Kit Parker
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| birth_name = Kevin Kit Parker
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| image = File:Captain Kevin Kit Parker hands out hygiene pack in Kandahar.jpg
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| caption = Captain Kit Parker hands out a hygiene pack to a boy in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan (2007 or earlier)
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| branch = United States Army Reserve
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| rank = Lieutenant colonel
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| laterwork = Faculty at Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
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| website = {{URL|diseasebiophysics.seas.harvard.edu}}
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Kevin Kit Parker is a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/business/learning-to-engineer-a-better-brisket.html|title=Learning to Engineer a Better Brisket|date=19 July 2015|work=The New York Times}} and the Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Harvard University.{{cite news|url=http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/professor-and-paratrooper/|title=Professor and Paratrooper: ENG alum pinpoints cause of traumatic brain injury|last=Dwortzan|first=Mark|date=28 November 2012|work=BU Today|publisher=Boston University|accessdate=8 June 2016}} His research includes cardiac cell biology and tissue engineering, traumatic brain injury, and biological applications of micro- and nanotechnologies. Additional work in his laboratory has included fashion design, marine biology, and the application of counterinsurgency methods to countering transnational organized crime.{{cite web|title=Kit Parker|publisher=Harvard University|url=http://www.seas.harvard.edu/directory/kkparker}}
Early life and education
Parker attended Boston University's College of Engineering and graduated in 1989. He earned a Master of Science degree in 1993 and a doctoral degree in applied physics in 1998 from Vanderbilt University.{{cite web|url=http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/professor-and-paratrooper/|title=Professor and Paratrooper – BU Today – Boston University|date=28 November 2012 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.seas.harvard.edu/directory/kkparker|title=Kit Parker|date=14 July 2016}}
Military career
Parker is a paratrooper who has served in the United States Army since 1992. After the September 11 attacks, he served two tours of duty in Afghanistan.{{cite web|url=http://www.lelaboratoirecambridge.com/kevin-kit-parker|title=Le Laboratoire Cambridge – Art and Design Center}}
In addition to his combat tours, Parker conducted two missions into Afghanistan as part of the Gray Team in 2011.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/10/481568316/how-a-team-of-elite-doctors-changed-the-military-s-stance-on-brain-trauma|title=How A Team Of Elite Doctors Changed The Military's Stance On Brain Trauma|website=NPR }}{{cite journal|url=http://science.sciencemag.org/content/335/6064/news-summaries|title=News this Week|first=American Association for the Advancement of|last=Science|date=6 January 2012|volume=335|issue=6064|pages=18|via=science.sciencemag.org}}
Civilian career
Initially, at Harvard the focus of his research was heart muscle cells. He turned to traumatic brain injury in 2005 after realizing that an Army friend of his, who had received injuries in an IED blast in Iraq in 2005, was suffering from an undiagnosed medical condition rather than a psychological problem.{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/08/480608042/an-army-buddys-call-for-help-sends-a-scientist-on-brain-injury-quest|title=Shots: An Army Buddy's Call For Help Sends A Scientist On A Brain Injury Quest |last=Hamilton|first=Jon|date=8 June 2016|work=NPR|accessdate=8 June 2016}}{{cite news |first=Caroline |last=Alexander |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/healing-soldiers/blast-force.html |title=Blast Force: The Invisible War on the Brain |newspaper=National Geographic magazine |date=February 2015 }}
Other research of Parker's includes designing camouflage using skin cells of cuttlefish and the use of a cotton candy machine to make dressings for wounds.{{cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-science-meets-war-kit-parkers-lab/|title=Where science meets war: Kit Parker's lab|date=4 August 2013|work=CBS News|accessdate=8 June 2016}}
Parker served on the Defense Science Research Council for nearly a decade,{{cite web|url=http://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/kevin-parker/|title=Kevin Kit Parker, Ph.D.|date=5 August 2016}} the Defense Science Board Task Force on Autonomy, and has consulted to other US government agencies as well as the medical device and pharma industry.
In 2011, Parker headed Harvard's committee for reintroducing ROTC at the university.{{cite news |first=Stacy Teicher |last=Khadaroo |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2011/0330/ROTC-returns-to-Harvard-Does-officer-training-program-need-Ivy-League |title=ROTC returns to Harvard: Does officer training program need Ivy League? |newspaper=Christian Science Monitor |date=30 March 2011 |accessdate=10 June 2016 }}
In July 2016, it was announced that The Disease Biophysics Group at Harvard, led by Kit Parker, created a tissue-engineered soft-robotic ray that swims using wave-like fin motions, and turns according to externally applied light cues.{{cite web|url=http://diseasebiophysics.seas.harvard.edu/research/living-soft-robots/|title=Living Soft Robots « SEAS DBG}}
C3 course controversy
In January 2021, students at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences created a petition objecting to Parker's course on Counter-Criminal Continuum policing, or C3 policing. Titled "Data Fusion in Complex Systems: A Case Study," the course promised to engage graduate student researchers to analyze the efficacy of C3 techniques in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The petition objected to the lack of research into the potential harms of C3 policing, particularly the ethical implications for marginalized communities.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/1/26/seas-cancels-policing-course/|title = SEAS Cancels Class on Controversial Policing Strategy After Student Petition | News | the Harvard Crimson}} The Dean of the Engineering School soon announced the class was canceled,{{Cite web|date=2021-01-26|title=Harvard Cancels Course On Policing Techniques After Uproar|url=https://www.wgbh.org/news/education/2021/01/26/harvard-cancels-course-on-policing-techniques-after-uproar|access-date=2021-02-01|website=News|language=en}} and committed to reviewing the process of vetting class offerings.{{Cite web|title=Harvard calls off course amid petition campaign|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/01/27/harvard-calls-course-amid-petition-campaign|access-date=2021-02-01|website=www.insidehighered.com|date=27 January 2021 |language=en}}
Awards
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.seas.harvard.edu/directory/kkparker Kit Parker] at Harvard
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Category:Biological engineering
Category:United States Army officers
Category:Boston University College of Engineering alumni
Category:Vanderbilt University alumni