Donald Savage<br />Headquarters, Washington June 24, 2003<br />(Phone: 202/358-1547)<br /><br /><br />John Bluck<br />Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.<br />(Phone: 650/604-5026)<br /><br /><br />RELEASE: 03-208<br /><br /><br />ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES NEW TEAMS<br /><br /><br /> NASA today announced 12 new teams would join the NASA <br />Astrobiology Institute (NAI), a national and international <br />research consortium that studies the origin, evolution, <br />distribution and future of life on Earth and in the universe. <br /><br /><br />The institutional awards begin in fall 2003, when current <br />agreements with the NAI's 11 founding lead teams conclude. <br />NAI team awards are for five years, with annual reviews, at <br />an average annual funding level of one million dollars. <br />Funding supports interdisciplinary research in conjunction <br />with professional, educational, and public outreach <br />activities, coordinated through NAI's offices at NASA's Ames <br />Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.<br /><br /><br />"The NAI successfully reached an important milestone today <br />with the competition for the original NAI membership," said <br />Dr. Edward Weiler, NASA's Associate Administrator of Space <br />Science. "The quality of the proposals and stiff competition <br />demonstrated the scientific community's enthusiasm for the <br />Astrobiology Institute. "This is an ongoing experiment in <br />collaboration across disciplines and distance," said Dr. <br />Michael Meyer, astrobiology senior scientist at NASA <br />Headquarters, Washington.<br /><br /><br />The 12 newly selected teams, of which six are founding <br />members, join four NAI lead teams selected in 2001. "With <br />this group of 16 teams, NAI's efforts reach from the Earth's <br />deep subsurface to the stars," said Dr. Rosalind Grymes, <br />acting director of the NAI. "We look to the near-term future <br />of solar system exploration as well as to the distant past of <br />planet Earth," she said. <br /><br /><br />The new team lead institutions, principal investigators and <br />the titles of their proposed research are:<br /><br /><br />* Carnegie Institution of Washington: Dr. Sean Solomon, <br />"Astrobiological Pathways: From the Interstellar Medium, <br />Through Planetary Systems, to the Emergence and Detection of <br />Life"<br /><br /><br />* Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.: Prof. Lisa Pratt, <br />"Indiana-Princeton-Tennessee Astrobiology Institute: <br />Detection of Biosustainable Energy and Nutrient Cycling in <br />the Deep Subsurface of Earth and Mars"<br /> <br />* Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.: Dr. <br />Mitchell Sogin, "From Early Biospheric Metabolisms to the <br />Evolution of Complex Systems"<br /><br /><br />* SETI Institute, Mountain View, Calif.: Prof. Christopher <br />Chyba, "Planetary Biology, Evolution and Intelligence"<br /><br /><br />* NASA Ames Research Center: Dr. David DesMarais, "Linking <br />Our Origins to Our Future"<br /><br /><br />* NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.: Dr. <br />Michael Mumma, "Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary <br />Systems"<br /><br /><br />* Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.: Prof. <br />Hiroshi Ohmoto, "Evolution of a Habitable Planet"<br /><br /><br />* University of Arizona, Tucson: Prof. Neville Woolf, "An <br />Astronomical Search for the Essential Ingredients for Life: <br />Placing our Habitable System in Context"<br /><br /><br />* University of California at Los Angeles: Prof. Edward <br />Young, "From Stars to Genes: An Integrated Study of the <br />Prospects for Life in the Cosmos"<br /><br /><br />* University of California at Berkeley: Prof. Jillian <br />Banfield, "BIOspheres of Mars: Ancient and Recent Studies"<br /><br /><br />* University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.: Prof. Bruce <br />Jakosky, "University of Colorado Center for Astrobiology"<br /><br /><br />* University of Hawaii, Manoa: Prof. Karen Meech, "The <br />Origin, History, and Distribution of Water and its Relation <br />to Life in the Universe"<br /><br /><br />The NAI, founded in 1997, is a partnership between NASA, 16 <br />major U.S. teams and five international consortia. NAI's goal <br />is to promote, conduct, and lead integrated multidisciplinary <br />astrobiology research and to train a new generation of <br />astrobiology researchers. For more information about the NAI <br />on the Internet, visit:<br /><br /><br />http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/