Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a planetary scientist and the Principal Investigator of the NASA Psyche space mission. She is Director of the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory. Previously, she held positions at Arizona State University, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and MIT. Elkins-Tanton’s research concerns the formation and evolution of rocky planets and the art and science of creating effective teams and of future-facing educational practices. Asteroid (8252) Elkins-Tanton is named for her, as is the mineral elkinstantonite. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Elkins-Tanton received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from MIT. Her book Mission Ready: How to Build Teams that Perform under Pressure will be released in April, 2026.