Kate Kitagawa

Former Director of the Space Education Office, JAXA

Kate Kitagawa is a specialist in space education and has served as an advisor to the Senior Vice President of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) as well as Director of JAXA’s Space Education Office. In this role, she led the development of digital learning modules and partnered with creative studios to produce innovative educational tools. Kate also chaired the International Space Education Board (ISEB), a global initiative involving NASA, JAXA, CSA, ESA, KARI, AEM, and others, at the 2023 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Azerbaijan.

With a multidisciplinary background in mathematics and life sciences (B.Sc., University of British Columbia) and a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University, Kate brings over a decade of teaching and research experience at universities across the US, UK, Germany, and South Africa. She is the co-author of The Secret Lives of Numbers: A Global History of Mathematics & Its Unsung Trailblazers, shortlisted for the 2024 British Academy Book Prize. Kate also works as an occasional broadcaster, appearing on television, online news, and in documentary films to share insights on science, history, and space.