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The SETI Institute was founded in 1984 and is a 501(c) 3 organization.
The Institute employs about 130 people, primarily scientists, in a variety of fields including all science and technology aspects of astronomy and the planetary sciences, chemical evolution, the origin of life, biological evolution, and cultural evolution.
The Institute conducts the world's most comprehensive work in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Project Phoenix, which had observing time each spring and fall (through February 2004) at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, is the Institute's most well-known project. The Institute also sponsors several optical SETI experiments, beginning in 1999.
The Allen Telescope Array will be the world's first professional-class radio telescope allowing full-time SETI observing as well as simultaneous radio astronomy research. The array is being built using a novel combination of mass-production and specialized technology and, when completed, will be among the world's largest observing instruments. The SETI Institute is building the Allen Telescope Array in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley.
All SETI activities have been privately funded since 1993. There is currently no government funding of SETI in the United States. Since 1993, Institute projects have received more than $55 million in private support from individuals, corporations and foundations.
The SETI Institute currently hosts more than 50 research projects in astrobiology, including the search for extra-solar planets, the study of life in extreme environments, and the exploration and study of planets and other objects in our solar system.
The SETI Institute is a leading producer of science education programs. Among such programs is Voyages Through Time, a comprehensive science curriculum project currently supported by the National Science Foundation and private funding, and the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a collaborative partnership involving NASA, the German space agency DLR, and several other partners.
The SETI Institute conducts an active outreach and public information program. In addition to numerous appearances on radio and television, SETI Institute scientists have taught and lectured at a variety of schools, museums and science centers throughout the United States and abroad. The SETI Institute produces a popular weekly science radio show, which is broadcast via satellite and available worldwide over the Internet and as a podcast.