"Is there an exoplanet that could have life among all the ones who have been already found?"
Welcome to the NAI Newsletter! The Newsletter is a compendium of announcements, events, updates, and news items related to the NAI and its research. If you have news items or suggestions you can send them to the editor, Marco Boldt at: Marco.Boldt@nasa.gov.
Newsletter for November 13, 2008
- 11/24 NAI Director's Seminar: Roger Summons, "The Great Mass Extinction - a Sudden Event or a Slow Moving Train-Wreck?"
- 11/17 FAR Seminar: "Extreme Life"
- The NAI Welcomes Two New Fellows to the NAI NASA Postdoctoral Program
- ABGradCon 2009
- NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program
- 2 PhD Student and 2 Postdoctoral Researcher Positions- Hydrothermal Activity on the Mid-Cayman Spreading Center
- NAI Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology Application Deadline – February 1, 2009
- Applications Being Accepted for NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP)
- NAI ARC Team Initiates New Education Project with Lassen
- NAI Teams with ASM to Share Astrobiology at National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) Conference
- Astrobiology Curriculum Pilot To Kick-Off Maine STEM Initiative
11/24 NAI Director's Seminar: Roger Summons, "The Great Mass Extinction - a Sudden Event or a Slow Moving Train-Wreck?"
Date/Time: Monday, November 24, 2008 11:00 AM Pacific
Presenter: Roger Summons (Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT)
Abstract:
A great mass extinction took place 252 million years ago when approximately 90% of the existing marine taxa were lost. Both the magnitude of the extinction and the slowness of the subsequent faunal radiation are enigmatic. The event is also known for the number and diversity of theories about its cause(s) including catastrophic volcanism, sudden climate change, overturn of stagnant oceans and bolide impact. Studies of molecular fossils confirm that the oceans were stagnant (euxinic) for some considerable period of time before and after the main biological turnover. Accordingly this event appears to be the culmination of particular paleo-oceanographic circumstances that happened on a geological timescale.
For more information and participation instructions: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/seminars/detail/133
11/17 FAR Seminar: "Extreme Life"
The November Forum for Astrobiology Research (FAR) will be held on Monday, November 17th at 11:00am PT (9:00am HT, 12:00pm MT, 1:00pm CT, 2:00pm ET). This seminar is broadcast live by NAI - you can attend locally from a videoconferencing room or from your desktop (see instructions below). Please join us to hear presentations on “Extreme Environments” by Jennifer Eigenbrode of Goddard Space Flight Center and Damhnait Gleeson University of Colorado at Boulder and JPL.
Abstracts:
Records of Life in Ice: Opening the Cryogenic Vault
Jennifer Eigenbrode
Ice is a cryogenic vault for preserving organics and other materials that may record planetary processes. On Earth, cold temperatures retard against hydrolysis and oxidation, which degrade biomolecules and other organics, allowing traces of life to persist in the presence of impurities. We are exploring the dilute biological and organic inventory contained within modern glacial ice on Earth in order to understand the habitat of microorganisms in near-surface glacial ice and to distinguish allochthonous from autochthonous organic records. The Signatures of Life in Ice (SLIce) project attempts to overcome the challenges imposed by relatively ideal study conditions in order to support future mission design aimed at detecting organic molecules and ice-dwelling life in extraterrestrial ice. Our study strongly depends on forward contamination controls much like planetary missions. Initial results from ice core samples collected on the Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition (AMASE) will be presented.
An Arctic Analog to Europa: Signs of Life on the Ice
Damhnait Gleeson
Borup Fiord Pass, located on the Canadian Arctic Island of Ellesmere, represents the only known site on Earth where sulfur minerals and glacial ice are found in intimate association. Spring waters access the surface of the ice during the melt season each year, depositing elemental sulfur, gypsum and calcite and exsolving H2S. The sulfur signature of the spring deposits is extensive enough to be detected and monitored from orbital satellite observations and an autonomous onboard classifier can provide temporal coverage of spring activity. Diverse microbial communities are active within the deposits and are mediating the geochemistry of the deposits by the sulfur redox transformations from which they gain energy. Cultivation experiments targeting sulfide-oxidizing members of the microbial community have isolated microorganisms from the spring deposits which are producing biomineralized sulfur structures in culture.
Borup Fiord Pass represents the closest terrestrial analog for near-term exploration of the icy surface of Europa, providing us with the opportunity to investigate sulfur-on-ice mineralogy in the field for the first time and gain understanding of how the spectral signatures of these kinds of materials vary from field to orbital scales. Microorganisms present at the site are cycling sulfur through different redox states in this cold environment, and the geochemical macrosignature of the springs and their associated deposits is being influenced as a result of metabolic activities of the microcommunity. This work informs the search for biosignatures at icy moons like Europa.
For more information and participation instructions: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/event/extreme-life-seminar/
The NAI Welcomes Two New Fellows to the NAI NASA Postdoctoral Program
Dina Bower
Advisor: Andrew Steele, Carnegie Institution of Washington, NAI CIW Team Topic: Experimental Investigations on the Effects of Diagenesis on the Formation of Fe,Ti-oxides (Pseudorutile) in Microfossils: Using Minerals as Biosignatures in Ancient Rocks
Mark Claire
Advisor: Jim Kasting, Pennsylvania State University and NAI VPL Team
Topic: Biogenic Sulfur – From Biospheres to Biosignatures
Recently Published Research from the NAI
Miller-Urey Revisited
Members of NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington, Indiana University, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Teams and their colleagues have revisited the Miller-Urey experiments, and found some surprising results.
A classic experiment proving amino acids are created when inorganic molecules are exposed to electricity isn’t the whole story, it turns out. The 1953 Miller-Urey Synthesis had two sibling studies, neither of which was published. Vials containing the products from those experiments were recently recovered and reanalyzed using modern technology. The results are reported in Science.
One of the unpublished experiments by American chemist Stanley Miller (under his University of Chicago mentor, Nobelist Harold Urey) actually produced a wider variety of organic molecules than the experiment that made Miller famous. The difference between the two experiments is small — the unpublished experiment used a tapering glass “aspirator” that simply increased air flow through a hollow, air-tight glass device. Increased air flow creates a more dynamic reaction vessel, or “vapor-rich volcanic” conditions, according to the present report’s authors.
“The apparatus Stanley Miller paid the least attention to gave the most exciting results,” said Adam Johnson, lead author of the Science report. “We suspect part of the reason for this was that he did not have the analytical tools we have today, so he would have missed a lot.”
Johnson is a doctoral student in IU Bloomington’s Biochemistry Program. His advisor is biogeochemist Lisa Pratt, professor of geological sciences and the director of NASA’s Indiana-Princeton-Tennessee Astrobiology team.
In his May 15, 1953, article in Science, “A Production of Amino Acids Under Possible Primitive Earth Conditions,” Miller identified just five amino acids: aspartic acid, glycine, alpha-amino-butyric acid, and two versions of alanine. Aspartic acid, glycine and alanine are common constituents of natural proteins. Miller relied on a blotting technique to identify the organic molecules he’d created — primitive laboratory conditions by today’s standards. In a 1955 Journal of the American Chemical Society paper, Miller identified other compounds, such as carboxylic and hydroxy acids. But he would not have been able to identify anything present at very low levels.
Johnson, Scripps Institution of Oceanography marine chemist Jeffrey Bada (the present Science paper’s principal investigator), National Autonomous University of Mexico biologist Antonio Lazcano, Carnegie Institution of Washington chemist James Cleaves, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center astrobiologists Jason Dworkin and Daniel Glavin examined vials left over from Miller’s experiments of the early 1950s. Vials associated with the original, published experiment contained far more organic molecules than Stanley Miller realized — 14 amino acids and five amines. The 11 vials scientists recovered from the unpublished aspirator experiment, however, produced 22 amino acids and the same five amines at yields comparable to the original experiment.
“We believed there was more to be learned from Miller’s original experiment,” Bada said. “We found that in comparison to his design everyone is familiar with from textbooks, the volcanic apparatus produces a wider variety of compounds.”
Johnson added, “Many of these other amino acids have hydroxyl groups attached to them, meaning they’d be more reactive and more likely to create totally new molecules, given enough time.”
The results of the revisited experiment delight but also perplex.
What is driving the second experiment’s molecular diversity? And why didn’t Miller publish the results of the second experiment?
A possible answer to the first question may be the increased flow rate itself, Johnson explained. “Removing newly formed molecules from the spark by increasing flow rate seems crucial,” he said. “It’s possible the jet of steam pushes newly synthesized molecules out of the spark discharge before additional reactions turn them into something less interesting. Another thought is that simply having more water present in the reaction allows a wider variety of reactions to occur.”
An answer to the second question is relegated to speculation — Miller, still a hero to many scientists, succumbed to a weak heart in 2007. Johnson says he and Bada suspect Miller wasn’t impressed with the experiment two’s results, instead opting to report the results of a simpler experiment to the editors at Science.
Miller’s third, also unpublished, experiment used an apparatus that had an aspirator but used a “silent” discharge. This third device appears to have produced a lower diversity of organic molecules.
Research on early planetary geochemistry and the origins of life isn’t limited to Earth studies. As humans explore the Solar System, investigations of past or present extra-terrestrial life are inevitable. Recent speculations have centered on Mars, whose polar areas are now known to possess water ice, but other candidates include Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, both of which are covered in water ice. The NASA Astrobiology Institute, which supports these investigations, has taken a keen interest in the revisiting of the Miller-Urey Synthesis.
“This research is both a link to the experimental foundations of astrobiology as well as an exciting result leading toward greater understanding of how life might have arisen on Earth,” said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, headquartered at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.
Henderson Cleaves (Carnegie Institution for Science) also contributed to the report. It was funded with grants from the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., and Mexico’s El Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia.
Life Without the Sun
An ecosystem discovered 2.8 kilometers underground in the Mponeng Gold Mine near Johannesburg, South Africa two years ago has now been shown to comprise only a single species of microbe, existing on energy from radioactivity, completely independently of the Sun. The community of rod-shaped bacteria of the species Desulforudis audaxviator was discovered in 2005-06 by members of the NAI’s Indiana-Princeton-Tennessee Astrobiology Initiative (IPTAI) Team. Their current results are presented in the October 10th issue of Science.
Confirming earlier inferences, the new work shows that D. audaxviator’s metabolic processes are decoupled from the Sun and the photosynthetic biosphere. This ecosystem uses the energy of naturally occurring radioactivity to split water into hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide reacts with naturally occurring sulfide in the rocks to make sulfate. The microbes then reduce the sulfate back to sulfide using electrons provided by the hydrogen left over from the splitting of water. This is the only ecosystem known to exist on an energy source other than light or chemical energy derived from the planet itself.
Genomic analyses have revealed that the organism’s genes code for everything needed to sustain an independent existence and reproduce, including the ability to fix its own nitrogen, move freely, sense its environment, protect itself from viruses, and even sporulate during nutrient-poor periods. It cannot, however, survive oxic conditions, suggesting it hasn’t been exposed to oxygen for a very long time.
Such a community could in principle live in the subsurface of any rocky planet, Mars for example. Radioactivity, sulfide minerals, water, N2 and carbon dioxide—the main things this community needs to survive—are almost certainly common in rocky planets everywhere.
The species name, audaxviator, is taken from Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” and means “descend, bold traveler, and attain the center of the Earth.”
Mirror-Image Clues to Life's Origins
According to an article published in the Washington Post, scientists studying the Murchison meteorite have found that it contains clues to the origin of chirality. Amino acids in nature have two forms, referred to as right- and left-handed, that are mirror images of each other. The proteins in living organisms, however, are only made from left-handed amino acids. The reason for this chirality is not understood, but this new research suggests it may stem from meteorites that rained down on the young Earth.
For Students and Young Investigators
ABGradCon 2009
The next Astrobiology Graduate Student Conference (AbGradCon) will be held July 17 – 20 2009 at the University of Washington in Seattle. The primary objective of AbGradCon is to improve the future of astrobiology research by bringing together in a unique setting the early-career astrobiologists (graduate students and post-doctoral fellows within 2 years of finishing their Ph.D.) who will lead such research in the years to come. The conference is unique in that it is a student-led meeting, from the organization to the presentations. AbGradCon strives to remove the "pressures" of typical scientific meetings by providing a relaxed atmosphere in which presentations and round-table discussions are fostered along with numerous social activities. AbGradCon will also be hosted in the virtual world of Second Life at the NASA CoLab Sun Amphitheater.
For more information: http://tinyurl.com/abgradcon09
NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program
NASA announces a call for graduate fellowship proposals to the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) program for the 2009-2010 academic year. This call for fellowship proposals solicits applications from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of individuals pursuing Master of Science (M.Sc.) or Doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees in Earth and space sciences, or related disciplines. The purpose of NESSF is to ensure continued training of a highly qualified workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA's scientific goals. Awards resulting from the competitive selection will be made in the form of training grants to the respective universities.
The deadline for NEW applications is February 3, 2009, and the deadline for RENEWAL applications is March 16, 2009.
The NESSF call for proposals and submission instructions are located at the NESSF 09 solicitation index page at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ - click on "Solicitations" then click on "Open Solicitations" then select the "NESSF 09" announcement. Also refer to "Proposal Submission Instructions" listed under "Other Documents" on the NESSF 09 solicitation index page.
All proposals must be submitted in electronic format only through the NASA NSPIRES system. The advisor has an active role in the submission of the fellowship proposal. To use the NSPIRES system, the advisor, the student, and the university must all register. Extended instructions on how to submit an electronic proposal package are posted on the NESSF 09 solicitation index page listed above. You can register in NSPIRES at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/.
For further information contact Anne Crouch, Program Administrator for NESSF Earth Science Research, Telephone: (202) 358-0855. E-mail: hq-nessf-Earth@nasa.gov; or Dolores Holland, Program Administrator for NESSF Heliophysics Research, Planetary Science Research, and Astrophysics Research, Telephone: (202) 358-0734, E-mail: hq-nessf-Space@nasa.gov.
2 PhD Student and 2 Postdoctoral Researcher Positions- Hydrothermal Activity on the Mid-Cayman Spreading Center
Starting January 1, 2009, a new 4-year program will investigate hydrothermal systems on the Mid-Cayman Spreading Center (MCSC) under NASA's ASTEP program - a joint collaboration between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and Duke University Marine Laboratory (DUML). The results of the work will be used to plan astrobiological exploration of any planetary body that can host hydrothermal circulation (for example, Europa).
This project, led by Drs. Chris German & Jeff Seewald at WHOI, Dr. Max Coleman at NASA-JPL, Dr. Julie Huber at MBL and Dr. Cindy Van Dover at DUML, will include support for 4 new positions (2 PhD students and 2 Post-Doctoral researchers) as follows:
* PhD student at WHOI supervised by Drs. J. Seewald & C. German. This effort focuses on the chemical and isotopic characterization of vent fluids to constrain biological, chemical, and physical processes that regulate hot-spring chemistry. A primary objective of this work will be to identify sources and sinks for aqueous organic compounds in submarine hydrothermal environments.
* Post-Doc at JPL supervised by Dr. M. Coleman (starting January 2010). The research will involve characterization of minerals and their geochemical and stable isotope compositions to contribute to understanding the present and past energy budgets of the system. The post-doc also will be involved in the application of the integrated results to planning future NASA planetary exploration missions.
* Post-Doc at MBL supervised by Dr. J. Huber. This effort will use both molecular- and cultivation-based tools to determine the diversity, distribution and abundance of microbial communities at MCSC hydrothermal sites. The data we collect will serve as vital input for a model of energy flow through the seafloor hydrothermal system.
* PhD student at DUML supervised by Dr. C. Van Dover and colleagues. This effort focuses on the use of molecular and compound-specific isotopic markers to understand the biogeographical and ecological contexts of Cayman Rise vent communities and their contribution to the chemosynthetic carbon signal.
The project team will use WHOI's new Hybrid-ROV, Nereus, to investigate hydrothermal systems (past and present) along Earth's deepest mid-ocean ridge: the ~110km long ultra-slow spreading Mid-Cayman Spreading Center. Field-work is already scheduled for Sept-Oct 2009 so time is of the essence. Any candidates potentially interested in joining this exciting opportunity are encouraged to contact the respective PI's immediately as follows:
J. Seewald: jseewald@whoi.edu
C. German: cgerman@whoi.edu
M. Coleman: max.coleman@jpl.nasa.gov
J. Huber: jhuber@mbl.gov
C. Van Dover: clv3@duke.edu
NAI Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology Application Deadline – February 1, 2009
The Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology, a partnership between NAI and the American Philosophical Society (APS), is now accepting applications for astrobiological field studies for 2009. Graduate students, postdoctoral students, and junior scientists and scholars are eligible to apply for travel and related expenses, up to $5000. For more information, please see http://www.amphilsoc.org/grants/astrobiology.htm
Applications Being Accepted for NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP)
The NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP) is an Agency-wide fellowship program (also called GSRP Training Grants in what follows) for graduate study leading to masters or doctoral degrees in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering related to NASA research and development. This twelve month award strongly encourages a research experience at the NASA center extending the GSRP Fellowship.
The goal of NASA’s GSRP is to cultivate additional research ties to the academic community, to help meet the continuing needs of the Nation’s aeronautics and space workforce requirements by increasing the number of highly trained scientists and engineers in aeronautics and space-related disciplines. Research opportunities described on the GSRP Web site are assessed and updated annually to complement the mission requirements of NASA.
Underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (STEM) are encouraged to apply.
Application Deadline: February 1, 2009
For more information: http://fellowships.hq.nasa.gov/gsrp/nav/
NAI ARC Team Initiates New Education Project with Lassen
Scientists from the NAI Ames Team have teamed with rangers from Lassen Volcanic National Park to create the Lassen Astrobiology Internship Program. Ten high school sophomores from the rural areas around the park will hike - and later on in the year, snowshoe – to three locations within the Park several times throughout the 2008-09 school year, collecting water samples and other data at various locations. The samples will be analyzed, and the data provided to researchers on the NAI Ames Team to increase their knowledge about the microbial populations in the diverse hydrothermal areas and extreme environments within the Park.
NAI Ames Team scientists visited with the students in late October to begin training them on the use of the sampling equipment. Lassen and NAI education specialists were on hand to facilitate. This project is strengthened by a special emphasis on promoting continued science education and science career choices.
NAI Teams with ASM to Share Astrobiology at National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) Conference
A new collaboration between NAI and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) enabled the production of a special astrobiology-themed event at this year’s NABT 2008 Professional Development Conference, held in Memphis, TN, October 15-18th. ASM’s K-12 Committee Chair graciously invited NAI to join them in making astrobiology the theme of the day-long event that ASM hosts at NABT each year. E/PO Leads from NAI’s MBL and IPTAI teams, in collaboration with exobiology researcher Brad Bebout from NASA Ames, joined several astrobiologists from ASM’s ranks in sharing lectures and classroom materials about microbial life in extreme environments. NABT supported the event by advertising it in their newsletter and highlighting it in the conference program.
Although it was held on the final day of the conference when attendance typically declines, the astrobiology event drew a consistent crowd of 30-50 teachers throughout the day. The program was highlighted by a special “Microbial Lunch” in which teachers were taught about the essential role microbes play in food while they enjoyed their meal.
The free lunch ticket was offered in exchange for the teachers’ input to a survey which NAI produced. It asks which biological topics teachers struggle with most often, as well as what types of activities they prefer to use in the classroom and what form of professional development they find most accessible. NABT included this survey in a recent newsletter, which reached their ~6000 members. Survey results are forthcoming.
Astrobiology Curriculum Pilot To Kick-Off Maine STEM Initiative
The pilot-test of an NAI-supported curriculum entitled Astrobiology: An Integrated Science Approach will help kick-off the State of Maine’s new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Initiative. This initiative is the subject of a press conference to be given by Maine’s Governor, The Honorable John E. Baldacci, on November 17th.
The curriculum was developed with significant input from the NAI Ames Team led by Dave Des Marais, who will speak at the press conference. Much of the team’s research in astrobiology is captured in the curriculum.
Providing ninth grade students an interdisciplinary approach to science, this year-long, integrated curriculum covers the broad range of topics encompassed by astrobiology—cosmic and planetary evolution, the origin and evolution of life on Earth, and the potential for habitable worlds elsewhere in the Universe—within the context of science as inquiry.
This project has been a collaborative effort from the start. The curriculum was developed by TERC, an educational non-profit based in Cambridge, MA, with major support from NSF, and additional funds from NAI. Specialists from the Maine Space Grant Consortium and the University of Maine will evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum in a sample of ten Maine schools. Co-funded by NAI and Lockheed Martin, the pilot evaluation plan will ask if a reform curriculum such as Astrobiology: An Integrated Science Approach engages students, improves their attitudes towards science in general, and promotes their consideration of STEM careers. The evaluation will compare attitudes and interests of students who have been exposed to the curriculum versus those in non-integrated science courses.
For more information about the curriculum, please see: http://astrobio.terc.edu/
For the Astrobiology Community
NAI Planetary System Formation Focus Group Meeting
The NAI Planetary System Formation Focus Group (PSFFG) invites interested astrobiologists to participate in a review of the astrobiological value of upcoming and proposed NASA space telescopes relevant for the general question of planetary system formation. The meeting will be held in conjunction with the meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Long Beach, California on January 4-9, 2009. For details about the AAS meeting, please see:
http://aas.org/meetings/aas213
The purpose of the PSFFG meeting is to prepare a White Paper for consideration by the National Academy of Sciences' 2010 Decadal Survey. The plans for the Decadal Survey will be presented at the AAS meeting on Tuesday, January 6, 2009. The PSFFG will then meet on Wednesday, January 7, 2009, to begin to rank the importance of future NASA space telescopes with respect to what they will be able to discover about the formation and prevalence of habitable worlds in our galaxy. All interested parties are invited to attend and participate, regardless of their current, past, or future affiliation with NAI and its Science Teams.
The PSFFG meeting is currently scheduled to be held from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 in the Shoreline A room at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach Hotel, which is the host hotel for the AAS meeting. Partial funding of travel expenses for participation in this meeting may be requested by sending an email to boss@dtm.ciw.edu.
If you are interested and able to attend, please send an email to boss@dtm.ciw.edu.
Solar-Extrasolar Planet Formation Meeting to be held at NASA Ames
Dates: February 4 – 6, 2009
On the first day, the meeting will address the stellar environment during planet formation. On the second, invited talks will touch on extrasolar planets and planet formation. The third day will cover solar system talks. Since the range of topics is quite broad, a preliminary schedule is included below. When submitting an abstract please take into consideration how well your chosen topic fits into the program, as this will be one of the criteria for the selection panel. We will schedule 10 or so contributed talks, and will have a poster session if there is sufficient interest.
Please Contact Ignacio Mosqueira at mosqueir@cosmic.arc.nasa.gov with an abstract of 1000 words or less in word or pdf format before November 15. Abstracts should emphasize the broad theme of the Origins of planetary systems.
NAI Minority Institution Research Sabbatical (MIRS) Program Deadline March 16, 2009
The NAI-MIRS Program provides opportunities for researchers from qualified minority institutions to initiate joint partnerships with NAI researchers in the field of astrobiology. The NAI-MIRS program provides summer sabbaticals, follow-up support, and travel opportunities for faculty and students from minority institutions. The application deadline for summer 2009 is March 16. For more information, visit http://www.nai-mirs.org.
