Captivated by the mysteries of the natural world from a young age, Walkowicz is a lifelong explorer who began doing formal research at age 17. She has since been part of several space missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Kepler Mission, and is a leader in the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Walkowicz holds a B.S. in Physics from Johns Hopkins University, a M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Washington. She was the Kepler Fellow at UC Berkeley, and the Henry Norris Russell Fellow at Princeton University, before joining the Astronomy Department at Adler Planetarium in 2014. She is a 2013 TED Senior Fellow, a 2011 National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow, and has been internationally recognized for her advocacy for conservation of dark night skies.