IAC Colombia - NAI NASA
INSTITUTO DE ASTROBIOLOGÍA COLOMBIA (IAC)
Jorge Enrique Bueno Prieto, Director
Department of Biology
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Bogota, Colombia
jorge.bueno@astrobiologia.org
The NAI has accepted an Affiliate Partnership proposal from the Instituto de Astrobiologia in
Bogota, Colombia. The goals of the Institute de Astrobiologia are:
· Contributing to scientific excellence, creativity and innovation for Astrobiology education and research in Latin America;
· Promoting interdisciplinarity in basic and engineering sciences; and
· Encouraging and inspiring children, young adults, and the general public inSTEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) topics through Astrobiology.
The Instituto approaches these goals by:
· Promoting education and research in Astrobiology in schools and universities throughout Colombia;
· Developing research projects in Colombia’s scientific centers;
· Training teachers in the interdisciplinary methods of Astrobiology; and
· Strengthening Astrobiology in Latin America.
· The Instituto has partnership agreements with:
· Universidad de Antioquia—Institute of Physics;
· The Colombian Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics of extreme Environments (Gebix); and
· Parque Explora, an interactive science center in Medellin
The NAI and the Instituto de Astrobiologia envision working together initially in three areas: (1) programs to engage and train students and young researchers in Astrobiology; (2) the development of Spanish-language astrobiology materials for use in the United States and in Latin America; and (3) microbiology and related research on organisms from extreme environments.