Lucianne Walkowicz is an American astronomer based at the Adler Planetarium noted for her research contributions in stellar magnetic activity and its impact on planetary suitability for extraterrestrial life. Since 2008, she has been the chair of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Transients and Variable Stars collaboration and is the founding director of the LSST Data Science Fellowship program. She is internationally recognized for her advocacy for conservation of dark night skies, and was named a 2011 National Academy of Science Kavli Fellow and a 2012 TED Senior Fellow.In 2017, she was named the fifth Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology in the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. She began began her tenure October 1, 2017, working on a project titled “Fear of a Green Planet: Inclusive Systems of Thought for Human Exploration of Mars.” Her project aims to create an inclusive framework for human exploration of Mars, encompassing both cutting-edge research on Mars as a place of essential astrobiological significance, while weaving in lessons from the diverse histories of exploration on Earth.Walkowicz holds a BS in physics and astronomy from Johns Hopkins University, and an MS and PhD in astronomy from the University of Washington. She got her taste for astronomy as an undergrad at Johns Hopkins, testing detectors for the Hubble Space Telescope’s new camera.She appeared in Werner Herzog's 2016 documentary Lo and Behold.She appeared in National Geographic's seriesMARS.