AbSciCon’s classes are open completely to convention attendees. Nonetheless, to incorporate everybody focused on astrobiology, the Georgia Tech organizers have additionally arrange three occasions which are free to the general public.
Grover will average a dialogue about bringing astrobiology sources to Okay-12 college students. Lisa Yaszek and André L. Brock from the Ivan Allen Faculty of Liberal Arts are a part of a panel that may contemplate how the media and society would react if life apart from our personal is ever found.
“We’ll discover how concepts about alien life have been represented within the media traditionally and the way tales about alien encounters written by marginalized peoples may present us with new methods of fascinated by first contact with different cultures,” mentioned Yaszek, Regents Professor of Science Fiction Research within the College of Literature, Media, and Communication.
“The liberal arts offers revolutionary, human-centered views on science and know-how. I hope the roundtables, movie screenings, and public performances that we have scheduled will assist scientists and artists alike take into consideration the origins of life, right here on Earth and elsewhere, from new and maybe shocking views.”
The ultimate public occasion is a plenary tackle of Tracy Drain, who obtained her grasp’s diploma from the George W. Woodruff College of Mechanical Engineering. Drain, a flight methods engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, works on deep area missions, together with Juno, which is at present circling Jupiter.
“We’re delighted to welcome NASA and the astrobiology neighborhood to AbSciCon 2022, together with aspiring scientists and engineers of all ages for this yr’s public occasions,” mentioned Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Sutherland Chair, and AGU President Susan Lozier. “This yr’s theme, ‘Origins and Exploration: From Stars to Cells’ speaks not solely to the breadth of analysis discovery and options inside our attain — but in addition to the collaborative, inclusive neighborhood steering the broad way forward for this subject.”
