The SETI Institute

is a non-profit research organization, located in the Silicon Valley close to the NASA Ames Research Center.
Our mission is to lead humanity's quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the universe and share that knowledge with the world.

The Institute began small, with just one project – NASA’s SETI program – and two employees, founder Tom Pierson (a former grants administrator at San Francisco State University), and astronomer Jill Tarter. Over the years, other research disciplines have been added to the Institute’s portfolio, all unified by their relevance to the search for, and understanding of, life beyond Earth. Today, the Institute has approximately 100 scientists as well as specialists in administration, education, and outreach.

You can read more about the Institute’s history here.

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Contact us

General inquiries
info@seti.org

Media inquiries
media@seti.org

Human Resources
hr@seti.org

650-961-6633

Our Centers

Carl Sagan Center

The Carl Sagan Center for Research is home to more than 100 scientists, a tally that is steadily growing. These researchers have expertise in nearly all branches of science relevant to the development of life, where it might exist, and how we can find it.

Center for Education

The fundamental questions being addressed by SETI Institute researchers have great popular appeal. They are therefore excellent “hooks” to interest young people in STEAM topics, subject matter that is at the core of our formal education programs. The Center for Education promotes STEAM education through NASA- and NSF-funded programs aimed at teaching and inspiring children, young adults and educators with an emphasis on space sciences and astrobiology.

Center for Outreach

Science is not just for scientists. We want to share the excitement of our research, but also promote greater science literacy in general. Efforts include more than a hundred or more popular lectures given annually, programs at museums and planetariums, and numerous popular articles in magazine, newspapers, and on the web. Regular outreach offerings include SETI Talks, our monthly lecture series, the weekly Big Picture Science podcast and radio program, SETI Live talks on social media, Journey e-newsletter and Explorer magazine.

Our Team

Board of Trustees

Science Council

Senior Staff

Science Advisory Board

Our Scientists, Engineers, Educators

Affiliates

Council of Advisors

Emeritus Board

Careers at SETI Institute

Become a PI or Affiliate

Scientists working in the field of astrobiology can request to have their grants funded through the SETI Institute. If you don’t already have a grant, the SETI Institute can help you propose for one.

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Apply for a Job

The SETI Institute is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer.

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Benefits

We value our employees, and care about their health and well being.

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Contact HR

HR - Armine Saroian
Director of Human Resources
hr@seti.org

The SETI Institute is committed to respecting values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) and creating and maintaining a positive and nurturing work environment that promotes mutual respect, trust, fairness, and objectivity.

We strive to provide professional and personal growth to every individual regardless of race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. As a group of talented scientists, engineers, educators, and professionals, it is our belief that a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible workplace is critical to accomplishing the Institute’s mission, and ensuring that we follow our values and principles.

FAQs

SETI is an acronym for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. It is an effort to detect evidence of technological civilizations that may exist elsewhere in the universe, particularly in our Galaxy. There are potentially billions of locations outside our Solar System that may host life. With our current technology, we have some ability to discover evidence of cosmic habitation, and, in the specific case of our SETI experiments, to find beings that are at a technological level at least as advanced as our own.

No, scientists have found no clear indications of life, past or present, beyond the Earth. There have been several tantalizing suggestions – that the Viking mission might have detected evidence of microbial life on Mars or that there are fossil microbes in some Mars rocks or meteorites – but none of these claims has been verified.

The Institute has suites of activities in three arenas: (1) Astrobiology, the efforts to find and understand the prevalence of life in general (for example, microbial life under the parched landscapes of Mars or the icy crust of the jovian moon Europa); (2) SETI, experiments designed to detect radio or light signals that would reveal the presence of technically sophisticated beings; and (3) Education and outreach projects that inform the public about our research, encourage young people to become more proficient in science, engage the general public in science research, and train teachers in STEM subject areas.

The Institute’s research activities are sometimes referenced to the Drake Equation (see below), which nicely lays out those subject areas that are germane to the question of extraterrestrial life’s prevalence and nature.

Email us at info@seti.org

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