Space Exploration Expert; Founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute & Founder of MIT Space Exploration Initiative
Ariel Ekblaw: Biography at a Glance
- Ariel Ekblaw is founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute, a spin off of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative which features a team of 50+ researchers, staff, and faculty actively prototyping our Sci-Fi space future.
- Ariel helps organizations forge sustainable paths forward with the assistance of the latest technology including cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) programs such as GPT-4.
- Ariel’s PhD research explores autonomously self-assembling space architecture for future habitats and space stations in orbit around the Earth, Moon, and Mars.
- She leverages prior work experience in cloud computing analytics at Microsoft Azure, big data programming at the CERN particle physics laboratory, and Mars2020 rover systems engineering at NASA JPL.
- The daughter of two US Air Force Pilots, Ariel developed a deep commitment to the service model of leadership at a young age, and followed in the footsteps of her glass-ceiling breaking mother’s who was one of the country’s first female instructor pilots.
- Ariel also works to instill in the next generation a sense of investment in the health and well-being of their planet, using space technology to combat the climate crisis.
- She skillfully describes how the use of AI in space architecture will be just as important to how we design spaces on Earth, from commercial and residential real estate to healthcare facilities and more.
Videos
Biography
As a futurist, tech investor, and space architecture pioneer, Ariel Ekblaw, Ph.D., is helping organizations forge sustainable paths forward with the assistance of the latest technology including cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) programs such as GPT-4. CEO of the Aurelia Institute, founder and general partner of deep tech venture capital fund Aurelia Foundry, and founding director of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative (SEI), Ekblaw is a trailblazing researcher and experienced technology leader who offers strategies for inspiring teams working on moonshot ideas.
With the rise of increasingly innovative technology, Ekblaw is able to expertly help leaders understand where to invest resources. A visionary thinker, Ekblaw has led programs at organizations as large as NASA – which she appears in an upcoming IMAX documentary about – and is involved in ground-level funding for small deep tech startups. Her expertise helps leaders in the biggest businesses and the earliest-stage companies alike identify the powerful use cases today for the latest aerospace research of tomorrow.
Editor of the SEI’s “Into the Anthropocosmos” and author of an upcoming book with the MIT Press, Space at Scale: Architecture for Interplanetary Civilization, Ekblaw emphasizes that research on building habitats in space – which she recently discussed with Neil deGrasse Tyson – isn’t just relegated to the stars and astronauts, but is more relevant than ever to businesses and governments on Earth. As AI continues to capture the imaginations of executives, policymakers and everyday citizens alike, Ekblaw skillfully describes how the use of AI in space architecture will be just as important to how we design spaces on Earth, from commercial and residential real estate to healthcare facilities and more.
Ekblaw is committed to getting more women into tech management roles. With leadership truly in her blood – her mother, a trailblazing Air Force pilot instructor, modeled breaking glass ceilings and unlocking life’s possibilities for women leaders – Ekblaw understands the powerful role models women leaders can be.
Topics
Artificial Intelligence: The Embedded Enabler of Our Future Lives
With the unexpected pace of generative AI agents like ChatGPT, how will this technology help us become a space-faring race? In this engaging presentation, founder and general partner of deep tech venture capital fund Aurelia Foundry, Ariel Ekblaw, Ph.D., explains how the current state of conversational AI is not only reminiscent of popular science-fiction TV shows but has also arrived decades earlier than many predicted. With applications for designing and building space habitats, life support systems, and more, Ekblaw illustrates the compelling crossover between AI and space tech and shows audiences how AI can soon become a fully embedded enabler in all areas of our lives.
Inspiring the Next Generation of Women in Tech Leadership
Founding Director of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, Ariel Ekblaw, Ph.D., knows firsthand the value of being inspired to pursue a career in STEM. Her mother, one of the first female pilots in the U.S. Air Force, was a reservist instructor pilot who taught her male counterparts how to fly. In this presentation, Ekblaw explains why promoting STEM careers for women is at the heart of her work and how childhood programs can help parents guide their daughters toward new opportunities in tech. With an emphasis on increasing representation and teaching young women to feel empowered to stay in an organization once they’ve gotten in the door, Ekblaw discusses how the service model of leadership can help young women see STEM as a viable path to meaningful personal, professional and community change. Audiences will understand the importance of cultivating interest among youth in a way that motivates them to take up the banner of women in tech leadership for a new era.
A Futurist’s Approach to Designing Tomorrow’s Deep Tech Opportunities with Informed Optimism
Today’s deep tech and aerospace startups are poised to have paradigm-shifting impacts on the business and society of tomorrow. An expert presenter, futurist Ariel Ekblaw, Ph.D., will reveal how the innovations of new and upcoming deep tech companies can benefit society. From artificial intelligence systems that are fully responsive to human environments and ecosystems to in-space biotech that offers profound new drug discovery and disease treatment due to the unique conditions of research in microgravity, Ekblaw, who is also the founder and general partner of deep tech venture capital fund Aurelia Foundry, lifts the curtain on the wide-ranging use cases of emerging tech innovations. Business executives, investors, and government officials alike will gain insights into all areas of the exciting technology on the horizon, including ethical considerations, potential policy implications, and why we should be cautiously optimistic about the tech of tomorrow.
Designing Habitats for Space Can Help Quell the Climate Crisis on Earth
With climate change leading to worse air quality, more severe weather events, and higher temperatures, how can aerospace research be used to address these critical climate challenges here on Earth? In this fascinating presentation, Founding Director of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, Ariel Ekblaw, Ph.D., shows how research on building habitats in space can be applied to Earth-based homes and offices as well. She explains how advanced AI systems are able to create a responsive habitat with lights, temperature control, and life support systems such as air filtration tuned to the human occupants, even creating sealed systems in areas with poor air quality. Audiences will understand how the most advanced space architecture research can empower businesses, governments, and individual citizens to take part in mitigating the pace of climate change on Earth.
