Dr. Sara Seager
Professor, Planetary Science, Physics, and Aeronautics and Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Sara Seager is a Professor of Planetary Science, Professor of Physics, and a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she holds the Class of 1941 Professor Chair. She has been a pioneer in the research field of exoplanets, with ground-breaking work ranging from the detection of exoplanet atmospheres to innovative theories about life on other worlds, to development of novel space mission concepts. Professor Seager was the Deputy Science Director of the MIT-led NASA Explorer-class mission TESS, was PI of the JPL-MIT CubeSat ASTERIA, and was a lead of the Starshade Mission concepts to find a true Earth analog orbiting a Sun-like star. Her most recent focus its on leading the Morning Star Missions to Venus international consortium. Among other accolades she is a MacArthur Fellow, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, has been awarded the APS Magellanic Premium Medal, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society Gold Medal, is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and has Asteroid 9729 named in her honor. She is the author of the Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir.
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