Cyndi Atherton

Cyndi Atherton oversees discovery-driven projects primarily in the physical sciences and climate change science. Prior to joining the Heising-Simons Foundation in 2013, Atherton was a science program director at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, where she oversaw portfolios that included astronomy, condensed matter physics, seismology, and other physical sciences, as well as large-scale commitments to Caltech and the Thirty Meter Telescope. She earned her Ph.D. in atmospheric science from the University of California. She has a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from Caltech in engineering and applied science. Prior to joining the Moore Foundation, she conducted research in atmospheric chemistry and physics at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.