We are pleased to announce that our keynote speaker next year will be Dr. Penelope Boston, associate professor of Cave and Karst Studies at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Associate Director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute, and she is an original member of the Case for Mars project, and a veteran of CONTACT with an abiding interest in extremophiles (human and microbial). Her research areas include geomicrobiology and astrobiology in extreme environments, human life support issues offworld, and use of robotics to assist exploration and science. An eventual permanent human presence on Mars is one of the driving passions of her life.

"As a little kid, I wanted to cruise the galaxy looking for weird lifeforms ... the more tentacles, the better. Alas, there has been the small matter of inadequate transportation so far to accomplish this childhood aspiration. Instead, I have turned my eyes inwards to our planet to seek out life wherever it is living on the edge. Extreme temperatures, darkness, radical chemistry, no nutrients, heavy metals, ionizing radiation, being trapped for millennia within crystals ... whatever would kill a more conventional example of Earth life is greeted with glee by my little pets. At the dawn of our understanding of exoplanets around other stars, we can begin to compare what we know about extreme life on our planet with what we might find in our Solar System and far beyond. The beginning of truly Comparative Astrobiology is now upon us. Join me for a guided tour of the micro-aliens here on Earth, and speculate with me about life on Mars, Europa, Titan, Enceladus and good old HD 189733b."

Boston is working in some of the most spectacular underground environments in the world including caves that drip with sulfuric acid, caves with temperatures of 140°F and 5 meter long giant crystals, a 4+ mile long crystalline underground "frozen" river, and caves with CO2 atmospheres.