Kathleen Toerpe, PhD

Kathleen D. Toerpe, PhD, is a social and cultural historian who researches the human dimension of outer space through an emerging field called “astrosociology.” She is the Deputy CEO for Programs and Special Projects with the Astrosociology Research Institute, and volunteers as a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador. She has served as a Historian-in-Residence and a museum Educational Curator and has provided local outreach programming, oral history program management and exhibit curation. As a research and applied astrosociologist, she investigates how individuals and societies react and respond to space exploration and astrobiological discoveries, and how those responses can reflect, predict, inform or mitigate social and cultural conflict here on earth.