David A. Mindell

David A. Mindell, PhD, is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. David has spent more than three decades researching the myriad relationships between people and machines and innovating to improve them. He served as an MIT department head for five years, and has led or contributed to more than 25 oceanographic expeditions, and is an inventor on 34 patents for autonomous aircraft, precision navigation, and human-robotic collaboration. He is the author of six books, including Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy (2015), Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in the First Six Lunar Landings (2008) Between Human and Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing Before Cybernetics (2000), and The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an age of Intelligent Machines (2022, with E. Reynolds and D. Autor). David is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He is Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Humatics Corporation and partner of Unless, which is revitalizing US industry around decarbonization and equitable work.