HILLEL DEI

Matthew Isakowitz Fellow, Class of 2023

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and General Mathematics, Minor in Economics

Host Company: Blue Origin

Hillel Dei is a third-year undergraduate student at MIT. He is currently pursuing a double-major in aerospace engineering with a concentration in nano-scale materials and in general mathematics. Hillel is a firm proponent of the idea that of all aspects of aerospace engineering, aerospace materials are the limiting factor of most design cases, and are therefore of utmost importance. After all, the first question asked during the analysis of a component is, "What's it made of?" As such, Hillel aims to take steps beyond merely answering this question and subsequently predict, then design the next generation of aerospace materials. This would hopefully contribute towards the eventual creation of self-healing or programmable matter for aerospace applications.

This propelled an extensive history in research, with the Radovitzky Research Group, where he worked on computational mechanics and simulation of fracture mechanics across material interfaces. Then, he worked in the MIT Nano-Engineered Composite Aerospace Structures Laboratory on Carbon and Boron Nitride Nanotubes for water filtration and blue energy membranes. Most recently, he has been a member of the MIT Aerospace Materials and Structures Laboratory, gathering data on the ignition and combustibility of superalloys and trying to identify means of strengthening them. 

Outside of a classroom or laboratory, Hillel has a fondness for watching football (not the American kind), playing open-world games, and reading Silver Age DC Comics. 

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