Laura Lewis

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

(Phone: 650/604-2162, 650/604-9000)

llewis@mail.arc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 00-56A

NOTE TO EDITORS AND NEWS DIRECTORS:

Members of the media are invited to come to NASA Ames Research Center to
attend the final summer research presentations of the NASA Ames
Astrobiology Academy graduates. The presentations will begin at 8:30 a.m.
PDT and conclude at 5:00 p.m. on August 24. They will continue from 8:30
a.m.- 12:30 p.m. on August 25. All presentations will be in the North Wing
of Building N-3 at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. Reporters
at Ames will be able to interview students, mentors and administrators of
the program. Video file about the NASA Ames Astrobiology Academy will be
available upon request. To get to Ames, take the Moffett Field exit off
Highway 101. Bring press credentials and photo ID, and allow adequate time
to obtain badges at the Visitor Badging Office, adjacent to the main Ames
gate.

The future of Astrobiology is looking ever brighter. On August 24-5, 13 of
the nation’s brightest college students will complete their ten-week
experience at the NASA Ames Astrobiology Academy when they present the
results of their summer research, conducted under the supervision of the
field’s top scientists. Student projects range from a feasibility study to
develop a future Mars mission, to the role of ultraviolet radiation on the
early evolution of life on Earth.

“I’m really looking forward to sharing with everyone what I did this
summer, and I can’t wait to hear about what the rest of the Academy
accomplished in our ten weeks of hard work at Ames,” said Academy student
Jennifer Law of Palo Alto, CA.

The NASA Ames Astrobiology Academy is a unique summer internship program
that gives college juniors, seniors and first-year graduate students from
all over the country a unique, hands-on research opportunity in
Astrobiology laboratories. “We’re developing the prospective leaders of
tomorrow’s U.S. Space Program by bringing together young, talented and
enthusiastic science and engineering students to work with our researchers;
it’s a clear investment in NASA’s future,” declared Academy Director
Douglas O’Handley.

For more information about the NASA Ames Astrobiology Academy visit our web
sites:
http://www.nasa-academy.nasa.gov and
http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov:80/academy/2000/program.html

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