Program Overview

Bioastronautics Training Program

The Bioastronautics Training Program is an interdisciplinary field that combines biology, medicine, engineering, and space research to address the challenges of human protection and integrative physiology in space. This program is designed to equip graduate students with the skills and knowledge necessary to pursue careers in space life sciences, aerospace engineering, and space medicine.

Program Overview

The Bioastronautics Training Program is offered as a specialization within the Medical Engineering and Medical Physics (MEMP) PhD Program at Harvard-MIT. The program provides students with a combination of science and engineering coursework, clinical experiences, space-related research apprenticeships, and thesis research options at MIT, Harvard, and associated hospitals.

Academic Program

The academic program for the Bioastronautics Training Program includes a range of courses that provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the field. These courses include:

• 16.422 Human Supervisory Control of Automated Systems
• 16.432J Aerospace Biomedical and Life Support Engineering
• 16.453 Human Factors Engineering
• 16.851 Introduction to Satellite Engineering
• 16.853 Advanced Satellite Engineering
• 16.89J Space Systems Engineering
• 16.893 Engineering the Space Shuttle
• 16.895 Engineering Apollo: The Moon Project as a Complex System
• HST.542J Quantitative and Clinical Physiology
• HST.560J Radiation Biophysics
• HST.971J Strategic Decision Making in Biomedical Enterprise
• HST.020 Musculoskeletal Pathophysiology
• 2.183J Biomechanics and Neural Control of Movement

Students may also complete a summer internship at a NASA Center or industry partner. Additionally, students have the option to use either the Aerospace Medicine Clerkship at Johnson Space Center or the Space Medicine Short Course at University of Texas Medical Branch to fulfill the elective portion of the Introduction to Clinical Medicine and Medical Engineering (HST202).

Admissions

Applications to the PhD Program in Bioastronautics should be made as part of an application to MEMP and are due by December 1 of each year for the following September. Applicants must meet the general requirements for MEMP applicants, which include a baccalaureate degree in engineering or physical science and demonstration of a sustained interest in applications of engineering and physical science to biology or medicine through courses, research, and/or work experience. In addition, candidates for MEMP/Bioastronautics must have completed at least a bachelor's degree or substantial minor in a related area such as aeronautics and astronautics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, mathematics, or physics, as well as coursework and/or research experiences demonstrating a sustained interest in space life sciences.

Research

Bioastronautics students typically pursue their thesis research with one of the Harvard or MIT faculty who are also principal investigators on NASA Life Sciences grants. The following faculty members and research labs are associated with this program, offering a wide range of opportunities for student research on space life sciences:

• Laura Barger, PhD: Division of Sleep Medicine, HMS - Sleep deprivation
• Mary Bouxsein, PhD: Bouxsein Lab, Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies, BIDMC - Effects of gravity on bone
• James Cartreine, PhD: Department of Psychiatry, BWH - Countermeasure for managing interpersonal conflicts in space
• Charles Czeisler, MD, PhD: Division of Sleep Medicine, HMS - Sleep medicine; Neurobiology of the human circadian pacemaker
• Kevin Duda, PhD: Draper Laboratory - Human-automation interactions; Performance analysis of lunar lander supervisory control
• Kathryn Held, PhD: Cellular & Molecular Radiation Oncology Laboratory, MGH - Radiation biology
• Jeffrey Hoffman, PhD: Human Systems Lab, MIT - Thermal control during astronaut traverses
• Faisal Karmali, PhD: Jenks Vestibular Lab, MEEI - Vestibular and visual cues for spatial orientation; Human motion perception in changing gravity levels
• Elizabeth Klerman, MD, PhD: Division of Sleep Medicine, HMS - Countermeasures to reduce sleep disruption and improve performance and alertness in space
• Steven Lockley, PhD: Division of Sleep Medicine, HMS - Light exposure to facilitate circadian adaptation and enhance alertness
• Dava Newman, PhD: MIT Media Lab (Director) - Human Systems Lab, MIT - Astronaut musculoskeletal performance, Advanced spacesuit and life support systems, Exercise countermeasure technology
• Charles Oman, PhD: Human Systems Lab, MIT - Robotics operations
• Lonnie Petersen, MD, PhD: Aerospace Physiology Lab (APL), MIT - Cardiovascular, cerebral and exercise physiology
• Aleksandra Stankovic, PhD, MS: Center for Space Medicine Research - Human health and performance in long-duration spaceflight; terrestrial applications of spaceflight biomedical research
• Gary Strangman, PhD: Neural Systems Group, MGH - Countermeasures for in-flight depression; Distributed system for spaceflight biomedical support
• Roger Summons, PhD: Summons Lab; Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT - Geobiology; Astrobiology
• Conrad Wall, PhD: Jenks Vestibular Lab, MEEI - Vestibular function

This program provides students with a comprehensive education and research experience in the field of bioastronautics, preparing them for careers in space life sciences, aerospace engineering, and space medicine.