Interdisciplinary Research

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Interdisciplinary Research

• David Des Marais
• October 16, 2008

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Interdisciplinary Research Discussion

• Building interdisciplinary teams
• Success stories
• Challenges for interdisciplinary science teams,
  and
• How to address those challenges
• Responsiveness to NRCs recommendations for
  interdisciplinarity

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Interdisciplinary Research Key Elements

• The research goal and its related objectives are
  well-defined and focused (e.g., investigation
  addresses a particular Astrobiology Roadmap
  objective)
• Participation by multiple disciplines is required
  to achieved progress toward goal (e.g., organic
  or inorganic chemistry, molecular biology,
  microbiology, geology, geochemistry, physics,
  planetary science, astronomy)
• Multiple disciplinary lines of research are
  inter-dependent, thus must coordinate efforts to
  achieve objectives (interaction parameters -
  weekly to yearly timescales, small groups vs
  institutions)

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Top NAI Research Accomplishments

• Early Habitability of Earth - Hadean Eon
• UColo, UCLA 2 disc. monthly
• The Rise of Oxygen and Earths Middle Age
• Harv, PSU, CIW, UWash, MIT 4 disc., weekly
• Snowball Earth
• Harv, 3 disc., weekly
• Microbial Mat Ecology
• ARC, UColo, ASU, MBL, UWisc 4 disc., monthly
• Discovery of the Rare Biosphere
• MBL, UCB 2 disc. yearly

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Top NAI Research Accomplishments

• Sub-Seafloor Life
• URI, MBL, PSU 3 disc. weekly-monthly
• Metal Isotope Tracers of Environment and Biology
• UWisc, Harv 2 disc. yearly
• Life without the Sun
• IPTAI 3 disc. weekly
• Early Wet Mars
• ARC, ASU, Harv, GSFC, UColo 5 disc. monthly
• Methane on Mars
• GSFC,UCB,UCLA others 4 disc. monthly-yearly

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Top NAI Research Accomplishments

• Comets in Space and in the Laboratory
• GSFC, ARC, UHawaii, UWash 2 disc. monthly?
• Exoplanet Discovery and Analysis
• CIW, UCB, VPL I disc.? monthly?
• Modeling Exoplanet Biospheres
• VPL 6 NAI teams, 19 disc. weekly

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• Assessment of the NAI by the NRC, 2008, pp.
  23-24.
• Since some of the NAIs scientific
  contributions are more interdisciplinary than
  others, should the NAI only take credit for
  research that is truly interdisciplinary? The
  answer must be no. Research that is predominantly
  the domain of a single discipline (e.g., the
  search for and characterization of exoplanets) is
  a necessary precursor to more interdisciplinary
  activities (e.g., modeling exoplanet biospheres).
  Thus, interdisciplinarity must be viewed as the
  orientation and emergent quality of an overall
  enterprise and not as a requirement or
  expectation levied on every piece of work
  produced by that enterprise.

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• Assessment of the NAI by the NRC, 2008, pp.
  23-24.
• Too great an emphasis on what is and is not
  interdisciplinary science could potentially lead
  to an overly bureaucratic emphasis on proxy
  measures of intellectual achievements such as
  counts of the relative number of papers with
  multiple authors from different disciplines.
  Progress in achieving interdisciplinary science
  goals can be made by independent experts working
  singly or in concert with colleagues from other
  disciplines. Since it is the result that counts,
  and not the methodology chosen to achieve it, the
  committee determined that the NAI has been
  successful in conducting, supporting, and
  catalyzing collaborative interdisciplinary
  research.

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Enhancing NAI Interdisciplinary Research

• Identifying and prioritizing NAI goals/objectives
  wrt Astrobiology Roadmap and NASA missions
• Focus Groups
• Directors Discretionary Fund
• Balancing overall NAI effort wrt scope (e.g.,
  intra-NAI team, NAI team-team, NAI-external,
  NAI-international)
• Identifying and leveraging external resources

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NAI Origins of Life Focus Group (A. Pohorille)

• Foster new research directions, strengthen
  connections to cutting edge research and
  missions, training next generation, augmenting
  resources
• Over 70 researchers 8 member institutions
• Website member profiles, research educational
  resources, forum (bulletin board)
• Hypothesis-based organization of scientific
  information

Carnegie Institution Of Washington
University Of Arizona
University of Colorado, Boulder
Montana State University
SETI Institute
VPL_at_University of Washington
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Goddard Research Center
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End
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Interdisciplinary Research Key Elements

• The research goal and its related objectives are
  well-defined and focused (e.g., investigation
  addresses a particular Astrobiology Roadmap
  objective)
• Participation by multiple disciplines is required
  to achieved progress toward goal (e.g., organic
  or inorganic chemistry, molecular biology,
  microbiology, geology, geochemistry, physics,
  planetary science, astronomy)
• Multiple disciplinary lines of research are
  inter-dependent, thus must coordinate efforts to
  achieve objectives (interaction parameters -
  weekly to yearly timescales, small groups vs
  institutions)

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• Arizona State University
• Follow the Elements
• Principal Investigator Ariel Anbar
• Arizona State University
• As new criteria are required to prioritize the
  large and growing list of water-rich environments
  beyond Earth, the ASU Team looks ahead to the
  next phase of astrobiological exploration.
  Because all organisms are comprised of a
  non-random selection of chemical elements, we
  must learn, in addition to following the water
  and following the energy, to follow the
  elements. The team will focus on two types of
  elements bioessential elements such as C, N, S,
  P and Fe that constitute the raw materials for
  life as we know it, and short-lived radionuclides
  such as 26Al and 60Fe, isotopes that may play a
  key role in determining the water inventories of
  planets.
• The ASU team will conduct three complementary,
  interdisciplinary research efforts to develop
  new, more refined criteria to guide the search
  for life.
• The Stoichiometry of Life
• Understanding the relationships between the
  elemental compositions of organisms and their
  environments, and the ways in which those
  relationships shape the habitability of planets.
• The Habitability of Water-Rich Environments
• Understanding the impact of water on the
  availability of bioessential elements on planets
  and satellites, using geochemical models of
  water-rock interactions and geophysical models of
  the dynamics of mass and heat transfer in icy
  mantles.
• Applying these models to determine the chemical
  composition of Europas subsurface ocean, ancient
  aqueous solutions on Mars, oceans on icy
  satellites, and oceans on waterworlds.
• Astrophysical Controls on the Elements of Life
• Investigating how astrophysical processes shape
  the abundances of bio-essential elements and
  radionuclides that affect planetary habitability.
• Seeking to identify an observable proxy for
  26Al that would enable quantitative predictions
  about whether a given star is more likely to host
  waterworlds or Earth-like planets.

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• Carnegie Institution of Washington
• Astrobiological Pathways From the Interstellar
  Medium, Through Planetary Systems,
• to the Emergence and Detection of Life
• Principal Investigator George Cody
• Carnegie Institution of Washington
• The NAI CIW Team will focus on lifes chemical
  and physical evolution, from the interstellar
  medium, through planetary systems, to the
  emergence and detection of life. Their research
  spans six integrated areas
• Applying theory and observations to
  investigate the nature and distribution of
  extrasolar planets both through radial velocity
  and astrometric methods, the composition of
  circumstellar disks, early mixing and transport
  in young disks, and late mixing and planetary
  migration in the Solar System, and Solar System
  bodies.
• Studying volatile and organic rich Solar
  System Bodies by focusing on astronomical
  surveying of outer solar system objects and
  performing in-house analyses of meteorite,
  interplanetary dust particle, and Comet Wild
  2/81P samples.
• Studying the origin and evolution of the
  terrestrial planets with a special emphasis on
  CHON volatiles, their delivery, and retention in
  the deep interiors of terrestrial planets.
• Investigating the geochemical steps that
  may have lead to the origin of life, focusing on
  identifying and characterizing mineral catalyzed
  organic reaction networks that lead from simple
  volatiles, e.g., CO2 , NH3, and H2, up to greater
  molecular complexity.
• Exploring how sub-seafloor interactions
  support deep ocean hydrothermal ecosystems
  studying lifes adaptation to extremes of
  pressure, cold, and salinity and adapting and
  applying multiple isotopic sulfur geochemistry
  towards the understanding of microbial metabolism
  and as a means of detecting ancient metabolisms
  recorded in the rock record
• Coordinating advanced instrument testing
  for the Arctic Mars Analogue Svalbard Expedition
  (AMASE) in support of Mars Science Laboratory,
  including ChemMin, SAM, and elements of the
  ExoMars payload including Raman and Life Marker
  Chip Instruments.

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• Pennsylvania State University
• Signatures of Life from Earth and Beyond
• Principal Investigator Christopher House
• Pennsylvania State University
• A major research focus of astrobiology is
  enabling the recognition of signatures of life on
  the early Earth, in extreme environments, and in
  extraterrestrial settings. The NAI PSU Team will
  develop novel approaches to detecting and
  characterizing life, investigate biosignatures in
  mission-relevant ecosystems and ancient rocks,
  and evaluate the potential for biosignatures in
  extraterrestrial settings
• Developing New Biosignatures
• The development and testing of potential
  indicators of life is essential for providing a
  critical scientific basis for the exploration of
  life in the cosmos. Efforts will focus on
  creating innovative approaches for the analyses
  of cells and other organic material, finding ways
  in which metal abundances and isotope systems
  reflect life, and developing creative approaches
  for using environmental DNA to study present and
  past life.
• Biosignatures in Relevant Microbial Ecosystems
• The team will investigate microbial life in
  some of Earths most mission-relevant ecosystems
  the Dead Sea, the Chesapeake impact structure,
  the methane seeps of the Eel River Basin, and
  Greenland glacier ice.
• Biosignatures in Ancient Rocks
• The Earths Archean and Proterozoic eons offer
  the best opportunity for investigating a
  microbial world, such as might be found elsewhere
  in the cosmos. The ancient record on Earth
  provides an opportunity to see what geochemical
  signatures are produced by microbial life and how
  these signatures are preserved over geologic
  time.
• Biosignatures in Extraterrestrial Settings
• The team will investigate the abundance of
  sulfur gases and elucidate how these gases can be
  expected to evolve with time on young terrestrial
  planets. They will continue studies of planet
  formation in the presence of migration and model
  radial transport of volatiles in young planetary
  systems, and will be involved with searches for M
  star planetary companions and planets around
  K-giant stars.

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• NASA Ames Research Center
• Early Habitable Environments and the Evolution of
  Complexity
• Principal Investigator David Des Marais
• NASA Ames Research Center
• The overarching goal of the NAI ARC Teams
  scientific program is to understand the creation
  and distribution of early habitable environments
  in emerging planetary systems. A key emphasis of
  this work is to elucidate, in a conceptual sense,
  the interactions between contributory processes
  that operate over vastly differing spatial and
  temporal scales. This intellectual framework
  provides a means of integrating the Ames teams
  investigations and also the diverse array of
  applicable research on habitability within the
  astrobiology community as a whole. The work is
  organized into six research objectives
• Tracing spectroscopically the cosmic
  evolution of organic molecules from the
  interstellar medium to protoplanetary disks,
  planetesimals and finally onto habitable bodies.
• Predicting the diversity of planetary
  systems emerging from protoplanetary disks, with
  a focus on the formation of planets that provide
  chemical raw materials, energy, and environments
  necessary to sustain prebiotic chemical evolution
  and complexity.
• Modeling particular planetary systems that
  can support viable atmospheres, including a focus
  on chemical consequences of radiation and impacts
  in early atmospheres.
• Developing and evaluating a more
  quantitative methodology for assessing the
  habitability of early planetary environments,
  particularly Mars via capabilities that will
  be, or might be, deployed in situ.
• Identifying critical requirements for the
  emergence of biological complexity in early
  habitable environments by examining key steps in
  the origins and early evolution of catalytic
  functionality and metabolic reaction networks.
• Investigating radiation induced effects on
  biomolecular complexity as a constraint as well
  as an opportunity for evolution.

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• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary
  Systems
• Principal Investigator Michael Mumma
• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Exogenous organic material and water were
  delivered to Earth in great amounts during the
  late heavy bombardment, and small amounts arrive
  even today. Intact examples abound in meteorite
  collections and their analysis provides a key
  window on source regions within 5 AU of the young
  sun. Major mass flux also arrived from beyond 5
  AU, and this source can be evaluated by measuring
  the organic composition of comets. The central
  research question of the NAI GSFC Team is Did
  delivery of exogenous organics and water enable
  the emergence and evolution of life?
• The research of the team is organized into four
  main areas
• Establish the taxonomy of icy planetesimals and
  their potential for delivering pre-biotic
  organics and water to the young Earth and other
  planets
• Investigate processes affecting the origin and
  evolution of organics in planetary systems
• Analyze the formation, distribution, abundance,
  and isotopic composition of complex organics in
  authentic extraterrestrial samples and advanced
  laboratory simulations
• Develop analytical protocols and techniques for
  in situ analysis of complex organics on planetary
  missions

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• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Setting the Stage for Life From Interstellar
  Clouds to Early Earth and Mars
• Principal Investigator Douglas Whittet
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• The NAI RPI Teams research will address the
  universality and efficacy of key pathways that
  lead from atoms and molecules in the interstellar
  medium to planets and life. The team will
  investigate the evolution of biogenic compounds
  from the first chemical reactions in interstellar
  space to exogenous delivery of prebiotic
  molecules to planetary surfaces. Geochemical and
  isotopic analyses of samples, including lunar
  impact melts and terrestrial Hadean-Archean
  zircons, will be used to determine (respectively)
  the time line for impact frustration of life and
  the nature of the primitive atmosphere and oceans
  on early Earth. The NAI RPI team will investigate
  the applicability to Mars of geochemical methods
  used to place time constraints on processes and
  events on early Earth, and explore the potential
  role of mineral catalysis in production of RNA
  and other prebiotic molecules on both planets.
• The research is organized into seven main
  areas
• Interstellar origins of preplanetary matter
• Thermal processing of early Solar System
  materials
• Pathways for exogenous organic matter to
  early Earth and Mars
• Impact history in the Earth-Moon System
• Vistas of early Mars In preparation for
  sample return
• The environment of the early Earth
• Prebiotic chemical catalysis on early Earth
  and Mars

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• Georgia Institute of Technology
• The Georgia Tech Center for Ribosome Adaptation
  and Evolution
• Principal Investigator Loren Williams
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• The NAI GIT Team has constructed a
  multidisciplinary Center to focus on a single
  theme the transition from nucleic acid-based
  life to protein-based life. This transition is
  centered on the macromolecular machine
  responsible for the synthesis of proteins, called
  the ribosome. The collective scientific goal of
  the Center is to rewind the tape of life to
  before the last universal common ancestor (LUCA)
  of all living organisms, and attempt to shed
  light on the nature of protein synthesis by
  living systems prior to the LUCA.
• The Centers research is organized into four
  main areas
• Characterizing macromolecules and assemblies of
  living systems both in extreme environments and
  from the distant past.
• Focusing on the machinery of peptide synthesis
  to determine and recreate key steps in the
  transition from the RNA world to the protein
  world.
• Uncovering clues as to the nature of the
  peptide synthesis machinery that was operational
  during lifes transition from non-coded to coded
  peptides.
• Potentially discovering and characterizing the
  oldest traceable macromolecules and machines of
  life, and the earliest discernable connection of
  the RNA world to the RNA-protein world.

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• Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Icy Worlds)
• Astrobiology of Icy Worlds Habitability,
  Survivability, and Detectability
• Principal Investigator Isik Kanik
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Icy worlds such as Titan, Europa, Enceladus, and
  others may harbor the greatest volume of
  habitable space in the Solar System. For at least
  five of these worlds, considerable evidence
  exists to support the conclusion that oceans or
  seas may lie beneath the icy surfaces. The total
  liquid water reservoir within these worlds may be
  some 30 to 40 times the volume of liquid water on
  Earth. This vast quantity of liquid water raises
  two questions Can life emerge and thrive in such
  cold, lightless oceans beneath many kilometers of
  ice? And if so, do the icy shells hold clues to
  life in the subsurface? The NAI JPL-Icy Worlds
  Team will address these questions through three
  science investigations and one technology
  investigation, by
• Researching the habitability of liquid
  water environments in icy worlds, with a focus on
  what processes may give rise to life, what
  processes may sustain life, and what processes
  may deliver that life to the surface
• Researching the survivability of biological
  compounds under simulated icy world surface
  conditions, and comparing the degradation
  products to abiotically synthesized compounds
  resulting from the radiation chemistry on icy
  worlds
• Researching the detectability of life and
  biological materials on the surface of icy
  worlds, with a focus on spectroscopic techniques,
  and on spectral bands that are not in some way
  connected to photosynthesis
• Developing a Path to Flight for
  astrobiology instrumentation that has not yet
  reached a technology readiness level adequate for
  flight, focusing on instruments and techniques
  that can detect biosignatures in space

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• Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Titan)
• Titan as a Prebiotic Chemical System
• Principal Investigator Mark Allen
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• The NAI JPL-Titan Team will conduct an
  interdisciplinary investigation of prebiotic
  chemistry on Titan in the context of Titans
  physical environment to provide a basis for
  understanding the prebiotic chemistry of the
  early Earth. Although Titan is far from the Sun
  and hence cold, solar radiation interacts with
  the methane rich atmosphere to initiate the
  formation of complex organic molecules and
  aerosols that eventually deposit on Titans
  geologically active surface, where further
  chemical evolution leading to the origin of life
  could occur. The teams work is organized into
  three themes
• Titans geologyplaces where organic chemistry
  can operate
• Geological places where atmospheric
  organics can react with water
• Extent of mixing between hydrocarbons and
  ice
• The complexity of atmospheric organic chemistry
• Gas phase chemical composition
• Aerosol formation, composition, and
  transport
• In situ atmospheric chemical analysis
  approaches
• The evolved chemical state of the Titan surface
• Reaction of organic compounds with water,
  ammonia, and mineral catalysts
• Solubilities and material properties in
  liquid methane/ethane
• Cosmic radiation chemistry in surface
  materials
• Surface sampling approaches and analytic
  protocols

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NAI Executive Council meeting October 16-17,
2008 NAI Perspectives Past, Present, and
Future Agenda THURSDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 16
Breakfast Welcome and Introductions Opening
Remarks (Carl Pilcher) Cross-team science
integration Discussion leader Carl
Pilcher Identifying areas of common interest
across the Institute ways that this has
been done in the past ideas for fostering and
supporting cross-team interactions Interdisciplin
arity Discussion leader Dave Des Marais
Building interdisciplinary teams success
stories challenges for interdisciplinary science
teams and how to address them responsiveness to
the NRC's recommendations for interdisciplinarity
LUNCH (PI's in camera session)
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THURSDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 16 Strategic
Challenges for the NAI Discussion leader Clark
Johnson Potential impact of the '08
Presidential electionhow to position/plan
for upcoming changes in federal administration
and agency priorities after the election. The
NAI Emeritus Program ways to continue
involvement in NAI use of the DDF and other
funding mechanisms to support the Emeritus
program lessons learned from past turnover of
teams. NAI's continued influence on NASA
missions impact on NAI's involvement in missions
due to the new mix of teams BREAK "NAI 2.0"
Use of technology for collaboration and
communication Discussion Leaders Vikki Meadows
and Wendy Dolci Lessons learned evolving the
virtual institute/IT aspects of NAI
emerging technologies to benefit NAI and that are
responsive to the NRC's recommendations for use
of IT Malcolm Walter, Australian Centre for
Astrobiology (ACA)
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FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 17 Álvaro Giménez
Cañete, Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB) Science
presentations Goddard team Speakers Danny
Glavin, Jason Dworkin Encouraging the next
generation of astrobiologists Discussion leader
Chris House What attracts students and young
researchers to astrobiology what are their
needs what lessons have been learned from the
NAI Post doc program from the experience of
team-supported post docs and other student
programs ideas for the future Planning for the
upcoming year January 2009 In Person meeting at
Ames Research Center content/purpose
participants dates. Schedule of NAI EC
videocons and in-person meetings for 2009 Goals
and plans for additional collaboration events
throughout the year (virtual events and in-person
events). Identify what must be achieved given the
strategic directions that have been
discussed. Examples we will need opportunities
to learn about science across teams, will need to
work together to respond to new NASA priorities
in mid-2009. NOON - Adjourn