Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory Director

Stow-Munroe Falls grad becomes national security pioneer

He may have grown up in the small city of Stow, Ohio, but today the work of Dr. Eric D. Evans affects the security of the entire nation. Dr. Evans is the Director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Laboratory, which focuses on advanced technology development and system prototyping for national security needs. His world-changing background in research and engineering began with public education. "I got a great education in the Stow-Munroe Falls School District,” said Evans. “I was well prepared for the many years of engineering school that followed.” Evans graduated in 1979 from Stow-Munroe Falls High School. He went on to earn B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University. As MIT Lincoln Laboratory director, Evans is responsible for the Laboratory's strategic direction and overall technical and administrative operations. The Lab is a federally funded research and development center run by MIT for the U.S. Department of Defense. Laboratory-sponsored programs include work for the military services and other government agencies, such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Laboratory has 3800 employees whose backgrounds include electrical engineering, physics, mathematics, and computer science. Dr. Evans is the vice-chair of the Defense Science Board (DSB), where he has served on several studies, including as co-leader of DSB Task Forces on Improvised Explosive Devices and Cyber Security, and Reliability in a Digital Cloud.  Dr. Evans has also been an advisor to the U.S. Strategic Command Senior Advisory Group, a member of the Massport Security Advisory Council and served as a member of the Los Alamos and Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory Nuclear Mission Committee. In addition, Dr. Evans is the author of over 50 journal and conference publications. In 1996, he and his co-authors received the M. Barry Carlton Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society for a paper on advanced radar signal processing. “I grew up in a community that strongly supported their schools,” Evans said. “We were challenged in class, but we also had a lot of fun."  

Educational Inspiration

"The teachers really cared about their students,” Evans said. “I remember them taking much time to teach students as individuals. They would walk around the classroom and check on how everyone was doing with the problem sets. I was given some independent study projects throughout the math program. They would give extra time to anyone having difficulty. Their interest made me work harder.”

Giving Back

Dr. Evans is President of the National GEM Consortium Executive Committee supporting graduate STEM education for underrepresented minorities.
Current as of 3/28/2024 10:01 pm