On Thursday, October 2nd at 3:00pm in the N245/ Space Science Auditorium, the Ames Center for Exoplanet Studies (ACES) will be hosting a colloquium by David Latham of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics on "Super Earths and Life".  There will be a reception in the auditorium lobby area immediately following the colloquium. Dr. David Latham Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Title: Super Earths and Life Abstract -------- Planets that transit in front of other stars are special. The amount of light blocked by the planet as it passes in front of its host star sets the size of the planet (relative to the star). If an orbit can be derived from Doppler spectroscopy of the host star, the light curve also provides the orientation of the orbit, leading to the mass of the planet (again relative to the star). The resulting density for the planet can be used to constrain models for its structure and bulk properties. We are on the verge of using these techniques to characterize Super Earths, planets in the range 1 to 10 Earth masses that may prove to be rocky or water worlds. NASA missions such as Kepler and TESS promise to play key roles. Transiting planets also provide remarkable opportunities for spectroscopy of planetary atmospheres: transmission spectra during transit events and thermal emission throughout the orbit, calibrated during secondary eclipse. Spectroscopy of Super Earths will not be easy, but is not out of the question for JWST. Our long-range vision is to attack big questions, such as "Does the diversity of planetary environments map onto a diversity of biochemistries, or is there only one chemistry for life?" A giant first step would be to study the diversity of global geochemistry on Super Earths and Earth analogs. Biography Dr. Latham has an undergraduate degree from MIT and a PhD in Astronomy from Harvard 1970. He has have been involved in building the Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, from the very beginning, both telescopes and instruments. His research has ranged from observational cosmology to studies of binaries in a variety of stellar populations, with recent emphasis on the detection and characterization of extrasolar planets. Dr. Latham is a Co-I on the Kepler mission, responsible for the Kepler Input Catalog and for follow-up observations, and Chief Mission Scientist on the TESS mission.