The proponents of the UW astrobiology program expect to topple a pressure
zone right here on campus-historic barriers between various academic programs.
Scores of professors are developing the highly interdisciplinary curriculum
involving 11 UW degree programs - oceanography, astronomy, aeronautics and
astronautics, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, atmospheric
sciences, geophysics, geological sciences and history. The School of Oceanography
will provide dedicated laboratory space for students to study organisms
that live in extreme conditions.
The program also will tap two outside entities the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory in Richland and ZymoGenetics of Seattle.
The Richland laboratory will offer students a chance to study microbial
life in the subterranean basalt formations in eastern Washington. ZymoGenetics
will offer internships so students can study the unique enzymes contained
in unusual bacteria, a particular interest to the company. Such bacteria
have proven valuable for designing products, even some as mundane as household
detergents.
A close-up of microbial filaments from the walls of sulfide
chimneys found deep below the ocean's surface. Photo courtesy of Jody Deming,
UW School of Oceanography.
Some look for astrobiology to one day be a separate degree program. Leovy
isn't among them. One of the greatest advantages with the current plan,
he says, is that it draws on many people from many different fields who
otherwise might never collaborate and learn about each other's work. Simply
put, it tears down walls between departments, and he doesn't like to think
new walls might someday be built around a new department.
Leovy also expects the students to be particularly challenged as they
blaze new paths of discovery. "Astrobiology students will have to learn
rigorously, as well as more broadly, than most other science graduate students,"
he said.
Even though the program won't formally begin until later this year, it
already has its first participant Matt Schneider, a 28-year-old engineering
graduate student from Seattle. He's been a regular at a seminar series created
by astrobiology faculty, who explore widely disparate scientific topics
related to the program.
"It's just a tasty subject because there's a lot of possibilities
for discovery," Schneider says. "One of the best things is that
it's so multidisciplinary."
In fact, that's an educational revolution, he says, highlighted by the
seminar series in which professors have to talk about their specialties
at a level that can be understood by those in other fields.
"A biologist speaking to an engineer that's a pretty strong
difference in backgrounds, and it's pretty neat to be exposed to that broad
base of knowledge," he said.
Schneider finds that he has a bit of explaining to do when he tells friends
and family that he's pursuing a career in astrobiology. Their typical reaction:
"What the heck is that?" But that doesn't bother him, and he says
he hasn't run into much skepticism. He hopes to use the degree to land a
NASA job, perhaps working on missions to Mars or Europa. He envisions himself
as a liaison between the scientists who cook up the discovery projects and
the engineers who design the equipment to get the job done.
Graduates are likely to find their main employment opportunities in academia
or in laboratories at NASA or at companies such as ZymoGenetics. Sullivan
suggests that some might even turn their talents to science writing, bringing
greater general understanding of scientific breakthroughs to the public.
He expects about a dozen students when the program formally sets up shop.
Budget constraints, not a lack of interest, limit the number of students
the program can accommodate. The NSF grant contains money only for the students'
research assistantships. Still, the interest continues to build. By telephone,
letter and e-mail, queries have come from across the country and around
the world even though the NSF assistance is limited to students from
the United States.
"They're coming from all directions and it's interesting, the different
backgrounds," Sullivan says. |