Silvia Protopapa is Assistant Director of the Department of Space Studies at Southwest Research Institute’s Solar System Science & Exploration Division, where she also serves as Acting Section Manager of the Outer Solar System Section. A native of Galatina, Puglia, Italy, she earned a master’s degree in Physics from the University of Salento (2005) and a Ph.D. in Natural Sciences from the Technical University of Braunschweig in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany (2009), and worked at the University of Maryland before joining SwRI in 2018. Her research focuses on the compositional characterization of small bodies in the outer Solar System, including trans-Neptunian objects, Centaurs, and comets, using infrared spectroscopy and radiative-transfer modeling. She integrates data from ground-based and space-based observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope, together with spacecraft missions such as Deep Impact and New Horizons, to investigate the distribution, retention and loss, and processing of volatile and organic materials on icy bodies. She is a Co-Investigator on the New Horizons and Lucy missions, a Co-Investigator of the near-infrared spectrometer and thermal imager (MIRMIS) on the Comet Interceptor mission, and a Co-Investigator of the NASA Planetary Spectrum Generator.  She previously served as a Science Team Member on the Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI/EPOXI) mission. In parallel with her observational work, she leads laboratory efforts to measure optical constants and develop spectral libraries that support the interpretation of remote sensing data, seeking to connect molecular-scale processes with population-level trends across the Solar System.