Submitted by Daniel Lystrup

The Lopez Center for Community and the Arts presents “Understanding Our Planet & Searching for Life Beyond Earth,” at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 25.

Astrophysicist Makenzie Lystrup, Ph.D., vice president and general manager of Ball Aerospace’s Civil Space strategic business unit, will discuss the role of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the aerospace industry in the future of space exploration. She will talk about monitoring our planet, including climate change and weather events. In the second part of the evening, Lystrup will discuss the search for life beyond Earth, both in our solar system and in others.

Lystrup is responsible for Ball Aerospace portfolio of civil space systems that includes science, operational weather and Earth observation, and advanced technologies development for NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other civilian U.S. government agencies as well as for academic and other science organizations.

Before joining Ball, Lystrup worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Congressional Science and Technology Policy Fellow where she managed an issue portfolio ranging from technology and privacy to national defense to nuclear energy and nonproliferation. She was also a National Science Foundation Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Research Fellow working at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado and the University of Liege in Belgium.

Her talk will feature a slide presentation and Q&A will follow the lecture. Admission is free.