Astrobiology Workshop, Macquarie University July 12-13 2001

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Education and Public Outreach: The Next Generation of Astrobiologists

Krisstina Willmoth (NASA Ames Research Center)

While true in many areas of science, it is particularly relevant to Astrobiology that the discoveries we seek may produce the most fruit when many of us are long gone from the planet. How then do we ensure the future of Astrobiology? The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) supports a robust program for communicating the science of Astrobiology to students, teachers, and the general public. It is part of NASA's mandate to do so, and it allows us to build a broad community of avid participants of all ages. The questions astrobiologists seek to answer are as old as humanity. It is not difficult to acquire public interest in our endeavors. NAI's public website hosts a popular feature known as Ask An Astrobiologist which receives questions from people around the world. The content of those questions is both amazing and amusing and has much to offer us in lessons for communicating what we do to the students of the world.