Eric Evans will likely be stepping down as director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory on July 1, 2024, after 18 years main a laboratory that has served the nation by way of its expertise analysis and improvement since 1951.
Evans will transition into the function of fellow within the director’s workplace at Lincoln Laboratory. He may also maintain an appointment on the MIT campus as a senior fellow within the Safety Research Program. He’ll assist the continuing progress of collaborative analysis and improvement between Lincoln Laboratory and the MIT campus, together with in areas associated to local weather change in addition to the exploration of superior expertise functions inside the Safety Research Program.
The transition will mark the top of a profitable tenure by which Evans led the laboratory to adapt and strengthen throughout a time of serious change for nationwide safety wants. He has additionally served as a key advisor on expertise technique to senior authorities leaders.
“It has been an honor and privilege to guide MIT Lincoln Laboratory,” Evans says. “I actually respect what our laboratory neighborhood has performed over a few years to develop a few of the nation’s most essential and troublesome technical developments.”
Lincoln Laboratory is a federally funded analysis and improvement middle that focuses on expertise improvement, system prototyping, and functionality transition to the federal government, business corporations, and trade.
Beneath Evans’ management, the laboratory established new analysis and improvement mission areas in cybersecurity, homeland safety, and biotechnology, and began new applications in humanitarian help and catastrophe reduction, local weather change expertise, quantum info science, and vitality system resilience. Evans has additionally strengthened ties with the MIT analysis neighborhood, elevated range and inclusion efforts, superior STEM schooling initiatives, and developed new fashions for expertise switch to small and medium-size business corporations.
Evans has additionally been a member and vice chair and is now chair of the Protection Science Board (DSB). The DSB investigates science and expertise wants for the U.S. Division of Protection and strives to unravel extremely unstructured issues and develop new alternatives for the protection of the nation.
“Throughout his 20 years of service to Lincoln Laboratory, Eric’s management has confirmed what an bold R&D laboratory and a serious institute can obtain collectively: transformative enhancements to the methods that preserve the world secure, and a long-lasting influence on the apply of innovation itself,” says Maria Zuber, MIT’s vp for analysis. “Eric has been forward of the curve in recognizing the worldwide implications of rising expertise areas, and he’s been a trusted advisor on science and expertise technique. The tradition of excellence, collaboration, and creativity that Eric has sustained at Lincoln Laboratory ensures its success nicely into the long run. I’m grateful for his service and grateful that he’ll stay at MIT in his new roles.”
Zuber introduced Evans’ determination in a letter to college and workers at the moment. She is going to appoint a search committee to advise on the collection of the laboratory’s subsequent director.
A profession in service
Evans began at Lincoln Laboratory in 1988 as a technical workers member. After being named director of Lincoln Laboratory in 2006, he instantly started working with laboratory leaders and workers to develop new mission areas and applications primarily based on nationwide wants. He labored with many on the laboratory to ascertain a big homeland-protection mission space to create sensors and information integration methods to assist the wants of the Division of Homeland Safety. Beneath Evans’ management the laboratory developed new homeland air protection capabilities and chemical and organic sensor methods to defend towards superior threats.
Later, the laboratory established a cybersecurity mission space to handle the dynamic threats posed by cyberattacks. By way of many new applications, Lincoln Laboratory researchers developed expertise to help within the safety of protection and civilian cyber networks and to enhance the cyber resilience of {hardware} and software program for brand spanking new computing methods.
The laboratory additionally began important new work in biotechnology and human methods to develop superior methods for monitoring well being standing and aiding in damage restoration for the Military and different sponsors. In the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, Evans directed the laboratory to quickly apply its biotechnology assets to the issues of medical useful resource allocation, well being monitoring, computerized contact tracing, and virus dispersion evaluation. Many of those applied sciences proceed to be improved and transitioned to new functions.
Leveraging giant protection investments for airborne floor mapping sensors and communication networks, the laboratory established new applications for humanitarian help and catastrophe reduction, together with fast responses to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas.
Evans has additionally targeted on increasing different applications to handle civilian wants. For instance, new plane collision-avoidance and climate avoidance expertise developed with funding from the FAA has improved flight security worldwide.
NASA-funded applications have additionally benefited from Lincoln Laboratory initiatives. A serious milestone occurred in 2013 with the primary two-way demonstration of wide-bandwidth laser communication between the moon and Earth. This innovation opened up new potentialities for NASA, which plans to make use of the expertise to relay information throughout interplanetary distances.
“Eric is a gifted and impactful chief who has transferred advances in innovation and analysis past the borders of the lab, in service to the world,” says MIT Provost Cynthia Barnhart.
Stronger ties to MIT
Over the previous 15 years, the variety of Lincoln Laboratory analysis collaborations with MIT’s campus has elevated by practically an element of 4. The laboratory has expanded collaboration by offering funding for campus analysis, making a lot of its amenities out there for campus researchers, supporting undergraduate and graduate educating, and posing new analysis questions.
As part of that collaboration, Lincoln Laboratory partnered with MIT’s College of Engineering in 2013 to ascertain the Beaver Works Heart at MIT. The ability permits collaborative prototyping and expertise improvement by MIT researchers and Lincoln Laboratory technical workers.
Extra just lately, Lincoln Laboratory labored with the MIT Analysis Laboratory of Electronics to ascertain the Heart for Quantum Engineering to develop new applied sciences for quantum computing, sensing, and communication. Lincoln Laboratory can also be a contributor to the Division of the Air Drive – MIT Synthetic Intelligence Accelerator program.
A outstanding instance of analysis collaboration was the 2018 launch of the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite tv for pc (TESS). Lincoln Laboratory labored intently with the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and House Analysis to develop the extremely delicate cameras onboard TESS, which since its launch has found many new planets orbiting distant stars.
Striving for an inclusive tradition and neighborhood service
All through his tenure, Evans has additionally taken steps to reinforce the laboratory’s tradition to be extra inclusive and supportive, considerably rising the proportion of girls and folks of colour in technical and management roles. He established an Workplace of Variety and Inclusion, appointed a chief range and inclusion officer, and strengthened the Human Assets Division to enhance workers recruiting, improvement, and retention.
To assist the nationwide want for extra numerous expertise, Evans served for six years because the chair of the board for the Nationwide GEM Consortium, a company that gives fellowships to underrepresented minorities pursuing graduate levels in STEM fields. By way of the efforts of many GEM volunteers and workers, the variety of GEM fellowships elevated considerably throughout Evans’ tenure main the board. “I deeply appreciated being concerned on this program supporting a critically essential want,” Evans says. “The GEM mission is excellent, and Lincoln Laboratory has very a lot benefited from their assist and from the distinctive GEM Fellows we’ve employed.”
Evans has additionally strongly supported the creation of many applications to advertise Ok-12 scholar curiosity in STEM fields. The laboratory’s STEM outreach applications have reached greater than 100,000 college students throughout the nation, with practically 8,000 college students per yr concerned in applications that embrace constructing radars, designing small satellites, creating autonomous mannequin automobiles, and creating new cryptography algorithms.
Positioned for future success
Shifting ahead, Evans has positioned Lincoln Laboratory to proceed evolving its mission. The laboratory is at present pursuing analysis in rising expertise areas reminiscent of synthetic intelligence, artificial biology, and quantum methods and making main investments in new amenities and specialised laboratories.
As a part of its amenities modernization, the laboratory just lately broke floor for the development of a giant, $300M microelectronics laboratory to develop new expertise for sensing and computing. A second $300 million Division of Protection funding is for an engineering prototyping facility that may start building in 2026. A number of different new analysis and improvement amenities are deliberate by way of a long-term amenities modernization plan supported by the DoD. “These amenities investments will allow the laboratory to stay a robust middle for creating revolutionary expertise for many years to return,” Evans says.
After he steps down as director, Evans will proceed to work with the protection neighborhood to assist research for present and future protection system and expertise wants. He may also be creating and educating programs associated to expertise for nationwide safety.
“MIT Lincoln Laboratory is a particular place, and I’ve actually loved the experiences of main and studying. I’m most pleased with the numerous influence our artistic leaders and workers have had on nationwide safety and society over a few years,” Evans says.
