SETI public: Fw: ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES NEW TEAMS

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----- Original Message -----
From: NASANEWS_at_mail.arc.nasa.gov
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 6:25 PM
To: ames-releases_at_lists.arc.nasa.gov
Subject: ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES NEW TEAMS

John Bluck June 24, 2003
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-5026 or 604-9000
E-mail: jbluck_at_mail.arc.nasa.gov

Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington
Phone: 202/358-1547)

RELEASE: 03-47AR
ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES NEW TEAMS

NASA today announced 12 new teams would join the NASA Astrobiology
Institute (NAI), a national and international research consortium
that studies the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life
on Earth and in the universe.

The institutional awards begin in fall 2003, when current agreements
with the NAI's 11 founding lead teams conclude. NAI team awards are
for five years, with annual reviews, at an average annual funding
level of $1 million. Funding supports interdisciplinary research in
conjunction with professional, educational and public outreach
activities, coordinated through NAI's offices at NASA Ames Research
Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

"The NAI successfully reached an important milestone today with the
competition for the original NAI membership," said Dr. Edward Weiler,
NASA's associate administrator of space science. "The quality of the
proposals and stiff competition demonstrated the scientific
community's enthusiasm for the Astrobiology Institute."

"This is an ongoing experiment in collaboration across disciplines
and distance," said Dr. Michael Meyer, astrobiology senior scientist
at NASA Headquarters, Washington.

The 12 newly selected teams, of which six are founding members, join
four NAI lead teams selected in 2001. "With this group of 16 teams,
NAI's efforts reach from the Earth's deep subsurface to the stars,"
said Dr. Rosalind Grymes, acting director of the NAI. "We look to the
near-term future of solar system exploration as well as to the
distant past of planet Earth," she said.

The new team lead institutions, principal investigators and the
titles of their proposed research are:

… Carnegie Institution of Washington: Dr. Sean Solomon,
"Astrobiological Pathways: From the Interstellar Medium, Through
Planetary Systems, to the Emergence and Detection of Life"

… Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.: Prof. Lisa Pratt,
"Indiana-Princeton-Tennessee Astrobiology Institute: Detection of
Biosustainable Energy and Nutrient Cycling in the Deep Subsurface of
Earth and Mars"

… Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.: Dr. Mitchell
Sogin, "From Early Biospheric Metabolisms to the Evolution of Complex
Systems"

… SETI Institute, Mountain View, Calif.: Prof. Christopher Chyba,
"Planetary Biology, Evolution and Intelligence"

… NASA Ames Research Center: Dr. David DesMarais, "Linking Our
Origins to Our Future"

… NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.: Dr. Michael
Mumma, "Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems"

… Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.: Prof. Hiroshi
Ohmoto, "Evolution of a Habitable Planet"

… University of Arizona, Tucson: Prof. Neville Woolf, "An
Astronomical Search for the Essential Ingredients for Life: Placing
our Habitable System in Context"

… University of California at Los Angeles: Prof. Edward Young, "From
Stars to Genes: An Integrated Study of the Prospects for Life in the
Cosmos"

… University of California at Berkeley: Prof. Jillian Banfield,
"BIOspheres of Mars: Ancient and Recent Studies"

… University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.: Prof. Bruce Jakosky,
"University of Colorado Center for Astrobiology"

… University of Hawaii, Manoa: Prof. Karen Meech, "The Origin,
History, and Distribution of Water and its Relation to Life in the
Universe"

The NAI, founded in 1997, is a partnership between NASA, 16 major
U.S. teams and five international consortia. NAI's goal is to
promote, conduct, and lead integrated multidisciplinary astrobiology
research and to train a new generation of astrobiology researchers.
For more information about the NAI on the Internet, visit:

http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/

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• Previous message: LARRY KLAES: "SETI public: Fw: Space-Weather-Outlook"

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