Lika Guhathakurta is the Lead Scientist for the Living With a Star Program at the National Aeronautics and Atmospheric Administration headquarters in Washington, D.C. LWS focuses on understanding and ultimately predicting solar variability and its diverse effects on Earth, human technology and astronauts in space. The systems science behind this kind of weather outside of Earth's atmosphere is known as space weather. Dr. Guhathakurta also leads an international initiative known as the International Living With a Star that brings together all the space agencies of the world to contribute towards the scientific goal for understanding space weather. In addition, Dr. Guhathakurta manages a theory, modeling and data analysis program to integrate scientific output, data, and models to generate a comprehensive, systems understanding of Sun-Heliosphere-Planets coupling. She is the discipline scientist of this new discipline known as heliophysics. Dr. Guhathakurta is a co-chair on the inter-agency group Committee on Space Weather of the National Space Weather Program and a member of the SWx working group in UNCOPUOS. Education and outreach is another strong passion of Dr. Guhathakurta. To that effect she has helped create graduate level text books in heliophysics. To popularize heliophysics, she partnered with the American Museum of Natural History in New York to produce two popular full dome planetarium shows that are being exhibited internationally and used by teachers to excite the next generation of space scientists. She also helped produce a 3D IMAX show utilizing the observations from the STEREO mission. Dr. Guhathakurta has worked as an educator, scientist, and mission designer; has directed and managed science programs; has built instruments for spacecraft; and has authored over 70 publications. A native of India, Dr. Guhathakurta has a master's degree in Astrophysics from the University of Delhi and a PhD degree in physics from the University of Denver and the University of Colorado at Boulder.