Who founded the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell?

Lisa Kaltenegger founded the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University.

Kaltenegger is an Austrian astronomer whose research focuses on exoplanets, their atmospheres, and the search for life beyond Earth. She joined Cornell as an associate professor of astronomy in 2014 and became the founding director of the institute established there in Sagan’s honor.

The institute developed from Cornell’s interest in astrobiology and the scientific legacy of Carl Sagan, who taught and researched at the university. Its work brings together astronomy, biology, geology, planetary science, and atmospheric studies to investigate how life might arise and how its signatures could be detected on distant worlds.

A likely source of confusion is the other names in the choices. Jill Tarter is a prominent SETI researcher, Sara Seager is known for exoplanet research, and Ann Druyan was Sagan’s collaborator and widow. None of them founded Cornell’s Carl Sagan Institute; that distinction belongs to Kaltenegger.