The 2015-16 NASA Astrobiology Debates Interview Series is a one-of-a-kind academic collaboration in which students are remotely group-sourcing the creation of a video-interview archive on the 2015-16 NASA Astrobiology Debates Topic. In addition to serving as a resource and guide for the student-competitors debating the 2015-16 NASA Astrobiology Debates Topic, this archive will serve to create and preserve a comprehensive "snapshot" for future researchers of the opinions of topic experts and thought-leaders drawn from across-the-disciplines on the question of humanity's ethical obligations to protect and preserve extraterrestrial microbial life. Click on a link to view the interview and transcript:
David Berube is a Professor of Communications at North Carolina State University whose specializes in risk assessment methodology relating to emerging technologies such as nano-technology and bio-synthetics.
Tommy Curry is a professor of philosophy at Texas A&M University who focuses on anti-humanism and anti-ethics.
John Faragher from Yale University is the Director of the Howard R. Lamar Center for the Study of Frontiers and Borders, author of The American West: A New Interpretive History with Robert Hine.
Marie I. George is a Professor of Philosophy, St. John’s University.
Sarah M. Glaser is a fisheries ecologist and research associate at the One-Earth Future Foundation and the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
Brian Henning is a Professor of Philosophy and environmental studies at Gonzaga University who specializes in environmental and climate change ethics.
Irvin Hirshfield is a Professor of Biological Sciences, St. John's University.
Paul Humphries is a Professor of Philosophy and the co-director of the University of Virginia's Center for the Study of Data and Knowledge.
David Kaspar is a Assistant Professor of Philosophy, St. John’s University.
Joe Leeson-Schatz is a Lecturer of English & Evolutionary Studies and board member for the Institute for Critical Animal Studies at Binghamton University.
Derek Malone-France is the Executive Director of the University Writing Program at The George Washington University, where he is also an Associate Professor in the Departments of Philosophy and Religion.
Joe Packer is a Professor of Communication at Central Michigan University and author of "Alien Life and Human Purpose: a Rhetorical Examination Through History".
Richard Pournelle is the Vice-President of Business Development at NanoRacks, a private company that provides space access to commercial customers.
Alejandra Prieto-Davo is a Professor of microbiology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Jean-Pierre Ruiz, S.T.D., is an Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies and Senior Research Fellow, St. John’s University.
Janet Siefert from Rice University is an astrobiologist who researches understanding the origin of life through microbial biology. She is the first president of the International Astrobiology Society.
Kelly Smith is a Professor of religion and philosophy at Clemson University who specializes in, inter alia, the formulation of extraterrestrial microbial life moral frameworks.