# Lucianne Walkowicz

lucianne walkowicz ( WAW-kə-witch; born 1979) is an American astronomer based at the Adler Planetarium noted for their research contributions in stellar magnetic activity and its impact on planetary suitability for extraterrestrial life. == Career == Since 2008, Walkowicz 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. They are internationally recognized for their advocacy for conservation of dark night skies, and were named a 2011 National Academy of Science Kavli Fellow and a 2012 TED Senior Fellow.In 2017, Walkowicz 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.