Edward Crawley

Biography

Edward is the Founding  President of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (2011 – 2016), where he now holds a professorial appointment. His early research was on structural dynamics, aeroelasticity. His most recent research has focused on the architecture, design, and decision support in complex technical systems subject to economic and stakeholder constraints. He is also a consultant on the design of actual systems. For example, he is working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to design human exploration and earth observing systems. Professor Crawley has served as chairman of the NASA Technology and Commercialization Advisory Committee and as a member of the NASA Advisory Committee, the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Space Station Redesign. In 1993, he was a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Space Station Redesign. From 2003 to 2006, he was the Executive Director of the Cambridge-MIT Institute, a joint venture with Cambridge University funded by the British government and industry; the institute’s mission was to understand and generalize how universities can act effectively as engines of innovation and economic growth. Previously, from 1996 to 2003, he was head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, during which time he directed the strategic realignment of the department. He is a founder of ACX, a product development and manufacturing firm; BioScale, a company that develops biomolecular detectors. In 2003, he was elected to the Board of Directors of Orbital Sciences Corporation (ORB). In the summer of 2007, he founded and still serves on the board of Dataxu, a Boston-based company in internet advertising matching. In 2011, he founded and acts as chairman of Ekotrope, a company that supplies energy portfolio analysis to businesses and consumers. Edward has served as founding co-director of an international collaboration on the reform of engineering education and was the lead author of Rethinking Engineering Education, the CDIO Approach. For his work in CDIO, he received the 2011 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering Education from the NAE. Edward is a Fellow of the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) and Royal Aeronautical Society (UK) and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science, the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Engineering (US). He is the author of numerous papers published in AIAA Journal, ASME Journal, the Journal of Composite Materials, and Acta Astronautica. Edward (who is conversant in Russian) has spent time as a visitor at the Moscow Aviation Institute, as well as Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University, and Cambridge University. He received  bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT, as well as doctor of science degree in aerospace structures.

Research Interest

architecture, design, and decision support in complex technical systems subject to economic and stakeholder constraints