Dr. Britney Schmidt describes her upcoming presentation, “Life on Europa? Exploring Jupiter’s Icy Moon”, and talks about astrobiology, the study of the rise of life in habitable planetary systems.
Dr. Schmidt is a research scientist at The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, and her presentation is part of the awesome Hot Science – Cool Talks series, hosted by the Environmental Science Institute.
This is part one of Commander Ben’s interview series with Dr. Schmidt.
I loved seeing Dr. Jay Banner, director of the Environmental Science Institute, on the University of Texas at Austin campus (and I think he strayed onto “The Drag” too) interviewing all kinds of people, asking them if there’s life on other planets.
They had hugely varied responses from yes to no to ahhh…maybe.
This is a great video promoting the next Hot Science – Cool Talks about possible life on Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons. Dr. Britney Schmidt, research scientist with the UT Institute for Geophysics, will be presenting her latest research on Europa during the talk.
Watch the video to see what other questions Dr. Banner asked, and be sure to come to the next Hot Science – Cool Talk presentation on Friday, April 13, 2012, to learn more about Europa with Dr. Schmidt.
Commander Ben…signing off
P.S. You won’t believe what I did the other day! I had breakfast with Dr. Schmidt, and I had a great video interview with her about Europa, astrobiology, how she became a scientist, and more. I’m working on the videos for upload, and I look forward to sharing them with you soon. I learned so much from her, and I know that you will too!
I was happy to see Dr. Greg Clark again at this year’s Explore UT. I first met Dr. Clark with the Shadow a Scientist Program last year. This program gives middle school students the chance to go on a two hour tour with real scientists at UT Austin.
It was a fantastic experience. Dr. Clark is a research scientist with the College of Natural Sciences, and I enjoyed going around his lab and greenhouse and seeing his experiments. I remember him talking about plant mutation and showing us how normal plant roots go straight down, and how the roots of mutated plants grow wavy and crooked.
If you’re a middle school student, this is an experience not to be missed! Sign up for this great program during the summer by contacting Dr. Clark on the Shadow a Scientist site that’s part of the College of Natural Science’s Freshman Research Initiative. He would love to hear from you!
My name is Commander Ben and I'm the Invasive Hunter. I educate kids of all ages - and all learning styles - about invasive species, science, and dyslexia.
Commander Ben 