Diversity

The emerging field of Astrobiology benefits from and is shaped by the perspectives of multiple disciplines directed at a common problem. So, too, does the Astrobiology community of scholars and researchers at the University of Washington benefit from the breadth of perspective offered by diversity in culture and race among our Program's participants.

We strongly encourage and support applications from under-represented groups in science and engineering, in particular women and minorities. For example, the 2004 cohort of seven new students in the Astrobiology Program included four women, of whom two are African-American, as well as a Swiss citizen who is of India heritage.

We have special ties with the Minority Institute Astrobiology Collaboration (MIAC), which is a new group of nine Historically Black Colleges and Universities with interests in Astrobiology research and education. In 2004 Prof. Woody Sullivan of the UW Astrobiology Program (Astronomy) and Prof. Todd Gary of Tennessee State University (Nashville), who is the co-director of MIAC, exchanged visits in order to foster our recruitment of students from MIAC institutions. Prof. Jody Deming of the UW Astrobiology Program (Oceanography) will visit South Carolina State University, another MIAC member, in early 2005 for a similar purpose.

UW Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE)

UW Minority Science and Engineering Program

UW Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP)

National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training Program - IGERT National Recruitment Program, Resources for Students

NSF IGERT Recruitment Information for Women & Minorities

Minority Institute Astrobiology Collaboration