Michel-Alexandre Cardin

PhD Candidate

Technology, Management, and Policy

Engineering Systems Division

Michel-Alexandre received a honors Bachelor of Science in Physics from McGill University in 2001, a Master of Applied Science in Aerospace Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2003, and a certificate for the 2003 Summer Session Program at the International Space University. He obtained in June 2007 a Master of Science degree from MIT in the Technology and Policy Program (TPP), and is currently a PhD candidate in Technology, Management, and Policy in MIT's Engineering Systems Division.

Upon completion of his master's degree at the University of Toronto and participation to the ISU program in 2003, Michel-Alexandre travelled in Europe for nearly a year. He joined the Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Group at the Sunnybrook Research Institute where he contributed to the development of a human-computer interface for computer-assisted breast surgery from 2004 to 2005. After joining TPP in September 2005, he spent the summer of 2006 at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School working on the flexible design of Fusion Island, a conceptual idea for producing hydrogen through nuclear fusion. He spent summer 2007 in Singapore working in financial management for the Far East Organization, the largest real estate developer in the city-state. His current doctoral research is devoted to the development of methodologies for the design of flexible engineering systems under supervision of Prof. Richard de Neufville.

Selected Publications:

Cardin, M-A. (2007), "Facing Reality: Design and Management of Flexible Engineering Systems", Master's Thesis, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. [PDF]

M.-A. Cardin, JX Wang, NJ Lobaugh, I Guimont, DB Plewes (2007), “A Quantitative Evaluation of Human Spatial Coordination Interfaces for Computer-Assisted Surgery”, Computer Aided Surgery, 12(2), pp. 1-12. [PDF]

Broniatowski, D., Cardin, M-A., Dong, S., Hale, M.J., Jordan, N.C., Laufer, D. R., Mathieu, C., Owens, B. D., Richards, M.G., Weigel, A. L. (2006), “Evaluating Win-Win Aspects of Technological Cooperation in Space Exploration”, 57th International Astronautical Congress, Valencia, Spain. [PDF]

Cardin, M-A., Nuttall, W.J., de Neufville, R., Dahlgren, J. (2007), “Extracting Value from Uncertainty: A Methodology for Engineering Systems Design”, 17th Annual International Symposium of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), San Diego. [PDF]

M.-A. Cardin, JX Wang, DB Plewes (2005), “A Method to Evaluate Human Spatial Coordination
Interfaces for Computer-Assisted Surgery”, paper published at the 8th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, Palm Springs, USA. [PDF]

M.-A. Cardin (2004), “Why space power?” Journal of Future Studies, vol. 8(3), Taiwan, pp. 1-10. [PDF]

Cardin, M-A. (2003), "A Hybrid Object Recognition System for Planetary Exploration Robots", Master's Thesis, University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, Toronto, Canada. [PDF]

M.-A. Cardin, E. J. P. Earon, G. M. T. D’Eleuterio (2003), “Seeing is Believing: A Hybrid Visual Recognition System for Mobile Network Robotics”, paper published at the 7th International Symposium in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automation in Space (i-SAIRAS), Nara, Japan. [PDF]