Dr. Arpita Roy is a Senior Program Scientist at Schmidt Sciences, overseeing the foundation’s Astrophysics & Space interests.

As an astrophysicist, Arpita spent the last decade at the forefront of exoplanet studies, building a new generation of “extreme precision” spectroscopic instruments in the quest for habitable planets beyond Earth. Prior to Schmidt Sciences, Arpita was a tenure track Astronomer at the NASA Space Telescope Science Institute, and an Associate Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University. Arpita has served in various scientific leadership roles including NIRISS Instrument Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, Project Scientist for the Keck Planet Finder, Chair of the NASA-NSF Extreme Precision Radial Velocities Data Analysis Working Group, Chair of the Science Advisory Panel for the Starspot Mission Concept, and Architect of six instruments at observatories around the world. Arpita’s work has been recognized through numerous awards including the NASA Hubble Fellowship, the Caltech Millikan Prize Fellowship, the NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, the American Astronomical Society Doxsey Prize, and the Penn State Distinguished Doctoral Scholar Medal. Arpita has authored more than 160 scientific publications, and had the privilege of mentoring many wonderful early career researchers.  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.

Arpita holds a PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics from the Pennsylvania State University, and a B.A in Astrophysics and English (Creative Writing) from Franklin & Marshall College.