A Celebration of Georgia Tech Astrobiology

The NASA Astrobiology Institute marks its 20th anniversary this year and Georgia Tech is throwing a party! This celebration will feature talks and a poster session by faculty members, NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellows, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers in Georgia Tech's vibrant astrobiology community.

The celebration is hosted by Frank Rosenzweig, professor of biological sciences and principal investigator of the NAI program Reliving the Past. 

The event is sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the Georgia Tech College of Sciences, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences, and the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. 

The event is by by invitation only.

Speakers, Morning Session starting at 8:30 AM

Thom Orlando, professor of chemistry and biochemistry
"An Overview of REVEALS and CSTAR Programs"

Amanda Stockton, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry
"High Impact Chemistry: The Icy Moons Penetrator Organic Analyzer"

Loren Williams, professor of chemistry and biochemistry
"Visualizing the Origins of Life in Biopolymers"

Nick Hud, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and principal investigator of the Center for Chemical Evolution (CCE)
"Some Highlights of CCE Discoveries on the Possible Origins and Early Evolution of Biopolymers"

Martha Grover, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering
"Prebiotic Replication of an RNA Duplex Containing an Active Ribozyme"

Chris Reinhard, assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences
"Climate and Atmospheric Biosignatures on Reducing Worlds"

Jeff Bowman for Britney Schmidt, assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences
"Oceans Across Space and Time: A Multi-Institutional Effort to Understand and Identify Life in Extraterrestrial Oceans"

Jennifer Glass, assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences
"Laughing Gas as a Precursor to Aerobic LIfe"

Will Ratcliff, assistant professor of biological sciences
"Solving Physical Challenges during the Origin of Multicellularity by Evolving Simple Development

James Wray, associate professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences
"Orbital Spectral Signatures of Changing Habitable Environments on Mars" 

Lunch and Poster Session, 12:30-1:45 PM
 
Speakers, Afternoon Session, starting at 2 PM

Pedram Samani, postdoctoral researcher, Georgia Tech
"Experimental Evolution of Anisogamy: An Inquiry into the Origins of Sexes"

Peter Conlin, NPP Fellow, Georgia Tech
"Experimental Evolution of Adaptive Phenotypic Plasticity in a Temporally Varying Environment"

Caroline Turner, NPP Fellow, University of Pittsburgh
"Environmental Similariy (Mostly) Predicts Genetic Similarity"

Nadia Szeinbaum, NPP Fellow, Georgia Tech
"A Microbial Ecology Perspective on the Success of Oxygenic Photosynthesis"

Moran Frankel-Pinter, NPP Fellow, Georgia Tech
"Dynamic Polymerization of Prebiotic Depsipeptides Allows Selection of Stable Structures"

Micah Schaible, NPP Fellow, Georgia Tech
"Ionizing Radiation Effects on the Surfaces of Airless Bodies"

Event Details

Date: 
Friday, September 14, 2018 - 12am

Location:
Room 1128, Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, 315 Ferst Dr NW, Atlanta, GA 30332

Fee(s):
This event is by invitation only.

For More Information Contact

A. Maureen Rouhi, Ph.D.
Director of Communications
College of Sciences