SFI External Professor Jessika Trancik, a former SFI Omidyar Fellow and current professor at MIT, was named the director of MIT’s Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC) this summer. The SSRC combines expertise from engineering, the physical sciences, and the social sciences to address complex societal challenges related to evolving technology.
Trancik’s research examines the drivers and impacts of the evolution of technology. Her lab at MIT develops insight into why some technologies improve faster than others, and what their effects on society may be. She focuses on advancing general models and theory, and applying these to technologies critical for clean energy and climate change mitigation. Her work seeks to uncover fundamental insight about technology and has helped to shape climate policy, infrastructure planning, and private sector research and development portfolios.
“One question guiding my teaching and research is: How can we develop an understanding of technology that will allow us to be more deliberate and effective in achieving the outcomes we’d like to see? According to Trancik, SFI played an “essential role” in shaping her research approach and will continue to inform the work she does as director of the SSRC.