobs for youth. The Laboratory employed two teenagers this summer through TeenWork, which trains high school students for the workplace and helps to find appropriate job placements for them. Tsion Girum worked for Dr. Angela Zapata as an office clerk, and Elizabeth Sullivan was employed in Corporate Communications & Community Relations.

10/10/2006

Draper Laboratory Announces Election of New President and CEO: James Shields

Cambridge, Massachusetts—Oct. 5, 2006— James D. Shields today was elected president and chief executive officer of The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. Shields became president and CEO following election by the Board of Directors. He succeeds Vincent Vitto, who retired from the position after nine years of service.

Dr. John Kreick, chairman of the Board of Directors, said, “As president of Draper Laboratory, Jim Shields will lead the Laboratory to continued success. His technical knowledge, his experience as Draper’s vice president for programs, and his service to national government advisory boards are valuable assets. Jim is a worthy successor to Vince Vitto, who gave the Laboratory strong, dedicated leadership.”

Looking ahead, Shields said, “The Laboratory will continue to focus on solving problems of national importance. We will do this in new and emerging fields, such as biomedical engineering and energy, as well as in our traditional domains of national security and space exploration. I look forward to working with Draper’s outstanding staff on these new challenges.”

Prior to his election as president, Shields was Draper’s vice president for programs, responsible for development of new work and execution of contracted projects. He joined Draper in that position in 2001 from TASC (now part of Northrop Grumman Information Technology). His 28-year career at TASC culminated as vice president for strategic development. Shields has served on a number of study panels for the Defense Science Board and Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit engineering research and development laboratory dedicated to serving the national interest in applied research, engineering development, advanced technical education, and technology transfer. Areas of technology development include guidance, navigation, and control; highly reliable embedded software; autonomous systems; miniature, low-power electronics; and biomedical engineering.

10/04/2006

Employee Recognized by AIAA as 2007 Associate Fellow

Michael Ricard (GCB2) has been elected one of the 2007 Associate Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). A maximum of 1 Senior Member per 150 voting members may be upgraded to Associate Fellow annually. The 2007 Associate Fellows will be honored Jan. 8, 2007, at the AIAA Associate Fellows Dinner, which will be held in conjunction with the 45th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit.

Ricard is a member of the New England AIAA chapter. Four New England members were upgraded this year.

09/29/2006

2006 Draper Career Fair

Draper Laboratory will hold a career fair in conjunction with its annual Technology Exposition on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006, from 4 to 7 p.m. in its Hill Building, One Hampshire Street, Cambridge. This event will be advertised to job seekers through an ad in The Boston Sunday Globe, Oct. 1.

Job seekers who attend the career fair will be able to view the Tech Expo exhibits and speak to technical staff and hiring managers about working at Draper Lab. The Lab has in excess of 80 current job openings in virtually all technical disciplines related to guidance, navigation and control, with experience level requirements ranging from entry level through seasoned technical leaders. Descriptions of each open position are available on the Draper public web site at http://www.draper.com/careers/opportunities.html

Career Fair attendees must show picture identification to gain admittance. Parking in the Technology Square Garage (across the street by Draper's 555 Technology Square building) will be validated for job fair attendees at the Hill Building reception area. Refreshments will be served, and a door prize drawing will be held for an Apple iPod.

For more information about the career fair, contact Human Resources, 617-258-2885.

09/14/2006

Draper Laboratory to Develop Ultra-Miniature Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) for Urban Military Operations

Cambridge, Massachusetts—Sept. 14, 2006—The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., was awarded an 18-month $2.3 million contract to design a new miniature class of UAV for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO). The vehicle is intended to operate in challenging urban environments, flying both indoors and outdoors while avoiding detection by virtue of its small size and quiet operation. Its purpose is to precisely deliver sensors for monitoring military activities in restricted access locations.

DARPA’s requirements specify that the vehicle weigh less than eight grams, fit within a sphere no larger than three inches in diameter, and carry a two-gram payload. Within that very small package reside a propulsion subsystem, guidance and navigation subsystem, communications subsystem, video subsystem, and power supply. DARPA’s ambitious performance goals call for 20 minutes of continuous operation to execute a mission profile that includes a 2-kilometer ingress/egress flight, a 60-second hovering maneuver, and precision flight at low speed for several minutes. Outdoor sprint speeds should reach five meters per second (m/s), while indoor flight should be controllable below 0.5 m/s. The vehicle is intended to fly semi-autonomously outdoors and to fly under direct operator control via radio link during indoor operation.

Draper’s team includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Daedalus Flight Systems (DFS); MIT will provide high energy miniature battery technology, and DFS will perform aircraft design. Draper Laboratory is the system integrator and will lead the design of the avionics, propulsion, and guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) subsystems. The aircraft is a dual-blade coaxial rotorcraft design with centrally located battery and avionics. Draper’s GN&C algorithms and ultra-dense packaging will provide flight control from a three gram electronics package. MIT’s two gram Lithium-ion batteries will deliver unmatched energy and power density.

Draper’s contract is one of several expected awards under the Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) Program. The NAV program will support the development of parallel technical approaches to meet DARPA’s ambitious performance requirements. The current effort represents the first of a two-phase program that seeks to develop and demonstrate an end-to-end system for hummingbird-scale UAVs that execute ISR missions in denied battlespace. The Phase 1 preliminary design effort will be followed by a down-select to a Phase 2 build and validation phase. 

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit, research and development laboratory dedicated to serving the national interest through applied research, engineering development, advanced technical education, and technology transfer. Areas of technology development include guidance, navigation, and control; highly reliable embedded software; autonomous systems; miniature, low-power electronics; and biomedical engineering.  Located in Rockville, Md., Daedalus Flight Systems is an aerospace engineering R&D company focused on ultra-miniature UAV development. MIT’s Materials Science Department is a world leader in battery chemistry and process development. 

09/11/2006

Adam Rzepniewski and Greg Andrews win the Best Paper Award

Adam Rzepniewski and Greg Andrews won the best paper award Aug. 31, 2006, from Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems North America 2006 conference, held in Orlando, Florida. Entitled "Legged Robot Motion with Explicit Stability Constraints: Theory and Application,” the paper was presented by Andrews in the Command and Control V session on Aug. 31. He was presented with the award earlier that day at the awards luncheon.

The conference featured more than 70 papers. Another paper written and presented by Draper employees was “Risk-aware Mixed-initiative Dynamic Replanning (RMDR) Program Update.” It was presented by Margaret Nervegna, who cowrote it with Michael Ricard, at the Command & Control IV session.

The papers will be published as part of conference proceedings.

07/12/2006

Draper Laboratory Announces Selection of New President and CEO

Cambridge, Massachusetts—July 12, 2006—The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., announced today that James D. Shields has been selected as its next president and chief executive officer. Shields will become president and CEO following election by the Board of Directors on Oct. 5, when Vincent Vitto, Draper’s current president and CEO, will retire after 9 years of strong, dedicated service.

Dr. John Kreick, chairman of the Board of Directors, said, “The selection of Jim Shields as the next president of Draper Laboratory ensures decisive leadership informed by technical knowledge and fine judgment. Draper is well positioned to continue its impressive record of engineering solutions to problems of national significance.”

Shields currently is Draper’s vice president for programs, responsible for development of new work and execution of contracted projects. He joined Draper in that position in 2001 from TASC (now part of Northrop Grumman Information Technology). His 28-year career at TASC culminated as vice president for strategic development. Shields has served on a number of study panels for the Defense Science Board and Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Draper Laboratory is a non-profit engineering research and development laboratory dedicated to serving the national interest in applied research, engineering development, advanced technical education, and technology transfer. Areas of technology development include guidance, navigation, and control; highly reliable embedded software; autonomous systems; miniature, low-power electronics; and biomedical engineering.

05/10/2006

United Way of Massachusetts Bay Honors Draper Lab with Extra Mile Award

Draper Laboratory was honored by United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB) with the 2005 Extra Mile Award at UWMB’s Awards Celebration and Annual Meeting, held April 27, 2006. The Extra Mile Award recognizes support to United Way and the community at large. The award text reads, “For raising $135,000 for victims of Hurricane Katrina and one month later raising a record amount of $195,000 on behalf of United Way and the communities we serve.”

“Year in and year out, I have been impressed by the generosity of Draper employees in responding to United Way campaigns,” Draper Laboratory President Vince Vitto said. “In 2005, the compassion of Draper’s employees was highlighted by their contributions to funds to help the victims of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. After giving generously to those funds, they gave even more to the United Way later that year than they had the year before. I am very proud to be associated with people who are so willing to share their resources with others in need.”

Draper Laboratory employees donated approximately $185,000 to the United Way campaign run by the Laboratory in October 2005; additionally, the Laboratory donated $10,000 to UWMB’s Math, Science and Technology Initiative. Draper’s 2004 campaign for UWMB had raised approximately $175,000 in donations from employees.

Between the 2004 and 2005 United Way campaigns, employees donated more than $65,000 for Hurricane Katrina relief in September 2005 and more than $45,000 for tsunami relief in the preceding January. Those donations were matched by the corporation for total donations of $131,700.95 and $91,294 respectively.

Donations by employees to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina were allocated to the American Red Cross and America’s Second Harvest. Monies donated by employees to help tsunami victims were allocated to the tsunami relief funds of U.S. Fund for UNICEF and Save the Children.

04/12/2006

Employee Becomes AIAA Vice President Elect for Public Policy

Laboratory Technical Staff Phil Hattis has been elected vice president elect, public policy, by the national membership of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The post is part of the AIAA's board of directors. Hattis's year as vice president elect begins April 26, 2006, during which the vice president continues to serve and orients the vice president elect to the responsibilities of the office. After that transition year, Hattis will serve three years as vice president.

Cambridge Students selected by NASA to fly their team's experiment aboard a future shuttle mission

Students from Draper Consultant Dr. Angela Zapata's biotechnology class at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School have been selected by NASA to fly their team's experiment, Effect of Cosmic Radiation on the Electrical Properties of Electrophoretic Buffers, aboard a future shuttle mission.

Goodwin Awarded with an Exceptional Achievement Award

Standley Goodwin (PAA) was presented with an Exceptional Achievement Award for the Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) Program by Rear Admiral C.B. Young, Director, Strategic Systems Programs on May 25.  The presentation was made during an awards dinner at Ft. Myer Officers Club in Virginia. Goodwin also was recognized during the Steering Task Group meeting on May 26. The award citation reads, In appreciation of your lifetime contributions to the Polaris, Poseidon, Trident I and Trident II Strategic Guidance System. Your achievements were fundamental to providing credible and affordable sea-based deterrent missile systems.

Students Experiment Selected for Future Shuttle Mission

Students from Draper Consultant Dr. Angela Zapata's biotechnology class at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School have been selected by NASA to fly their team's experiment, Effect of Cosmic Radiation on the Electrical Properties of Electrophoretic Buffers, aboard a future shuttle mission.

Duwel Named One of Tem Women to Watch by Mass High Tech

MEMS engineer Amy Duwel was named as one of ten women to watch in technology and science by Mass High Tech, The Journal of New England Technology. They will be honored at an event on February 19 at Simmons College. The selection was made by Mass High Tech and its advisory committee, which is co-chaired by Trish Fleming, executive director of the MIT Enterprise Forum, and Anne Taylor, associate editor of Mass High Tech.

Article by Richard Martorana Featured in EDN Magazine

An article by Richard Martorana describing Draper's Wide Area Surveillance Projectile (WASP) aerial vehicle was featured in EDN magazine.