Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a renowned planetary scientist and the Director of the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also the Principal Investigator of NASA’s Psyche mission, the first space mission to explore a metallic asteroid, currently en route to its target with a planned arrival in 2029.
With a career spanning over two decades, Elkins-Tanton has led top scientific institutions including the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Science and the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Her research has helped unlock the mysteries of planetary formation and volcanic activity, and she has played leading roles in Mars, Venus, and lunar exploration planning.
She is also the founder of educational initiatives such as the Interplanetary Initiative and Beagle Learning, and the author of A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman, a memoir reflecting on science, leadership, and exploration.