MIAC - Minority Institute Astrobiology Collaborative

During the Astrobiology Science Conference held at NASA Ames in April 2002, less than one percent of the 800 attendees were African-American. To increase the visibility and participation of underrepresented scientists, The Minority Institution Astrobiology Collaboratory (MIAC) was formed. This organization is a virtual collaboration of faculty and students from 8 minority institutions focused on achieving common educational and research goals in astrobiology. These goals include:

(1) Developing astrobiology course work and educational outreach that will attract significant numbers of minority students into the field of astrobiology

(2) Creating and enhancing research opportunities in astrobiology for minority students and for faculty members at minority institutions

(3) Creating a forum for student presentations and publications in astrobiology

(4) Creating an infrastructure in which to become a NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) Lead Team

(5) building a successful model for collaborations among scientists and educators at minority institutions (MIs) that results in funding peer-reviewed publications and shared resources which benefit minority students.

The University members of MIAC are:

// Benedict College // Columbia, South Carolina
Larry Lowe - lowel@benedict.edu

// Bennett College // Greensboro, North Carolina
Benita Bell - benita@muspin.gsfc.nasa.gov
Rao Basavaraju - rao@bennett.edu

// Houston Community College // Houston, Texas
Beverly Perry - perry_b@hccs.cc.tx.us

// Norfolk State University // (NSU) Norfolk, Virginia
Arthur Bowman - awbowman@nsu.edu
Dr. Leroy Salary - lsalary@nsu.edu

// North Carolina Central University // Durham, North Carolina
Sandra White - swhite@wpo.nccu.edu

// South Carolina State University // (SCSU) Orangeburg, South Carolina
Don Walter - dkw@physics.scsu.edu
Dr. Nasrollah Hamidi - nhamidi@scsu.edu

// Texas Southern University // Kingwood, Texas
Fisayo Jejelowo - fissyj@yahoo.co