Origins of Life Seminar Series
		the original New York Center for Studies on the Origins of Life Web site for access to archives of the weekly Origins of Life Seminars and WAMC Interviews. Presenters include guest speakers, faculty, postdoctoral researchers and students associated with the Center.

The New York Center for Astrobiology

2012 Astrobiology Short Story Contest

The contest is open to all students in grades 9 - 12 from Connecticut, New York and Vermont. There will be a $200 prize awarded for each of the best stories (up to 4 stories to be selected), which will be presented at a ceremony in early May 2012. The deadline is March 2, 2012. More information and how to enter can be found by clicking here .

New York Center for Astrobiology: Highlights for 2011

Based within the School of Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., the New York Center for Astrobiology is devoted to investigating the origins of life on Earth and the conditions that lead to formation of habitable planets in our own and other solar systems.

Supported by NASA, the Center is a member of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute (NAI), and is a partnership between Rensselaer and the University at Albany, Syracuse University, the University of Arizona, and the University of North Dakota.

Researchers and students within the Center seek to understand the chemical, physical, and geological conditions of early Earth that set the stage for life on our planet. They also look beyond our home planet to investigate whether the processes that prepared the Earth for life could be replicated elsewhere — on Mars and other bodies in our solar system, for example, and on planets orbiting other stars.

A major research activity in the Center will be to search for Martian “biosignatures”, i.e., new ways of detecting evidence of current or past life on Mars.

The Center hosts a weekly Origins of Life Seminar Series in the Fall and Spring Semesters, which is open to the public. Click here for schedule. Presenters include guest speakers, faculty, postdoctoral researchers and students associated with the Center.

Opening Ceremonies on November 24, 2008 (Webcast)