Date: Saturday, April 21, 2012

Locations:

MAIN SITE: Georgia Institute of Technology, GA Jamila Cola SATELLITE SITES: Robeson Planetarium, NC Ken Brandt Phone: 910-735-2147 (work) Tucker Valley Elementary Middle School, WV Eileen Poling Phone: 304-704-9465 (cell) NASA Educator Resource Center, WV Pam Casto Phone: 304-367-8436 (work) Jackson Middle School Observatory, MN Dee McLellan Phone: 763-506-3940 (work) Museum of Flight, WA Denise Thompson Phone: 360-893-2246 ext 445 Montana State University, Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT Kathryn Williamson

Who is Eligible to Participate: The workshop will focus on formal educators, but informal educators are also welcome to attend. Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary endeavor, so whether you teach integrated science or something more specialized (chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, earth science, etc.), this workshop is for you! The content and activities presented will align mostly with middle school standards, but teachers working at all grade levels are welcome and are invited to consider how to gear the material up or down.

To Register: click on the link above for the site for which you’d like to register, and the local point of contact will follow up with you.

Overview: The NASA Astrobiology Institute, in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology, Montana State University, and the NASA/JPL Solar System Educators Program, is pleased to host a workshop for educators on astrobiology and the origin of life. This workshop will present the latest research in the interdisciplinary field of astrobiology, focusing on how life began on Earth and the possibility of life elsewhere in the solar system.

The main workshop will be held on the Georgia Tech campus with seven satellite locations. Each workshop will include demonstrations of hands-on activities, educational resources, and best practices for facilitating astrobiology content.

Our theme is the topic of a new film from Montana State University entitled, “Exploring the Origin of Life.” At 11 am ET, the main workshop at Georgia Tech will connect to the satellite sites and facilitate a panel discussion via video with three astrobiologists actively studying the origin of life (who also happen to be the “stars” of the film!). Each participant will receive a DVD of the film after the workshop.

The following three astrobiologists will give a panel discussion during the workshop:

• Dr. Loren Williams from the Georgia Institute of Technology
  

  Dr. Loren Williams holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Duke University. After postdoctoral fellowships at Duke, Harvard, and MIT, he joined the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech in 1992. Dr. Williams is currently the Director of a NASA Astrobiology Institute-funded center focusing on the transition from nucleic acid-based life to protein-based life, and the role of the ribosome in particular. The research of the Center focuses on chemically rewinding the "tape of life" to a time prior to the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all living organisms.



• Dr. John Peters from Montana State University

  Dr. John Peters holds a PhD from Virginia Tech. He is currently Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Montana State University, and Director of the NASA-funded Astrobiology Biogeocatalysis Research Center there. The Center is focused on examining the biochemical properties and evolution of iron-sulfur enzymes. In the context of Origin of Life research, these iron-sulfur assemblies are being examined in an evolutionary context to gain insights into the transition between the nonliving and the living Earth.



• Dr. Mike Russell from the Jet Propulsion Lab

  Dr. Michael Russell has been a Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 2006 where he studies the origin of life on Earth. Via research excursions in the Western Pacific, British Columbia, the Yukon, and Ireland, he developed his theory that life emerged in submarine springs on the early Earth. His research has been lauded as the most plausible and probable of theories in the acclaimed 2009 book “Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution.” In June 2009 he was awarded the William Smith Medal from the Geological Society of London for his lifetime contribution to applied geology.