Spring 2008
ASTR 305G
Life in the Universe

Section 1
MWF 11:30-12:20
Biology Annex 102

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INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

Instructor
Dr. Chris Churchill
Office hours: T,Th 12:00-1:00
Office: 206 ASTR (Building 55)
Phone: 646-1913
Email: "cwc" (domain "@nmsu.edu")

Teaching Assistant
Tanya Tavenner
Office hours: Monday (3:00-4:00pm); Thursday (10:30-11:30am)
Office: Rm 109 Astronomy (Building 55)
Phone: 646-3409
Email: "tanya" (domain "@nmsu.edu)"


COURSE OUTLINE

This course is designed to be a general introduction to the scientific method of understanding life, its origins, and its place in the universe (i.e., from a scientific perspective). That is, we will limit ourselves to the philosophy governing the scientific view of learning about life, including what it is (as best as we can define it!), the adaptability of life and how it evolves, why Earth is such a good place for life as we know it, what other environmental conditions might sustain life, and where life may be found beyond Earth. This will force an astronomical perspective upon our approach (i.e., how biological life is connected to the cycles of stars that existed before the Earth!). Some general topics include:
  • The question of life elsewhere; What other worlds could be like; The building block of life; The universality of life; Astrobiology as a science
  • The roots of the scientific method; Revolution in thought and science; Modern Science; How to search for life in the universe; Astrobiology today and tomorrow
  • The definition of life; Basic units of life; Chemistry of Life; Heredity; Conditions to support life and consideration of extreme conditions
  • The geology, formation, and history of the Earth; Climate and its evolution; Geology and life; The scientific view of the origin and evolution of life on Earth
  • Searching for life in our planetary system; Environmental requirements for life; Our solar system; Biological possibilities in our solar system; The habitability and search for life on Mars, Icy moons, and Jovian moons
  • Habitability in a planetary system and its stability with time; The role of the central star; The role of the planet/moon; The Sun's habitable zone and the future of life on Earth
  • Searching for habitable planets; The types of planets discovered so far; The prospect of finding Earth-like planets; The signatures of habitability seen from a far
  • The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI); The Drake Equation; Defining intelligence; Search strategies
  • Interstellar travel; Conventional rocketry and its economics; Breakthrough propulsion systems; UFOs- are they out there hiding?
  • Colonizing space; Civilizations in space; Galactic civilizations?
  • Contact with aliens; What are the international protocols? What are the implications?


COURSE SPECIFICS


Credit
This is a three (3.0) credit course. Attendance to the lectures is mandatory and will be charted. In summary, the following will be counted for credit. Attendance will include your scores on occasional very short pop quizzes. There will be three mid-term exams. There will be short weekly homework assignments. There will be a cumulative final exam.

Prerequisites
None. There will be very little quantitative analysis, but being able to make simple calculations will be helpful.

Lectures
The lectures are designed to introduce and explain scientific concepts, to stimulate interest in the reading material, to expand on the reading material, and, in some cases, to introduce topics not covered in the textbook. You are encouraged to ask questions during the lectures!

Required Reading
The required textbook for this course is Life in the Universe (Addison Wesley) by Bennett, Shoshtak, and Jakosky. This book has been written for non-science majors and is not mathematical. You are responsible for knowing the reading schedule and keeping up with the required reading. Your best strategy will be to do the assigned reading prior to the day the material is discussed in class.

Course Home Page
A home page will be continually updated for this course, and its address is the following: http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/cwc/Teaching/ASTR305/Spr08/. Always be sure you are reading the Fall 2007 web pages. Be sure to always use your "reload" button each time you access the class web pages.

Attendance (Pop-Quizzes)
There will be occasional, yet very brief pop quizzes or attendance sign up sheets that will serve to assist in recording attendance. Tardiness, and "bugging out" of class early can be checked with these methods and will be monitored. Talk to me if you have a daily or weekly scheduling constraint. The quizzes will reflect items from lecture only (not from the book).

Office Hours
Office hours are posted at the top of this document. You are encouraged to attend office hours when you are seeking additional help with the course material. If you cannot make the appointed times, please make an appointment. The professor and teaching assistant are both very open to scheduling time to meet with you... just pick up the phone or send an email.

Attending office hours is optional. They are scheduled to provide an additional resource for you. Office hours are a guaranteed way to talk to either the professor or the teaching assistant. If you have any questions about an assignment, or about what was talked about in class, you can come ask us in a one-on-one situation. If you feel that you are falling behind, or that what was covered did not make sense, please come talk to us and we would be happy to go over it with you. This is also your chance to come ask us general astronomy questions, that might not be covered in the class.

Communication and Damage Control
Frank communication with your professor and teaching assistant will always serve your interest best. If you have personal issues that affect your performance and/or attendance, the responsible thing is to communicate these as soon as possible. For example, missing class for three weeks and then showing up (or emailing) to discuss your grade is NOT effective communication. Calling or emailing that you will be missing class is effective communication. You of course do not need to disclose you personal issues in detail. If you want the best damage control for a situation going bad, communicate up front. We are here to assist you in succesfuly achieving your educational goals. We will gladly work out a program to help you complete the course, provided you do not request it in the "11th hour".

Homeworks
There will be weekly homework assignments. Each week a new assignment will be handed out that will be due the following week. In the case of holidays, adjustments will be taken into account. Homework is to be handed in at the front table at the beginning of class. No late assignments will be accepted without an official note (from the university or medical professional), so hand in your partial work if you have it (some points are better than no points).

HOME WORK FORMAT POLICY: All homework is to be TYPE WRITTEN and handed in on 8.5x11 in paper with no tears or perforations on the edges (not torn from notebooks). Your full name, the assingment number, and the assignment due date are to be printed on the upper right hand corner. Work is "final", that is, no scratch work and/or scratched out work, and the problems are to be presented in numerical order. Complete sentences are required for all responses. Work is to be only on one side of the paper and multiple papers are to be stapled together in the upper left hand corner. Any infraction of these conditions is a 10% loss of points earned.

POLICY ON HOMEWORK COLLABORATION (PLAGIARISM): You may collaborate with other classmates for studying the questions and developing understanding for the solutions to the to the homework questions. But, it is an absolute rule that to receive full credit for the homework, you must write the answer in your own words on your own. It is a very easy science to cross correlate homework assignments and check for copying and close paraphrazing- and we have become very efficient at it. This is a clear policy and will not be compromised. Individuals who are judges to be copying (or being copied from!), either fully or partially will be contacted directly- the situation will be discussed and documented with signatures. For the first infraction, the student(s) will receive no credit. For all subsequent infractions, the student(s) will receive no credit and will again be contacted and the situation will again documented. A third offense may result in disciplinary action. Don't copy others' work; don't let others copy your work.

HOME WORK LATE POLICY: Homework should be handed in at the beginning of class on the due date. Unless you have made mutually agreed upon (confirmed) PRIOR arrangements (at least 24 hours in advance), homework is late if not handed in by the end of class on the due date. Late homework is accepted up to one class period past the due date, but it is worth only 50% of the total points (half credit). Homework later than the next class period is not accepted. Homework can be handed in only in one installment. That is, it is not allowed that part of a homework is "on time" for full credit, and another part is "late" for half credit.

Exams
There will be three midterm exams covering the material discussed in class and the assigned readings. Emphasis will be on the main concepts rather than rote memorization of details. "Trick questions" will be avoided, and the main concepts will be clearly emphasized in class lectures and in the book. There will a cumulative final exam.

EXAM DAY POLICY: (1) No hats or objects that obstruct your face; (2) All books and papers zipped shut in your back pack; (3) All exams written in pencil only; Bring a No. 2 pencil with excellent eraser.

MAKE-UP EXAM POLICY: No make-up exams will be given except in cases of: (1) a medical emergency documented by an official physician's note; (2) official University business documented by an official from the University; or (3) death in your family with official documentation. In these cases you must contact me as soon as possible regarding the makeup exam, and the format of the makeup exam will be at the discretion of the instructor.

Grading
Grading will be weighted as follows:

Drop Policy
You are responsible for officially dropping the course. Even if you stop attending (especially with no communication to the professor or teaching assistant), we will NOT take steps to drop you from the course on your behalf. The last day to drop is Tuesday, October 16. Just so we are clear on the policy: YOU are responsible for officially dropping the course.

Academic Integrity Policy
All New Mexico State University policies regarding ethics and honorable behavior apply to this course (and they are taken very seriously). For details, please see Division of Student Affairs Handbook. Plagiarism will be documented and possible disciplinary action may be taken.

PLAGIARISM includes, but is not necessarily limited to, submitting examinations, themes, reports, drawings, laboratory notes, undocumented quotations, computer-processed materials, or other material as one's own work when such work has been prepared by another person or copied from another person. Both intentional and unintentional plagiarism is considered academic misconduct. If any of this is unclear, please investigate additional information at http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/hc/plagiarism.html. These definitions will applied as matter of policy in this course.