ASTR 305V-M01
Life in the Universe

Fall 2017

Tues/Thur 10:20-11:35am
110 John Witlick Hernandez Hall

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INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

Instructor
Dr. Chris Churchill
Office hours: T,Th 12:00-1:00 pm
Office: 105 ASTR (Building 56)
Phone: 646-1913
Email: use Canvas Messaging

Teaching Assistant
Rachel Marra
Office hours: Tues 1:30-3:30 pm
Office: Rm 209 Astronomy
Phone: 646-7724
Email: use Canvas Messaging



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 blocks 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



COURSE SPECIFICS


In Class
1. NO CELL PHONES.
2. NO EATING.
3. LAPTOPS FOR NOTE TAKING ONLY (WIRELESS IS OFF).

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. There will be three mid-term exams. There will be short weekly homework assignments. There will be a cumulative final exam (broken into two parts: one-third of the final will be material covered after midterm 2 and two-thirds of the final will be cumulative). Grading for the class is explained below.

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!

CANVAS and Course Home Page
The course will be administered on CANVAS. A course home page will also be continually updated; its address is:
http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/cwc/Teaching/ASTR305/.

Be sure to always use your "reload" button each time you access the class web pages.

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
lecture 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.

Attendance
There will be an attendance sign up sheets that will record attendance. At the beginning of each class period, the sign up sheet will be at the front of the classroom. Sign the sheet before class begins. Tardiness, and "bugging out" of class early can be checked with these methods and will be monitored. Talk to the professor if you have a daily or weekly scheduling constraint.

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 contact the professor in class or by email or CANVAS message to arrange a time.

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 to discuss your grade is NOT effective communication. Calling, emailing, or CANVAS messaging that you will be missing class is effective communication; but do not do this for a single class- only if you are going to miss more than one class in a row. 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 successfully 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. Homework is to be uploaded to CANVAS by 5:00 pm sharp on the due date. You do not need to send a CANVAS message that you uploaded your homework assignment.

FORMAT: All homework is to be TYPE WRITTEN and spell checked and must be submitted via CANVAS. Your full name, the assignment number, and the assignment due date are to be written on the upper right hand corner. Complete sentences are required for all responses, even if the correct answer could be expressed as a single word or short phrase..

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 paraphrasing- and we have become very efficient at it. This is a clear policy and will not be compromised. Individuals who are judged 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 the full assignment. A second offense may result in disciplinary action. Don't copy others' work; don't let others copy your work.

QUOTING SOURCES: if you wish to quote a sentence or part of a sentence, then you must put the sentence in quotations and you must provide the reference. Leaving off the quotes and/or omitting the reference will be considered plagiarism. The simplest approach is to put the sentence in quotes and then put the reference in parenthesis following the quoted sentence. We encourage you to study multiple resources while working on the homework; quoting these sources indicates that you have done some work above and beyond the minimum, so properly quoting work is seen as a positive. However, quoted work should constitute no more than 10% of any given answer and no more than 5% of your entire homework assignment.

LATE POLICY: Homework should be uploaded to CANVAS no later that 5:00 pm on the due date. The CANVAS upload portal will be shut off at 5:00 pm. This is so we can then post the solution set for the homework on CANVAS. Unless you have made mutually agreed upon (confirmed) PRIOR arrangements (at least 24 hours in advance), homework is late if not submitted by the due date/time. With PRIOR arrangement, late homework will be accepted up to 24 hours past the due date/time, but it is worth only 50% of the total points (half credit). Homework will not be graded and a zero "0" grade will be given after 24 hours past the due date/time. In all cases, after the solutions for a homework set are posted on CANVAS, the homework will not be accepted nor graded.

Exams
The course will be divided into four parts. There will be three midterm exams covering the material for parts 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Part 4 of the course will be covered as a separate component of the final exam (see below). Emphasis will be on the main concepts rather than rote memorization of details. The main concepts will be clearly emphasized in class lectures and in the book.

EXAM DAY POLICY: Go pee before you come to the exam. (1) Cell phones silenced or off and facedown on the table in front of you; (2) No hats or objects that obstruct your face; (3) All books and papers zipped shut in your back pack and off the table. I is preferred that all exams are written in pencil only- bring a No. 2 pencil with excellent eraser- you can use a pen, but it is not recommended; (4) Uhm yeah... no cheating (and no looking at your neighbor's exam).

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; (3) death in your family with official documentation, or (4) observance of an official religious holiday. In these cases you must contact the professor via email, Canvas message, or phone, no later than 5:00 PM on the day of the exam (unless physicaly impossible). 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. 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 the NMSU Student Code of Conduct. Plagiarism will be dealt with harshly. Both intentional and unintentional plagiarism is considered academic misconduct. The NMSU Student Code of Conduct will be applied as policy in this course.

DISCRIMINATION POLICY AND INCLUSIVITY
The following is a statement on discrimination is taken from Gerard Nevarez of the
Office of Institutional Equity/EEO. "New Mexico State University (NMSU) is dedicated to providing equal opportunities in areas of employment and academics without regard to age, ancestry, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, serious medical condition, sex, sexual orientation, spousal affiliation, or protected veteran status as outlined in federal and state anti-discrimination statutes. As a federal contractor, NMSU’s affirmative action program also supports this effort. Further, NMSU is committed to providing a place of work and learning free of discrimination and harassment on the basis of a person’s age, ancestry, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, serious medical condition, sex, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, or spousal affiliation. Where a violation of policy is found to have occurred, NMSU will act to stop the conduct, to prevent its recurrence, to remedy its effects, and to discipline those responsible in accordance with the NMSU Policy Manual and/or NMSU Student Code of Conduct." For more information visit the Academic Misconduct Page within the NMSU student handbook.

We are also dedicated to these ideas and take them seriously. It will be expected that all students in this class will act in accordance to create a work and learning environment free of discrimination and harassment.

PLAGIARISM/CHEATING POLICY
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 . Since it is not possible to ascertain whether your work has been copied from another, or whether you copied from another, BOTH individuals who are judged to be copying or having being copied from, either fully or partially, will be contacted directly- the situation will be discussed and documented with signatures. Plagiarism has become epidemic at NMSU; we see dozens of cases every semester. It will not be tolerated. I'll be frank with you- justice will dealt swiftly.

CONSEQUENCES: The following is a "cut and paste" from the NMSU Student Code of Conduct, III. Academic Misconduct:

For incidents that occur at the course or academic department level, the faculty member or department head must inform the student of the alleged offense within ten (10) working days of its discovery, and after an investigation and/or conference, will take one of the following actions:
1. The allegation may be dismissed as unfounded
2. The allegation may be dismissed for lack of evidence
3. The student may admit guilt and a sanction will be imposed
4. The Hearing Officer will determine guilt based on preponderance of the evidence and a sanction will be imposed
5. The Hearing Officer will report the decision to the student and to the Coordinator of Student Judicial Services

For this class, the "investigation and/or conference" will include the student, the professor, the TA (if necessary), the Astronomy Department Head, and the Hearing Officer from the Dean's Office. As such, bullets 4 and 5 above will apply. Disciplinary action may include suspension from the University, including expulsion. Be diligent; don't copy; don't let others copy from you.