Education & Public Outreach: 2004 - 2005 Highlights

For many other EPO activities, see our complete annual reports HERE.

Developing an Astrobiology Curriculum

In Spring of 2005, UW oceanographer Jody Deming worked with astronomer Woody Sullivan to lay the groundwork for a joint Astrobiology program between UW and the International University of Bremen, Germany, one that is expected to foster significant exchanges and educational/research opportunities for graduate students from around the world.

Sullivan and oceanographer John Baross submitted Planets & Life: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology to Cambridge University. Press. This is a 600-page graduate-level textbook on Astrobiology, with 27 chapters contributed by both UW and non-UW NAI researchers.

Public Access: Lectures and Presentations

Astronomy Sullivan and oceanographer Baross were members of the faculty (along with 3 others form the U. of Arizona NAI node) for the June 2005 Vatican Observatory Summer School, held at Castel Gondolfo, Italy. The topic of “Astrobiology” was unprecedented for this previously all-astronomy venue, and was hugely successful for the 25 students attending for 4 weeks from around the world.

In October of 2004, oceanographer Deming was featured in a CBC Discovery Channel film for her role as chief scientist aboard the Canadian icebreaker Amundsen during an international overwintering expedition (2003-2004) in the Canadian Arctic (go to http://www.cases.quebec-ocean.ulaval.ca/trip/log.asp for more details). The film was first aired in French in Quebec in October of 2004, but has since been aired in English and Japanese for broader international outreach. Among the goals of the Deming team’s shipboard program were the tracking and measurements of extremophiles held captive in sea ice through the winter season.

The Media Front: Interviewed UW Astrobiologists

UW Astrobiologists are frequently asked to provide interviews to the print and broadcast media. They also produce articles for popular and lay-science publications, as well as summary articles in the science press, for example:

In autumn of 2004, oceanographer Deming was the featured scientist in an article entitled “The Persistent Professor,” which appeared in the autumn issue of Sea Star, an outreach publication by the WA Sea Grant Program. Her astrobiologically relevant work on microbial life in ice was highlighted in the article, along with action photos in the Arctic during the coldest period of the winter season.

Paleontologist Roger Buick was interview for The Australian, Knight-Ridder newspaper chain, in addition to an interview for Playboy magazine on subsurface biosphere and abiotic oil.

Astronomer Don Brownlee (PI of the ongoing Stardust Mission) gave interviews to NPR (June 05), KUOW/Seattle (June 05), BBC (Oct 04), and the History Channel (Aug 04).

PI and paleontologist Peter Ward appeared in a National Geographic TV show about cephalopods as models for aliens, titled “Alien Encounters”, and appeared on the NOVA three part show, “Origins.”

Astrobiology on the School Front: Interning and Mentoring

In Spring and Summer of 2005, Deming helped to develop an international Summer School on Climate Change in the Arctic to be held aboard the Russian icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn, in the Kara and Laptev Seas in September 2005 (with Deming as an onboard instructor), explicitly introducing astrobiology-related subjects to the course curriculum.

See http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/NABOS/summer_school/agenda.php for details.