Lisa Kaltenegger is an Austrian astronomer and Associate Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University, where she has served since 2014. She is also the Director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell, a position she has held since 2014. Her research focuses on the modeling and characterization of exoplanets and the search for life beyond Earth, with a particular emphasis on the evolution of atmospheric biosignatures over geological time and their implications for current and future telescopes.