Franklin E.W. Hadley

Franklin E.W. Hadley serves as Director of Outreach and Communications for MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN), a U.S. Army-sponsored University Affiliated Research Center. A member of the ISN’s senior leadership team, he has broad responsibilities spanning institutional strategy, operations, government engagement, communications, and special initiatives. Working across the Institute, he helps develop and execute institutional priorities, coordinates activities that cross organizational and functional boundaries, and leads initiatives supporting the ISN’s research and national security missions.

Hadley leads a broad portfolio of strategic and institutional activities for the ISN. He plays a central role in the Institute’s relationships with the U.S. Department of War and other government organizations, working to connect sponsor needs and national security challenges with relevant research capabilities at the ISN and across MIT. He develops and supports partnerships with MIT Lincoln Laboratory, other research organizations, and industry, and contributes to efforts to move promising research toward military and commercial applications.

His responsibilities also include the planning and execution of major institutional activities; coordination of cross-cutting initiatives involving ISN leadership, faculty, staff, sponsors, and partners; development of new institutional capabilities; and resolution of operational issues that span established functional areas. He works across the MIT research enterprise to identify opportunities for collaboration and strengthen connections among the ISN, the broader MIT campus, government sponsors, and national security partners.

Hadley directs the ISN’s strategic communications and external-engagement activities, including major briefings and publications, government and partner engagements, institutional events, media and public relations, and efforts to communicate the Institute’s research, capabilities, and impact to technical and nontechnical audiences.

Hadley represents the ISN in national organizations and forums concerned with research, national security, and nanotechnology. He represents the Institute on the FFRDC/UARC Security Council, which brings together security professionals from federally funded research and development centers and university affiliated research centers to share best practices, address the distinctive security requirements of government-sponsored R&D environments, and provide government with an informed research-community perspective on security policy and implementation. He has also contributed to National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine activities concerning nanotechnology and the national research enterprise, including participating in the National Academies’ 2025 Quadrennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative in a session addressing defense, nanotechnology infrastructure, and access.

Hadley also serves as the ISN’s Chief Security Officer, overseeing the Institute’s security program and coordinating with MIT and government partners to support research conducted across appropriate security environments. This role supports the ISN’s continued evolution as a national security research organization and its ability to pursue emerging opportunities involving sensitive government information and research.

Hadley joined the ISN in December 2003 and was named Director of Outreach and Communications in 2006. Over more than two decades at the Institute, he has assumed progressively broader responsibilities in its leadership and operation, contributing to institutional strategy, government engagement, research partnerships, program development, and the execution of cross-cutting initiatives.

In addition to his ISN responsibilities, Hadley serves as Executive Director of the MIT Center for the Exascale Simulation of High-Enthalpy Fluid–Solid Interactions (CHEFSI), a U.S. Department of Energy Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program center sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration. In that role, he helps oversee center operations and supports its interactions with federal partners and the national-laboratory research enterprise.