Melissa Choi has been named the following director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, effective July 1. Currently assistant director of the laboratory, Choi succeeds Eric Evans, who will step down on June 30 after 18 years as director.
Sharing the news in a letter to MIT faculty and staff today, Vice President for Research Ian Waitz noted Choi’s 25-year profession of “outstanding technical and advisory leadership,” each at MIT and in service to the defense community.
“Melissa has a fabulous technical breadth in addition to excellent leadership and management skills, and he or she has presented a compelling strategic vision for the Laboratory,” Waitz wrote. “She is a thoughtful, intuitive leader who prioritizes communication, collaboration, mentoring, and skilled development as foundations for an organizational culture that advances her vision for Lab-wide excellence in service to the nation.”
Choi’s appointment marks a brand new chapter in Lincoln Laboratory’s storied history working to maintain the nation protected and secure. As a federally funded research and development center operated by MIT for the Department of Defense, the laboratory has provided the federal government an independent perspective on critical science and technology problems with national interest for greater than 70 years. Distinctive amongst national R&D labs, the laboratory makes a speciality of each long-term system development and rapid demonstration of operational prototypes, to guard and defend the nation against advanced threats. In tandem with its role in developing technology for national security, the laboratory’s integral relationship with the MIT campus community enables impactful partnerships on fundamental research, teaching, and workforce development in critical science and technology areas.
“In a time of great global instability and fast-evolving threats, the mission of Lincoln Laboratory has never been more vital to the nation,” says MIT President Sally Kornbluth. “It is usually vital that the laboratory apply government-funded, cutting-edge technologies to unravel critical problems in fields from space exploration to climate change. Together with her depth and breadth of experience, keen vision, and simple style, Melissa Choi has earned enormous trust and respect across the Lincoln and MIT communities. As Eric Evans steps down, we couldn’t ask for a finer successor.”
Choi has served as assistant director of Lincoln Laboratory since 2019, with oversight of 5 of the Lab’s nine technical divisions: Biotechnology and Human Systems, Homeland Protection and Air Traffic Control, Cyber Security and Information Sciences, Communication Systems, and ISR and Tactical Systems. Engaging deeply with the needs of the broader defense community, Choi served for six years on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, with a term as vice chair, and was appointed to the DoD’s Threat Reduction Advisory Committee. She is currently a member of the national Defense Science Board’s Everlasting Subcommittee on Threat Reduction.
Having dedicated her entire profession to Lincoln Laboratory, Choi says her long tenure reflects a commitment to the lab’s work and community.
“Through my profession, I actually have been fortunate to have had incredibly revolutionary and motivated people to collaborate with as we solve critical national security challenges,” Choi says. “Continuing to work with such a robust, laboratory-wide team as director is some of the exciting elements of the job for me.”
Success through collaboration
Choi got here to Lincoln Laboratory as a technical staff member in 1999, with a doctoral degree in applied mathematics. As she progressed to steer research teams, including the Systems and Evaluation Group after which the Lively Optical Systems Group, Choi learned the worth of pooling expertise from researchers across the laboratory.
“I used to be capable of shift between a whole lot of different projects very early on in my profession, from radar systems to sensor networks. Because I wasn’t an authority on the time in any considered one of those fields, I learned to achieve out to the many various experts on the laboratory,” Choi says.
Choi maintained that mindset through all of her roles on the laboratory, including as head of the Homeland Protection and Air Traffic Control Division, which she led from 2014 and 2019. In that role, she helped bring together diverse technology and human systems expertise to ascertain the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Group. Amongst other achievements, the group provided support to FEMA and other emergency response agencies after the 2017 hurricane season caused unprecedented flooding and destruction across swaths of Texas, Florida, the Caribbean, and Puerto Rico.
“We were capable of rapidly prototype and field multiple technologies to assist with the recovery efforts,” Choi says. “It was a tremendous example of how we are able to apply our national security focus to other critical national problems.”
Outside of her technical and advisory achievements, Choi has made an impact at Lincoln Laboratory through her commitments to an inclusive workplace. In 2020, she co-led the study “Stopping Discrimination and Harassment and Promoting an Inclusive Culture at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.” The work was a part of a longstanding commitment to supporting colleagues within the workplace through extensive mentoring and participation in worker resource groups.
“I actually have felt a way of belonging on the laboratory because the minute I got here here, and I’ve had the advantage of support from leaders, mentors, and advocates since then. Improving support systems may be very vital to me,” says Choi, who will likely be the primary woman to steer Lincoln Laboratory. “Everyone should give you the option to feel that they belong and may thrive.”
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Choi helped the laboratory navigate the disruptions — with its operations deemed essential — which she says taught her lots about leading through adversity.
“We solve hard problems on the laboratory on a regular basis, but to get thrown right into a problem that we had never seen before was a learning experience,” Choi says. “We saw the complete lab come together, from leadership to every of the divisions and departments.”
That synergy has also helped Choi form strategic partnerships inside and outdoors of the laboratory to boost its mission. Drawing on her knowledge of the laboratory’s capabilities and its history of developing impactful systems for NASA and NOAA, Choi recently led the formation of a brand new Civil Space Systems and Technology Office.
“We were seeing this convergence between Department of Defense and civilian space initiatives, as going to the Moon, Mars, and the cislunar area [between the earth and moon] has change into an enormous emphasis for the complete country generally,” Choi explains. “It appeared like time for us to drag those two sides together and grow our NASA portfolio. It gives us an incredible opportunity to collaborate with MIT centrally, and it ties in with our other strategic directions.”
Constructing on success
Choi believes her trajectory through the technical ranks of Lincoln Laboratory will help her lead it now.
“That have gives me a view into what it’s like at multiple levels of the laboratory,” Choi says. “I’ve seen what’s worked and what hasn’t worked, and I’ve learned from different perspectives and leadership styles. Strong leaders are crucial, but it surely’s vital to acknowledge that the majority of the work gets done by the technical, support, and administrative employees across our divisions, departments, and offices. Remembering being an early staff member helps you understand how hard and exciting the work is, and likewise how critical those contributions are for our mission.”
Choi says she can be looking forward to expanding the laboratory’s collaboration with MIT’s primary campus.
“So many areas, from AI to climate to space, have opportunity for us to come back together,” Choi says. “We even have some great models of progress, just like the Beaver Works Center or the Department of the Air Force – MIT Artificial Intelligence Accelerator program, that we are able to construct from. Everyone here may be very enthusiastic about doing that, and it can absolutely be a priority for me.”
Ultimately, Choi plans to steer Lincoln Laboratory using the approach that’s proven successful throughout her profession.
“I consider very much that I mustn’t be the neatest person within the room, and I depend on the smart people working with me,” Choi says. “I’m a part of a team and I work with a team to steer. That has at all times been my style: Set a vision and goals, and empower and support the people I work with to make decisions and construct on that strategy.”
