ASTROBIOLOGYVolume 6, Number 3, 2006© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

News & Views

Astrobiology Influx to Astrobiology in Flux

ANTHONY RICCARDI,1,2 SHAWN DOMAGAL-GOLDMAN,1,2 FABIA U. BATTISTUZZI,2,3

and VYLLINNISKII CAMERON1,2

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THE FIELD OF ASTROBIOLOGY is currently in cri-sis. Proposed changes to the NASA 2007 bud-

get, which have the potential to damage this dis-cipline and have lasting negative effects on ourexploration for life in the universe, have sentshockwaves through the Astrobiology commu-nity. Graduate students, the future of Astrobiol-ogy, are naturally concerned about their im-pending academic and scientific careers. Thestudent concerns may not be unwarranted: oneof the first casualties of these proposed budgetchanges has been this year’s Astrobiology Grad-uate Student Conference (AbGradCon), a meet-ing that, in the past, has provided an opportunityfor young researchers to present their work whileinteracting with their peers in the field.

The third AbGradCon, which was organizedby the authors of this paper, was to be hosted atThe Pennsylvania State University in June 2006.The primary funds for this conference and theprevious AbGradCon meetings originated fromNASA. Unfortunately, fallout from the antici-pated NASA budget cuts to Astrobiology led tothe cancellation of student travel grants. In thepast, travel funds were given to students attend-ing both AbGradCon and the Astrobiology Sci-ence Conference (AbSciCon), which removedpressure on individual principal investigatorsand students to obtain external funds to attendeither conference. Decreased travel supportwould have the effect of forcing many studentsto attend only one of the two conferences, whichwould put our conference in what we’ve deemedto be an inappropriate competition for attendees.Thus, the decision was made to cancel AbGrad-

Con 2006. This decision was not made lightly, asmost of the planning was already in place, but wefeel that we made the correct choice given thefunding situation.

Unfortunately, this decrease in travel funds isnot a short-term phenomenon, as evidenced bythe 2007 NASA budget sent before Congress,which calls for a 40–50% cut in Astrobiologyfunding (Cleave, 2006; NASA, 2006). Given thissituation, we cannot expect the level of financialassistance for students that existed in the past toreturn. The authors recently conducted a shortsurvey to gauge the thoughts of graduate stu-dents on the issues currently affecting Astrobiol-ogy. Many students responded that the biggestobstacle to their attendance of AbGradCon was alack of outside travel support (Fig. 1), thereby ty-ing the future of AbGradCon to continued sup-port from NASA. Our proposed solution to thisproblem is to couple future AbGradCons to Ab-SciCon as a short, pre-conference meeting. Thiswould lessen the financial burden by allowingstudents to travel once and attend both meetings.

A forum on AbGradCon was held at this year’sAbSciCon in Washington, DC, during which stu-dents debated the future of AbGradCon and thedangers the recent funding cuts pose to the field.The most vocal opposition to coupling AbGrad-Con to AbSciCon argued that: (1) this takes con-trol away from the students and places it withNASA; (2) a separate venue gives graduate stu-dents more experience in running a conference;(3) this would change the atmosphere to a moreformal setting; and (4) this would make for a sin-gle long conference. However, the coupling of

Departments of 1Geosciences and 3Biology and 2Astrobiology Research Center, The Pennsylvania State University,University Park, Pennsylvania.

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both conferences would only change the time andlocation of the conference, not the control over or-ganization and planning, which would remainsolely with the students. Thus, the amount of ex-perience gained by the organizers or the partici-pants is not a function of the location of the meet-ing. Furthermore, AbGradCon would still beseparate from AbSciCon and remain unchangedin format and attendee composition. The most le-gitimate concern, perhaps, is the length of theconference, but our survey showed that the ma-jority of students were in favor of coupling theconferences (Fig. 2). None of these arguments af-fects the most important reasons for holding AbGradCon, which are to network with peersand gain experience giving public talks. While thefuture of AbGradCon remains uncertain, andmore discussion with the student community willbe necessary to resolve these issues, we continueto advocate that coupling the two conferences re-mains the best hope for its survival.

As students enrolled in the first dual-title de-gree program in Astrobiology, we are also con-cerned about the implications for the field in lightof broader funding changes. Lee Kump, Profes-sor of Geosciences at Penn State University andhead of the dual-title program, stated that “it re-mains to be seen if Astrobiology is going to besustained in the event of the termination of theAstrobiology program by NASA, [but] I thinkthat the people who have become engaged by As-trobiology will find a way to continue this re-search and try to get it funded. Astrobiology istruly a unique new field . . . I think the fundingwill continue since you have to believe that thebest science will get funded.”

Astrobiology is a growing area of study not justin the United States but throughout Europe andthe rest of the world. Unfortunately, these fund-

ing cuts may have implications beyond theUnited States, as international Astrobiology cen-ters are partnered with the NASA AstrobiologyInstitute, and it remains to be seen how these re-search programs will be affected by funding cuts.

If NASA funding cuts severely limit Astrobiol-ogy, then an important interdisciplinary effortwill have been obstructed. Collaboration amongvarious disciplines has been a central precept ofAstrobiology programs and has led to new andinteresting research directions as well as ex-panded the education of its students into otherfields. “Once there is some exposure to the inter-esting questions,” Dr. Kump said in agreement tothis opinion, “good people come on board.” Sim-ilar sentiments were echoed by senior scientists(Drs. Carl Pilcher, Yvonne Pendleton, VikkiMeadows, and Tom Pierson) at a panel discussionorganized at our AbGradCon forum. Dr. Pilchercompared Astrobiology with other interdiscipli-nary fields such as Planetary Science and EarthSystem Science, both of which originated at NASAand have since become fully recognized areas ofstudy. Interdisciplinary fields like Astrobiologyreverse the traditional trend of increasing spe-cialization of research topics by shifting the focustoward larger questions and the broader implica-tions of graduate research. That is not to say thatother sciences do not have broader relevance, butin Astrobiology the bigger picture is the drivingforce toward education and research outside tra-ditional disciplinary boundaries.

RICCARDI ET AL.398

FIG. 1. Factors influencing AbGradCon attendance:survey results detailing student concerns over travel toAbGradCon.

FIG. 2. Should AbGradCon be tied to AbSciCon?: Re-sults of a survey on student opinion regarding the pro-posed coupling of AbGradCon to AbSciCon.

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So, where do we go from here? Is there a magicelixir that will quiet the tremors currently afflict-ing the field? Or are these simply growing painsassociated with becoming an independent disci-pline? Astrobiology’s future remains uncertain.Perhaps nothing could illustrate this uncertaintymore than the recent ambiguities that have arisenwith regard to the potential restoration of fundsto the 2007 budget. At the opening statements ofAbSciCon 2006, Dr. Andrew Dantzler and Dr.Pilcher stated that a plan had been proposed torestore, in part, some funds to Astrobiology in re-sponse to the outcry of the scientific communityover the proposed funding cuts. On the day theconference concluded, reports from the ScienceMission Directorate monthly meeting at NASAheadquarters indicated that, in fact, no additionalfunds would be added to the Astrobiology bud-get (Nasawatch, 2006). Beyond adding confusionto the state of funding to the field, this reversalreinforced concerns previously expressed bySETI’s Dr. Jill Tarter during the conference’s townhall meeting (organized by Dr. Pilcher). Dr. Tarterwas skeptical of conveniently timed rumors onfunding restoration and said that the astrobiol-ogy community should not be distracted from ad-vocating for increased science funding and anoverall increase to the NASA budget. NASAcould still reverse its decision to cut science fund-ing over the coming years. Alternatively, or inconcert, pressure on the National Science Foun-dation to fund more Astrobiology-related re-search could help to create new funding sources.

The burden of advocating for Astrobiology andaffecting change is the responsibility of all mem-bers of the Astrobiology community. Senior scien-tists and principal investigators are already lead-ing the charge (Huntress and Friedman, 2006).Using their activities as a guideline, graduate stu-dents should make use of this opportunity not onlyto promote the field alongside these established re-searchers, but also as a vehicle for enhanced train-ing and professional growth. Given the lack of aprofessional Astrobiology association, similar tothe American Geophysical Union, the AmericanAstronomical Society, or the American Society forMicrobiology, it cannot be overstated that the taskof promoting the field falls on every individualmember. Graduate students have wagered their ca-reers on the continued existence of the field and, assuch, should feel compelled to lead the charge to-ward the restoration of funds. Although many ofus have contacted congressional representatives,

these actions must become comprehensive and co-ordinated efforts to publicize Astrobiology re-search and education. Furthermore, these effortsmust continue throughout the legislative budgetcycle. Groups organizing advocacy activitiesshould disseminate their ideas to the rest of the sci-entific community.

Astrobiology represents a new paradigm in sci-ence. For years, the core disciplines have existedas secluded entities, occasionally reaching out tothe other fields only when necessary. As gradu-ate students in Astrobiology, we have beentrained to approach specific problems using abroad framework and tackle broad questionswith specific techniques. This approach to scienceis the vital factor that will allow Astrobiology tothrive and serve as a bridge to foster communi-cation and understanding between the disci-plines. Astrobiologists are the key to ensuringthat this trend continues.

ABBREVIATIONS

AbGradCon, Astrobiology Graduate StudentConference; AbSciCon, Astrobiology ScienceConference.

REFERENCES

Cleave, M. (2006) Dear Colleague Letter. Available at:http://science.hq.nasa.gov/DearColleague03-06 (ac-cessed April 27, 2006).

Huntress, W. and Friedman, L. (2006) Commentary:NASA’s 2007 Budget Proposal: No Real Vision. Availableat: http://www.space.com/news/HuntressFriedman_Commentary_021306.html (accessed April 27, 2006).

NASA (2006) NASA’s FY 2007 Budget and Planning Doc-uments. Available at: http://www.nasa.gov/about/budget/ (accessed April 27, 2006).

Nasawatch (2006) NASA Reverses Astrobiology Fund-ing Pledge. Available at: http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2006/03/nasa_reverses_a.html (accessed April27, 2006).

Address reprint requests to:Vyllinniskii Cameron

Department of Geosciences and Astrobiology Research Center

213 Deike BuildingThe Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA 16802

E-mail: cvyllinn@geosc.psu.edu

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