Educational and Outreach Goals

1
Biological Research and Educational Opportunities
at Henderson Underground Science and Engineering
Project
Collecting water and measuring in situ chemical
parameters
Educational and Outreach Goals Recruit and
engage students and teachers Encourage students
toward scientific careers Provide hands-on
experience and career development Interaction
with mentors and scientists Enhance laboratory,
speaking writing skills
Viewing cells
Making media
Earth Lab Figure
Examining Rocks
Research Experiences for Undergraduates
K-12 Hands-on Experiments
Preparing for underground sampling trip
Taking notes
Sampling water
Analyzing sample DNA
Using Field Microscopes

• Why study extreme environments in the deep
  subsurface?
• Terrestrial and oceanic deep subsurface biosphere
• Spatially expansive
• Large component of the global biomass
• Gain a better understanding of the types of
  microbial communities existing in the subsurface
• Abundance and Diversity
• Activities and biogeochemical processes that
  support them
• Potential for in-situ or ex-situ biotechnological
  processes

Extracting DNA

• Major Questions in Geomicrobiology and Molecular
  Biology
• How deeply does life extend into the Earth?
• What fuels the deep biosphere?
• Does the interplay between biology and geology
  shape the subsurface?
• What are subsurface genomes telling us?
• Did life on the earth's surface come from
  underground?
• Is there life as we don't know it?

REU Site Biogeochemical Educational Experiences
South Africa (BEE-SA)
http//geomicro.utk.edu Mascot is a bacterium
munching on metal
Astrobiology
hands-on session
Acknowledgements of funding agencies and
participating scientists
Research Training for Teachers and Post
Graduates Shown here sampling water in mines and
processing rock in anaerobic glove bag
Waste Management Researchand Education Institute
Making comets
Teacher Workshops and In-Service Training