Kathryn Denning
Kathryn Denning is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at York University in Toronto, where she teaches courses ranging from the Anthropology of Outer Space, and Anticipating the Alien, to Archaeology in Society and the Anthropology of Immortality. From an early age, she was fascinated by biology, history, and the dimensions of “long ago” and “far away”; perhaps it was inevitable that she should end up entangled in both anthropology/archaeology and astrobiology/SETI. Her research includes projects on the social impacts of astrobiology and SETI (including potential detections), the evolution of intelligence, and contemporary ideas concerning the colonization of space. Denning has collaborated with the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the SETI Institute and is a longtime member of the SETI Permanent Study Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics. When not looking up at the sky or down at the ground, Denning may often be found in trees pondering the interconnectedness of life.