Astrobiology and Sustainability

Invited Speaker: Adam Frank

This talk provides a look at how the new science of astrobiology, which is the study of life in a planetary context, overlaps with the new science of sustainability, which is the study of human habitation in a planetary context.

Adam Frank is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester who studies star formation and stellardeath using supercomputers. Frank is a theoretical/computational astrophysicist and currently heads a successful research group at the University of Rochester. He holds a joint appointment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, a Department of Energy Fusion lab. As a post-doc he was awarded the prestigious Hubble Fellowship and in 1997 he was awarded an NSF Career award. His new book, “The Constant Fire, Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate,” was recently published.