Human space exploration requires more than rocket science.

To extend human presence into deep space and onto other celestial bodies, spectacular feats of engineering and technology will be essential. But to survive and thrive in radically different environments, we must also carefully consider how to develop sustainable habitats, just institutions, and healthy communities beyond Earth. The 2026 Gellert Family Science Symposium at Harvard Radcliffe Institute will bring together leading experts to explore the contours of a human future in space.

Program

1 PM
Welcome

• Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School; professor of history, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences 

1:07 PM
Session 1: Structures and Frameworks

• Ariel Ekblaw, founder and CEO, Aurelia Institute 
• Michelle L.D. Hanlon, executive director, Center for Air and Space Law and assistant professor of practice, University of Mississippi School of Law; cofounder, president, and CEO, For All Moonkind 
• Dava J. Newman, Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and MacVicar Faculty Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; director, MIT Media Lab; former NASA deputy administrator 
• Moderator: Nicole Mortillaro, senior science reporter, CBC News 

2:15 PM
Break

2:30 PM
Session 2: Health and Self

• Afshin Beheshti, professor of surgery; professor of computational and systems biology; professor of bioengineering; director, Center for Space Biomedicine, Trivedi Institute for Space and Global Biomedicine; associate director, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh 
• Dorit Donoviel, executive director, Translational Research Institute for Space Health and associate professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Baylor College of Medicine 
• Nick Kanas, professor of psychiatry, emeritus, University of California, San Francisco; professor of aerospace medicine, College of Medicine and Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine, University of Central Florida 
• Moderator: Erika Nesvold, astrophysicist engineer, Universe Sandbox astronomy simulation software; cofounder and executive director, JustSpace Alliance

3:40 PM
Break 

3:50 PM
Keynote

• Cady Coleman, former NASA astronaut and retired US Air Force Colonel; author of Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change (Penguin Life, 2024). Coleman flew twice on the Space Shuttle Columbia and spent almost six months living and working as lead robotics and lead science officer aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A research affiliate at MIT’s Media Lab, she is a regular contributor to ABC News and cohosted Arizona State University’s Mission: Interplanetary podcast. Coleman coached actress Sandra Bullock from the ISS in preparation for Bullock’s astronaut role in Gravity. 

4:40 PM
Closing Remarks

• Edo Berger, codirector of the science program, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; professor of astronomy, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

4:45 PM
Student Poster Session and Ideas Fair with Audience Reception
Sheerr Room, Fay House