Splash Biography

COLIN BARBER, UC Berkeley grad student in microbiology

Major: Plant and Microbial Biology

College/Employer: UC Berkeley

Year of Graduation: G

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Hi, my name's Colin and I am a grad student at Cal in microbiology. I graduated from Cornell University in May '17 with a B.S. in microbiology. There, I taught as many Splash! courses as I could on topics ranging from gut microbiology to extremophile biology to astrobiology. In addition to the usual gamut of work, I am heavily involved with Science Olympiad, a national network of STEM competitions for K-12 students, as both an event supervisor and tournament organizer. In my spare time, I play music, garden, and enjoy the great outdoors. Talk to me about your favorite microbe!

Past Classes

(Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

S243: An Abbreviated Guide to Astrobiology in Splash Fall 17 (Nov. 04, 2017)

To date, life has only been discovered on our home planet, Earth. But given the size of the universe and the short timespan in which life evolved on Earth, life in some recognizable form probably exists elsewhere - perhaps within our galaxy and maybe even within our own solar system. In this course, we will discuss what criteria make for a habitable system and what candidates in our solar system may host life.