Catalyst Collaborative@MIT (CC@MIT) creates and presents theater that deepens public engagement in science, providing a vibrant tapestry of experiences and emotions while making profound human connections with science.  

Located only blocks away from the MIT Campus, Central Square Theater collaborates with MIT, the nation’s longest on-going partnership between a professional theater and a major research institution.

Catalyst Collaborative@MIT’s accomplishments:  

• 35 productions 

• 5 new play commissions 

• 10 world premieres

• Over 175 pre & post performance conversations and panels with scientists and artists 

• Over 45 stage readings presented in more than 20 venues across 3 states, including:

• The American Academy of Arts & Sciences;

• MIT Museum;

• Community organizations, and schools. 

• 15 Education and Outreach residencies created specifically for young people ages 10-25 

• The month long virtual Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science Festival in 2021

• Over 300  Scientists and Artists engaged in the past 20 years.

Special Events – Upcoming!

The Women in Science Brunch,  February 9, 2025 
Book Your Ticket

 

 

The Honorable Dr. Dava Newman is the Director of the MIT Media Lab. She holds the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics chair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is a Harvard–MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology faculty member. She was awarded a MacVicar Faculty chair for making significant contributions to MIT undergraduate education. She served as NASA Deputy Administrator (2015-17), the first female engineer in this role, and was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. Her research and teaching expertise include aerospace biomedical engineering, human performance, advanced space suit design, AI/ML for climate, design, leadership development, innovation, and technology and policy. Newman has been principal investigator (PI) on five spaceflight missions flown aboard the Space Shuttle, Russian Mir Space Station and the International Space Station, and is best known for her revolutionary BioSuit™ planetary spacesuit. Recently, she co-founded EarthDNA with partner Guillermo Trotti to accelerate solutions for spaceship Earth’s Ocean, Land and Air subsystems by curating satellite data to make the world work for 100% of humanity. She has >350 publications and has supervised >100 MIT graduate students and 200 undergraduates. Her teaching and research mantra is to: love, act, design, and innovate (LADI).

With a B.S. in Medical Technology, Susan started her career as a lab technician doing electron  microscopy for a neuropathologist at the University of Arizona College of Human Medicine.  While she found learning new things held her interest, eventually tasks became repetitive and  she discovered her passion was problem solving. While working, she completed engineering  undergraduate classes and enrolled in the M.S. degree program for Renewable Energy  Engineering. Her master’s thesis investigated material closure and energetics for the Biosphere  2 agriculture biome, starting her down the path of closed system life support. 

Susan was hired by The Boeing Company to lead system integration of the Environmental  Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for the International Space Station, and later to work  with Boeing’s Advanced Civil Space concept development team on NASA contracts for Moon  and Mars mission planning. She took a leave of absence to pursue her Sc.D. in Environmental  Health Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health to complement her engineering degree  for designing systems to support humans in space. 

Rather than return to aerospace, Susan joined an environmental consulting company to work at  the nexus of occupant health, building systems, and architecture, conducting commercial and  residential building inspections and diagnostics for energy efficiency and indoor environmental  quality. Once again feeling pigeon-holed by her job assignments, Susan applied for a Fellowship  at Columbia University’s Earth Institute to conduct post-doctoral research on household energy  use and human health in rural Rwanda. After completion of her post-doc she was hired as  Infrastructure coordinator for the UNDP Millennium Villages Project in Rwanda. During her time  there, the power of art/dance/theater helped to bridge the communication gap between science  and health programs and rural communities. 

Upon her return to the U.S. Susan joined the faculty at Appalachian State University in Boone,  NC as a healthy building and renewable energy specialist, with sustainability as a core guiding  principle. Approaching retirement, an unexpected phone call from a former Boeing colleague  lead her back to aerospace as PrincipalTechnologist for Human Spaceflight at Blue Origin in  Seattle, WA. Her responsibilities include creating a team and in-house capabilities to develop  human support systems, including closed loop air and water technologies which may someday  be applied to environmental challenges on Earth.

Irene Porro, Ph.D. | Director of the Christa McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning at Framingham State University 

Irene received her Ph.D. in Space Science and Technology from the University of Padova, Italy. Before entering the field of education, she was a researcher in astrophysics at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Max Planck Institut für Astronomie, in Heidelberg, Germany. She then joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she became the Director of the Education and Outreach Group of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. 

In 2014, Irene joined Framingham State University as the Director of the Christa McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning. During her tenure, she established the Center as a modern hub for integrated and project-based learning and fostered a forward-looking vision for the recent redesign of the Center’s facilities. Today the Center is equipped with fully immersive learning environments which provide inclusive access to contextualized STEM engagement and explorations of real-world issues for K-12, college students and life-long learners alike. The new facilities are ideal to create projects at the intersection of science and the arts. 

Irene has been serving in leadership positions at both private and public institutions of higher education and she has been responsible for the growth and management of a rich portfolio of informal science learning experiences for audiences of all ages. These experiences range from youth programs to museum exhibit development, from science festivals to planetarium and science theater performances. Using a system thinking approach, she has been recruiting teams of professionals from diverse fields and backgrounds whose perspective and expertise have been critical in the design of programs that integrate the learning of STEM within historical, social and cultural contexts relevant to the life of the learners we serve.  

Deeply aware of the benefits and sense of empowerment that exposure to the integration of art and science learning experiences produces, she is proud to serve on the advisory board for Catalyst Collaborative @ MIT and to work to support initiatives where both the arts and the sciences are fully respected and valued.

Science Soireé – CC@MIT 20th Anniversary Gala Celebration, April 22, 2025 

 

Community and Education Events

Coolidge Corner: Science on Screen
MIT Museum-  Science on Stage PLAY Lab
Tour: Inventing Samanta
Youth Underground Arts and Science Fellowship 

Join the Women in Science Producer’s Circle!

The Women in Science Circle is built on the foundation of  enthusiasm and investment of the Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science Productions – six productions over the past seasons that have invited audiences and actors to step  into the worlds of women exploring the Cosmos to DNA, and resonated with their challenges in their fields and their groundbreaking discoveries.  As part of the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT 20th Anniversary,  this season we bring to stage two Women in Science productions,  Galileo’s Daughter and the world premiere of  S P A C E.   

Join with a Gift Today!

All contributions towards the Circle will be MATCHED up to $25,000!

As a Member of the Women in Science Circle you are supporting plays that uplift the work of known and unknown scientists who have made groundbreaking contributions to science as well as enjoy exclusive benefits. 

Benefits are commensurate with giving level and include:

• Acknowledgement in the CC@MIT 20th Anniversary and Women in Science Circle digital and print materials begins with a donation of $100+
• Special Discount Code for CC@MIT productions in 2024-25 Season, and Early Ticket Access and Circle Member Discount to the Women in Science Brunch (Fall 2024) and Early Ticket Access to the CC@MIT 20th Anniversary Science Soireé (Spring 2025) begins with a donation of  $250+
• Invitation  to Women in Science Production Closing Parties and Cast & Creative Team Meet & Greets begins with a donation of $500+
• Invitation to Circle Member Exclusive Events like attending a Director’s Rehearsal, begin with a donation of  $1,000+
• Invitation to attend as Circle Member Guest(s) at the Women in Science Brunch and Concierge services begins with a donation of $2,500+
• Special  Sponsor acknowledgement and premium seating at the CC@MIT 20th Anniversary Science Soireé (Spring 2025); and customized benefits begins with a donation of $5,000+