Dr. Michelle Thaller graduated from Harvard University with a BS (astrophysics) in 1992 and PhD (astrophysics) from Georgia State University in 1998. From 1998-2009, Michelle worked at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and served as the public outreach lead for the Spitzer Space Telescope. From 2009 – 2015 she became an assistant director for Science Communication at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She became the Deputy Director of Science Communication in 2015 representing all of NASA’s science themes—including Earth science and climate change, the sun and space weather, solar system exploration, cosmology and the deep universe.

Michelle is one of the regular hosts of Discovery Science Channel’s “How the Universe Works,” and also hosts the podcast “Orbital Path” on public radio. She has received several high-profile awards for online science journalism and science leadership.