Arpita Roy

Dr. Arpita Roy is Lead of the Astrophysics & Space Institute at Schmidt Sciences. She previously served as a tenure-track Astronomer at NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute and as a Millikan Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech. Arpita specializes in exoplanet discovery and characterization, through pioneering extreme precision spectroscopy instruments including the Keck Planet Finder, Habitable Zone Planet Finder, and NEID. Her work in hardware innovation and software development has advanced the detection of Earth analogs and addressed stellar noise effects on precision measurements. With dual roles as an active astrophysicist and leader in science philanthropy, she maintains a prolific scientific output with over 200 publications and counting. Arpita has served in Deputy PI, Project Scientist, and Instrument Scientist roles for flagship projects for both ground and space-based endeavors. Parallel to science, Arpita is also invested in making the scientific community more diverse, equitable, and accessible — both through efforts to improve the culture internally, and spreading scientific awareness and appreciation to the public. She holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from Pennsylvania State University and a B.A. in Astrophysics and English (Creative Writing) from Franklin & Marshall College.