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The UCLA Center for Astrobiology is engaged in developing the field of astrobiology through a number of initiatives that play to the strengths of an institution of higher learning such as ours. These include formal courses, public lectures, sponsorship of the UCLA Astrobiology Society, participation in the Minority Astrobiology Collaborative, and convening of international meetings concerned with astrobiology-related research. Numerous activities are planned for the next five years, as outlined below. In the past several years members of the UCLA lead team have taught a number of courses related to astrobiology. These courses were inspired in part by the existence of the Center for Astrobiology. In addition, the Department of Earth and Space Sciences has hired Edwin Schauble as a new Assistant Professor in Astrobiology. A new course in Astrobiology is planned as part of the CAB five-year plan. Our series of free public lectures entitled "Astrobiology Superstars" has proven popular and will continue in the next two years. However, the historically-significant venue, the Midnight Special Bookstore in Santa Monica, California, is closing. The series is moving a new location, TBA. The activities of the UCLA Astrobiology Society continue to grow and will be encouraged under CAB sponsorship. New initiatives include a research apprenticeship involving CAB team members and mentoring programs to facilitate the proliferation of similar societies at other institutions of higher learning. K-14 K-14
& Public Outreach
The UCLA Center for Astrobiology is committed to providing elementary and secondary education and information to the Los Angeles Unified Schools and communities focusing on the diversity of Astrobiology. To date, team members Barbara Laval, Keith Kirts and Michael Vandresco have visited schools, participated the UCLA’s Science Day, and the Sally Ride Science Festival. With support from Dr. Todd Gary, Tennessee State (UCLA team member), our plans for the next five years include providing summer workshops in astrobiology to K-12 teachers and the public. Several courses related to astrobiology have been taught over the past several years at UCLA. These include: Origin and Evolution of the Solar System (Earth and Space Sciences 9); Astrobiology (Molecular Biology 298); Life in the Universe (Astronomy 4); and Origin of the Cosmos and Life (Cluster General Education course no. 70). This last course, taught by Morris, McKeegan, and UCLA faculty in the life sciences ran for 3 quarters each of the past several years. The cluster courses in general were designed to provide students with the option of a common intellectual experience during their freshman year (i.e., "freshman studies"). The Department of Earth and Space Sciences is in the midst of designing a new General Education course in Astrobiology that will be taught by our faculty. UCLA’s Public Outreach - Lecture Series The "Astrobiology Superstars" lecture series will continue but at a new venue due to closure of the Midnight Special Bookstore in Santa Monica, California. This lecture series has been free to the public and this policy will continue in the future.
http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/abs/index.htm The UCLA Astrobiology Society is a student-run organization sponsored by the IGPP Center for Astrobiology and the IGPP Center for the Study of Evolution and Origin of Life (CSEOL) at UCLA. The organization was founded in 1999 by two undergraduate students (Jason Finley and Laurel Methot) inspired by what they had learned in the General Education Cluster course. The Society is the first student-run organization devoted to fostering the discipline of astrobiology at the university level. Its mission is to "present the studies and goals of astrobiology to science and non-science majors in an integrated fashion that is both interesting and applicable to all fields." The Society has been lauded by NASA officials, including the former and current directors of the NAI, for its activities directed towards engaging undergraduate and graduate students in the burgeoning field of astrobiology. Their value to the field is evidenced by the fact that they all fields." The Society has been lauded by NASA officials, including the former and current directors of the NAI, for its activities directed towards engaging undergraduate and graduate students in the burgeoning field of astrobiology. Their value to the field is evidenced by the fact that they were awarded recently their own funding from NAI central (administered through UCLA IGPP). Astrobiology
Society activities include regular meetings, a monthly newsletter,
a joint project with the Space Frontier Foundation aimed at high
school students, participation in the NAI’s Pathfinder program,
and running a student research program that pairs students seeking
research opportunities with faculty and researchers in the Center
for Astrobiology. The Society also hosts lectures on a regular basis.
Past lecturers include Dr. Juan Perez Mercader from del Centro de
Astrobiologia, Madrid, Spain and Dr. Bruce Jakosky of the University
of Colorado, Boulder.
Rubey Colloquia are held by the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at UCLA in honor of W. W. Rubey (1898-1974). Rubey was a career geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and Professor of Geology and Geophysics at UCLA. The colloquia, funded by the Division of Physical Sciences, are flexible in their format, but typically consist of a week of lectures addressing a "hot topic" delivered by preeminent scientists from around the world. Students enroll in the colloquia and receive academic credit for their participation. The last Rubey Colloquium was held in February of 2002 and was organized by UCLA lead team member Frank Kyte and Peter Ward from the University of Washington (a NAI lead team PI). The Colloquium was entitled "Impacts and the Origin, Evolution and Extinction of Life." About 30 experts (see below) in the field of impacts were brought together to present their latest research and ideas. Topics included planet formation and early bombardment of Earth, the impact history of Earth and catastrophic causes of mass extinctions, the environmental effects of impacts, and impacts as mechanisms for dispersal of life with the Solar System and beyond. Ask
an Astrobiologist |
