KINGSTON, R.I. – Oct. 19, 2026 – Over the past decade, Lisa Kaltenegger, founding director of the Cornell University Carl Sagan Institute, has worked with NASA, academic institutions and multiple countries to find new ways to spot life in the cosmos.
Finding such life has significant implications when it comes to understanding outer space more broadly. Kaltenegger will share deep insights as well as the challenges faced in searching for life in the cosmos in her University of Rhode Island Honors Colloquium lecture, “Searching for New Earths,” on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Hosted by the Honors Program, URI’s premier lecture series examines the science of outer space. Lubin will speak at 5:30 p.m. in Edwards Hall on the Kingston Campus as part of the fall colloquium series, “Interstellar Exploration: Journey Beyond Your Limits.” Lubin’s talk will also be livestreamed on the colloquium’s website.
An award-winning astrophysicist and astrobiologist, Kaltenegger is a pioneer and world-leading expert in modeling habitable worlds and their light fingerprints. Among her international awards are the Heinz Maier Leibnitz Prize for Physics in Germany, Austria’s Doppler Prize for Innovation in Science and the Barry-Jones Inauguration Award of the Royal Astrobiology Society and Open University in Great Britain.
Kaltenegger, author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, also served on the National Science Foundation’s astronomy and astrophysics advisory committee and on NASA senior review of operating missions. She was named one of America’s Young Innovators by Smithsonian Magazine, an Innovator to Watch by TIME Magazine, and she was selected as one of the European Commission’s Role Models for Women in Science and Research.
Kaltenegger’s lecture will be followed on Monday, Nov. 2, by Erika Nesvold, co-founder and executive director of The JustSpace Alliance. A full roster of colloquium speakers and sponsors can be found on the Honors Colloquium website.
This year’s URI Honors Colloquium is led by the Department of Physics, bringing forth thought-provoking conversations that bridge cutting-edge science and the boundless imagination of science fiction. The series concludes in December with a lecture on achieving the impossible in outer space.
Hosted by the University’s Honors Program, the annual URI Honors Colloquium is free and open to the public. To see recordings of this year’s speakers, or past colloquiums, visit the Honors Colloquium Archives. Sign up here for more information and reminders for colloquium events or by emailing urihonors@etal.uri.edu.