NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

K-14 Classroom Presentations

The Ames Team has developed a rapport with our local Bay Area school districts, National Explorer Schools, and districts nationwide that are considered the area community for conference sites, field expeditions, museum partners, and outreach programs. Our scientists are asked to complement the existing science program for California by coming into the formal education classroom to provide specific lectures or hands-on demonstration activities. The researchers incorporate their science into the content that is part of the local and national standards for the district. The science team also invites the classrooms to NASA Ames for onsite demonstrations, tours, and access to the laboratories. The team is often called upon for career day programs, science fair judging, and special event programming for scientific events scheduled at the schools. The science team members themselves because of their interest in K-14 classroom partnerships initiate this classroom involvementwhich can take place at a variety of venues formal or informal. Types of K-14 Classroom Presentations include:

9-30-06 Kelly Decker Carolyn Parr Nature Center at Westwood Hills, Napa, CA 94558 Non-profit General Public-10 Astrobiology & the Search for Habitable Planets
Explores extremophiles in their environment, techniques for identifying life and its biomarkers close-up and remotely on other planets.
6-9-07 through 6-18-07 Pieter T. Visscher Department of Marine Sciences,
University of Connecticut,
Groton, CT 06340 University (University of Puerto Rico visiting UConn Students 14 Geomicrobiology Short Course (Workshop)
7-5-06 Pieter T. Visscher Department of Marine Sciences,
University of Connecticut,
Groton, CT 06340 Community General Public 100 Microrganismen: Wie, wat waar en hoelang? Soroptimist/Rotarian Service Clubs-sponsored event, Emmen, The Netherlands (Lecture)
5-17-07 and 5-19-07 Pieter T. Visscher Department of Marine Sciences,
University of Connecticut, Groton, CT 06340 University (Menoufiya University, Egypt) Faculty, Students, ca. 60 Two lectures each on geomicrobiology/astrobiology
10-19-06 Pieter T. Visscher Department of Marine Sciences,
University of Connecticut,
Groton, CT 06340 University (Univ. Puerto Rico, Mayaguez) Faculty, students, ca. 150 Geomicrobiology: an interdisciplinary approach with broad implications, COHEMIS (Center for Hemispherical Cooperation in Research and Education in Engineering and Applied Science), University of Puerto Rico, October 19, Mayaguez, PR ? simultaneous webcast in 27 (Latin American) Countries

11-3-06 Pieter T. Visscher Department of Marine Sciences,
University of Connecticut,
Groton, CT 06340 University Marine Sciences, (Univ. of South Carolina) Faculty, students, ca. 45 Rocks, gases and extraterrestrial life. Lecture
11-17-06 Pieter T. Visscher Department of Marine Sciences,
University of Connecticut,
Groton, CT 06340 Research Institute (Institute for Ecological Studies, Millbrook, NY) Researchers, general public, ca. 60 Lecture, Survival of a Three-Billion Year Old Ecosystem: Ecological and Geochemical Aspects
4-23-07 Pieter T. Visscher Department of Marine Sciences,
University of Connecticut,
Groton, CT 06340 University (ETHZ, Switzerland) Students, 25 Lecture, The Role of Exopolymeric Secretions in Geomicrobiology
June 20006 Marilyn Vogel ORAU / NPP
NASA Ames Research Center NASA Explorer Schools Program High School Science Teachers – 20 Taught an Origins of Life seminar to high school science teachers enrolled in NASA?s Explorer School program.

11-5-06 Andrew Pohorille Wonderfest 2006 (The Bay Area Festival of Science) Non-profit Public ? 300 (including students and professors) Every 3 years there is a Wonderfest Festival of Science organized in the Bay Area. It consists of a series of one-on-one debates on issues of special interest to the public and a series of accompanying events. During the 2006 festival, Andrew Pohorille debated David Deamer from U.C. Santa Cruz on whether the origin of life was inevitable. The event took place in the Anderson Auditorium at U.C. Berkeley.
8-31-06 Alexander Bradley Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139 University Professors – 20
Professionals ?5
Students ? 10 Presentation at 2006 Goldschmidt Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
?Fractionation of carbon isotopes in Methanosarcina barkeri?
4-2-07 Alexander Bradley Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139 Universiyy Professors – 25
Professionals ? 25
Students ? 10 Invited presentation at the 2007 conference of American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Long Beach California. ?Organic Geochemistry in the Genetic Age?
7-15-07 Victoria Orphan Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Non profit organization 10/ 8/ 0 Moore Meeting, San Diego, CA. 1 hour talk relating to our nanoSIMS research on the Guerrero Negro microbial mats and the application of halogenated DNA probes.
5-25-07 Victoria Orphan American Society of Microbiology International Meeting 100+/?/ 100 ASM General Meeting, Toronto Canada. 30 minute invited presentation: molecular investigations of syntrophic associations.
5-3-07 Victoria Orphan Oregon State University University 20 /0/ 40 Igert Seminar, Oregon State and Portland State Universities. Invited hour seminar.
6- 06 Victoria Orphan NRC board on Earth and Science Resources Government 12/ 6/ 0 Round table discussion: where bio meets geo. 20 minute invited overview talk for the board on the current status and new directions in geobiological/ astrobiological research
6.06 Lynn Rothschild University of Southern Maine,
P?rtland, ME College Professors ? 5
teachers – 30 Lectured on life in extreme environments to tie in with teaching science in underserved areas of Maine as part of NSF-funded ScienceCorps program.
9.20.06 Lynn Rothschild AIAA, Space 2006 Society Educators – 24 Presentation of Yellowstone outreach project, Space 2006, San Jose
Fall 2006 Lynn Rothschild Roger Williams Museum, Providence, RI museum public Contributor of photos to Roger Williams Park Museum exhibit on Astrobiology
October 2006 Lynn Rothschild San Francisco State University, SF, CA University student Lectured to Astrobiology Class
6.06 Lynn Rothschild University of Southern Maine,
June 07-P?rtland, ME College Professors ? 5
teachers – 30 Lectured on life in extreme environments to tie in with teaching science in underserved areas of Maine as part of NSF-funded ScienceCorps program

Tori Hoehler:
?Energetic concepts for habitability and biosignatures?. University of Arizona LAPLACE Center (2007).
?A follow the energy approach for Mars exploration?. Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2007).
?Energetic habitability: constraints on life in the subsurface?. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (2007).
?An energy balance concept of habitability?. Carnegie Institution of Washington (2007).
?Possible atmospheric microbial biosignatures?. Pale Blue Dot III Workshop, Chicago, IL (2006).
?Habitability and the deep biosphere?. Keynote Address. International Ocean Drilling Program ?Deep Ocean Biosphere? workshop, Vancouver, Canada (2006).

Jack Lissaur
“Terrestrial Planet Formation in Binary Star Systems” Ames NAI Team Meeting, Moffett Field, CA, August 8.
“Terrestrial Planet Formation in Circumbinary Disks” DPS/AAS Meeting, Pasadena, CA, October 13.
“What Exoplanets Tell Us About Planet Formation” Extrasolar Planets Workshop for Journalists, Boulder, CO, January 27.
“Exoplanets: Past, Present and Future” Stanford, CA, June