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Author: Miles Currie

Applications Open for the Heising-Simons 51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellowship at The University of Washington

July 8, 2024 Miles Currie

The UW community supports research efforts in exoplanet and planetary science and astrobiology, primarily within the Astronomy and Earth and…

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Posted in: Administration, Featured, Research

UWAB 25th Anniversary Event: Astrobiology Careers Panel

May 10, 2024 Miles Currie

As part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the University of Washington Astrobiology Program, we will be hosting an Astrobiology…

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Posted in: Events, Featured

Recent UWAB Alum Dominic Sivitilli Accepts Postdoc at UW-APL

May 3, 2024 Miles Currie

Dr. Dominic Sivitilli (dual-title PhD in Psychology and Astrobiology) will continue on at the University of Washington, where he has…

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Posted in: Featured Filed under: Dominic Sivitilli

UWAB Alum Eliah Overby Accepts Professorship at UATX!

Miles Currie

Dr. Eliah Overby, who completed her dual title PhD in genome sciences and astrobiology at UW, has recently accepted an…

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Posted in: Featured Filed under: Eliah Overbey

Congratulations to Fang-Zhen Teng, elected Fellow of the Geochemical Society

February 23, 2024 Miles Currie

Fang-Zhen Teng has been elected a Fellow of the Geochemical Society and European Association of Geochemistry for an exceptionally strong…

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Posted in: Featured Filed under: Fang zhen Teng

Did life begin in a “warm little pond”?

Miles Currie

Astrobiology graduate student Ula Jones was featured in a Wiki Education article for her contributions to Wikipedia’s coverage of the…

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Posted in: Featured Filed under: Ula Jones

UWAB 25th Anniversary Kickoff Event— Astronomy on Tap

February 13, 2024 Miles Currie

Join us in celebrating the 25th anniversary of UW Astrobiology at Astronomy on Tap (AoT) on Wednesday, February 28th at…

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Posted in: Events, Featured

New NPP Opportunity Available with VPL!

January 12, 2024 Miles Currie

To advance NASA’s search for life on exoplanets, the Virtual Planetary Laboratory (VPL) focuses on a compelling scientific question: “How…

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Posted in: Featured

American Geophysical Union Honors UWAB Researchers

November 21, 2023 Miles Currie

Each year, AGU recognizes individuals and teams for their accomplishments in research, education, science communication and outreach. Honorees and their…

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Posted in: Awards, Featured, Research Filed under: Baptiste Journaux, David Catling, Jody Deming, Victoria Meadows

Work of UWAB Director Prof. Victoria Meadows Featured in AAS Nova

Miles Currie

The work of VPL PI Prof. Victoria Meadows was recently featured in AAS Nova. Her work, along with UWAB alumni…

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Posted in: Featured, Research Filed under: Andrew Lincowski, Jacob Lustig-Yaeger, Victoria Meadows

UWAB Researchers Featured in Aeon Article: Uncertain Contact

Miles Currie

UWAB researcher David Catling and alumnus Edward Schwieterman have been featured in an Aeon article on combating the uncertainty associated…

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Posted in: Featured, Research Filed under: David Catling, Eddie Schwieterman, Victoria Meadows

UW News: Polar experiments reveal seasonal cycle in Antarctic sea ice algae

November 20, 2023 Miles Currie

UWAB researchers Hannah Dawson and Jodi Young have recently been featured in UW News, who reports on their recent paper…

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Posted in: Featured, Research Filed under: Hannah Dawson, Jodi Young

Looking Ahead to the Future of Exoplanet Climate Modeling

October 9, 2023 Miles Currie

Zoom Link for Colloquium 10/17/2023 3:00pm PST Please email astrobio@uw.edu for zoom presentation password Presented By Linda Sohl  Senior Staff…

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Posted in: Events, Featured

Comparative Systems Neuroscience Lab Featured by Oregon Public Broadcasting

April 15, 2022 Miles Currie

Oregon Public Broadcasting recently featured the work of our own Dominic Sivitilli, a graduate student in Psychology and Astrobiology. Learn…

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Posted in: Featured Filed under: Dominic Sivitilli, News

Prof. John Baross Receives NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal

February 8, 2022 Miles Currie

NASA recognized Prof. John Baross for his exceptional achievements in the field of astrobiology, transforming the way we think about…

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Posted in: Awards, Featured Filed under: Awards, John Baross

Prof. Victoria Meadows Named 2022 AAS Fellow

January 25, 2022 Miles Currie

On January 5, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) announced its 2022 class of AAS Fellows, with the inductees being recognized…

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Posted in: Awards, Featured Filed under: Awards, Victoria Meadows

Prof. Victoria Meadows Elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences

August 2, 2021 Miles Currie

On July 15, the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) announced its newly elected members for 2021, “recognizing their outstanding…

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Posted in: Awards, Featured Filed under: Awards, Victoria Meadows
Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

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Are you excited about the field of Astrobiology and want to help support it? Are you one of the UW Astrobiology Alumni, or have you in some other way benefited from the program and its work? If so, why not give to the program to help us train the next generation of emerging astrobiologists?

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Last April, 4 grad students, accompanied by Prof. Last April, 4 grad students, accompanied by Prof. Baptiste Journaux and funded by the UWAB program, documented the 2024 total solar eclipse. The team traveled to Arkansas to reach the center of the 115-mile band of totality stretching from Texas to Maine, and were the subject of a CENV mini-documentary!

The eclipse team delivered a talk about their trip and outreach work to the rest of the UWAB community on October 15th! Thanks to Baptiste Journaux, Sarah Smith, Alysa Fintel, Andrew Shumway, Haskelle White-Gianella, and Ula Jones for representing the program! 

See the full Eclipse Documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD1IpJYI9NQ
… or watch their UWAB Colloquium Talk here: https://youtu.be/TG5QlVPq8rg?si=gIH2hKHxd7JsFpz-

Second Photo Description:
(left to right) Sarah Smith, Baptiste Journaux, Alysa Fintel, Andrew Shumway, Haskelle White-Gianella, and Ula Jones at Calico Rock AK just after the total solar eclipse on April 8 2024.
On October 8th, UWAB hosted Dr. Kathy Campbell - a On October 8th, UWAB hosted Dr. Kathy Campbell - a geologist, paleoecologist and astrobiologist from the University of Auckland! Dr. Campbell spoke about her work investigating extreme environments as analog settings for early life on Earth. She uses a comparative paleoenvironmental approach to searching for evidence of past life in Martian rocks by focusing on Earth’s hot spring deposits and unusual hydrothermal silica found by Spirit rover at Columbia Hills on Mars. 

In other words, her work helps us understand geochemical signs of past life, which is used to inform biosignature detection on Mars! 

The colloquium recording is now available on our YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/hYuuMY-yNu4
This week UWAB faculty member, Jodi Young, and pos This week UWAB faculty member, Jodi Young, and postdoctoral researcher, Fabian Klenner, joined the UW College of Environment’s Extreme Environments podcast, FieldSound, to teach the community about how extreme environments on Earth can inform us about the search for life on distant exoplanets and icy moons, such as Europa and Enceladus!

Jodi Young studies how marine microalgae shape our ecosystems, flourishing in the harsh icy brine environments of Earth’s polar regions. Fabian Klenner combines experimentation and modeling to understand the oceans of icy moons and biosignature detection. In the FieldSound podcast, Young and Klenner discuss topics including the Solar System’s icy moons, marine fieldwork, and the Europa Clipper mission – demonstrating how astrobiology is a field of extreme interdisciplinary collaboration! 

Listen to their full podcast here:
https://environment.uw.edu/news/2024/10/s3-e2-astrobiology-with-jodi-young-and-fabian-klenner/
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