MIT astrophysicist Sara Seager to present at Penn State Oct. 29
Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present the joint Science Achievement Graduate Fellows-Russell Marker Lecture in Astronomy and Astrophysics on Tuesday, Oct. 29, on the Penn State University Park campus. This free public lecture is sponsored by the Penn State Eberly College of Science.
The lecture, titled "Exoplanets and the Search for Life Beyond Earth," will be held in Freeman Auditorium, in the HUB-Robeson Center. Doors will open to the public at 6 p.m., with the lecture starting at 7 p.m.
Lecture abstract
For thousands of years, inspired by the star-filled dark night sky, people have wondered what lies beyond Earth. Today, the search for signs of life is a key factor in modern-day planetary exploration. Astronomers have found thousands of planets that orbit nearby stars, called exoplanets. The newly launched James Webb Space Telescope will enable astronomers to study gases in rocky exoplanet atmospheres, including gases that might be attributed to life. Seager will share the latest advances in this revolutionary field.
About the speaker
Sara Seager is an astrophysicist and a professor of physics, professor of planetary science, and professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, where she holds the Class of 1941 Professor Chair. She has been a pioneer in the vast and unknown world of exoplanets, or planets that orbit stars other than the sun. Her groundbreaking research ranges from the foundation of exoplanet atmospheres to innovative theories about life on other worlds to development of novel space mission concepts.
In space missions for planetary discovery and exploration, she was the deputy science director of the MIT-led NASA Explorer-class mission TESS; was principal investigator of the Jet Propulsion Lab–MIT CubeSat ASTERIA; and is a lead of the starshade mission concepts to find a true Earth analog orbiting a sunlike star. Currently she leads the Morning Star Missions to Venus, a series of small, focused missions to find signs of life or life itself in Venus’ atmosphere.
Her research earned her a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” and many other accolades, including membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences; the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics; and one of Canada’s highest civilian honors, appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada. Seager is the author of “The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir.”
About the Science Achievement Graduate Fellows Lectures
The Science Achievement Graduate Fellows Lectures feature distinguished speakers in science and mathematics and are an outreach of the SAGF scholarship program in the Penn State Eberly College of Science.
Established in 2018, the SAGF scholarships are awarded annually to outstanding graduate students seeking a doctoral degree in each of the college's seven departments and who are interested in the advancement of women and gender-diverse individuals in the sciences and related fields. The SAGF scholarships recognize women and gender-diverse individuals — both underrepresented groups in the sciences and mathematics — who have a record of significant professional achievements in their field and who are role models for the students in the college. Each scholarship is named in honor of an outstanding woman scientist or mathematician who not only made groundbreaking discoveries but also blazed the trail for others who have followed in their footsteps. The program fellows host two distinguished lectures a year to honor the women scientists for whom the scholarships are named.
About the Marker Lectures
The Marker Lectures were established in 1984 through a gift from the late Russell Earl Marker, professor emeritus of organic chemistry at Penn State, whose pioneering synthetic methods revolutionized the steroid hormone industry and opened the door to the current era of hormone therapies, including the birth control pill.
The Marker endowment allows the Penn State Eberly College of Science to present annual Marker Lectures in astronomy and astrophysics, the chemical sciences, evolutionary biology, genetic engineering, the mathematical sciences, and the physical sciences.
More information and access assistance
For more information about the lecture or for access assistance, contact Chelsey Fisher at cms5933@psu.edu or 814-865-0419.