Stamford, CT: Fierce Planets - Inspiration of Science and Art

Kate Zernike is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and national correspondent for The New York Times, where she has covered education, politics, Congress, criminal justice, and major national events since 2000. She was part of the Times team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for coverage of Al Qaeda and the September 11 attacks, and previously received honors from the Education Writers Association and the Benjamin Fine Award. She is the author of The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science, named one of the best books of 2023 by The Washington Post and The New York Times Book Review, and Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America.

Sabine Stanley is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Planetary Science at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Space Exploration Sector at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). She leads MagPI, the Magnetism & Planetary Interiors research group, where she and her team use computer simulations and data from spacecraft missions to gain insights into the interiors of asteroids, exoplanets, moons, and planets. Dr. Stanley was a participating scientist on NASA’s Mars InSight mission, and is the author of What’s Hidden Inside Planets?

Ray Jayawardhana is Provost and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. A prolific researcher, he explores planets beyond our solar system and the origins of stars and brown dwarfs, using the largest telescopes on the ground and in space. He is a core member of the science team for the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRISS instrument. He is also an award-winning writer, with four popular books and over 120 articles for the public, including in The Economist, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. His research, writing, and outreach have led to numerous accolades, including the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Carl Sagan Medal. As Provost, he is responsible for advancing the University’s research, teaching and outreach mission, and partners closely with President Daniels to realize the ambitious goals of the Ten for One strategic plan. He oversees its ten schools as well as a number of interdisciplinary programs, academic centers and support functions.