Dr. Kaltenegger is an award-winning astrophysicist and astrobiologist, the Founding Director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell, Professor in Astronomy at Cornell University, and author of Alien Earths: The Science for Planet Hunting in the Cosmos (April 16 2024). She is a pioneer and world-leading expert in modeling habitable worlds and their light fingerprints and has spent the last decade finding new ways to spot life in the cosmos, working with NASA and ESA from Austria to the Netherlands, Harvard, Germany, and now Cornell. Prof. Kaltenegger is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Kaltenegger served on the National Science Foundation's Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (AAAC), and on NASA senior review of operating missions, among others. She is a Science Team Member of NASA's TESS Mission and the NIRISS instrument on JWST.