People > David H. Staelin > Biographical Background

Biographical Background

Professor Staelin has been a member of the EECS faculty and RLE since 1965. He also was Assistant Director, MIT Lincoln Laboratory (1990-2001); Co-founder, MIT Venture Mentoring Service (2000); Chairman, MIT's EECS Graduate Area in Electronics, Computers, and Systems (1976-1990); and a faculty member of MIT's Leaders for Manufacturing Program (1985-1998). He was a director of Environmental Research and Technology, Inc. (1969-1978), and co-founder and Chairman, PictureTel Corp. (1984-87). He is a Fellow of the IEEE and AAAS, and received the 1996 Distinguished Achievement Award from the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society.

Professor Staelin was a member of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (2003-05), Chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Radio Frequency Requirements for Research (1983-86), and a member of several NASA committees and working groups, including the Space Applications Advisory Committee; the Advanced Microwave Sounder Working Group; the Geostationary Platform -- Earth Science Steering Committee; and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Science Steering Group. He was Principal Investigator for the NASA Nimbus-E Microwave Spectrometer (launched 1972 on Nimbus 5), and the Scanning Microwave Spectrometer (launched 1975 on Nimbus 6). He was Co-Investigator of the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Spectrometer (1977 launch, Nimbus 7) and the Voyager Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (1977 launch, Voyagers 1 and 2). Additionally, he is a member of the NASA Atmospheric Infrared Sounder team (Aqua launch 2002), the NPP Science Team (launch ~2010), the NOAA IPO Sounder Operational Algorithm Team, and the NASA Precipitation Mapping Mission Science Team.