SETI Science Cruises - Swan Hellenic

Meet Our Speakers

World-class scientists from the SETI Institute who join our expedition cruises as guest lecturers.

Bill Diamond

Bill Diamond is President and CEO of the SETI Institute, a nonprofit research and education organization devoted to studying life in the Universe. A Silicon Valley veteran with more than 30 years in laser photonics, optical networking, X-ray imaging, and semiconductor technologies, he has led companies ranging from venture-backed start-ups to the US operations of the Swiss multinational COMET AG. He holds a B.A. in physics from Holy Cross College and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

Derek Kozel

Derek is the Principal Investigator for the GNU Radio project, leading the development of the world's most widely used open-source tool for radio systems. His research at Carnegie Mellon and Cardiff University involves machine learning and improving the accessibility of cutting edge engineering to individuals and organizations alike.

Janice Bishop

Dr. Janice Bishop serves on the Science Council at the SETI Institute, where she chairs Planetary Exploration and studies the rocks of Mars to understand the planet's early climate and identify places that may once have supported life. Her work combines hyperspectral analysis of orbital images, laboratory study of minerals and meteorites, and field research at Mars analog sites such as the Antarctic Dry Valleys and volcanic islands. She has authored more than 180 peer-reviewed publications and edited a volume on planetary remote sensing for Cambridge University Press. She is an elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America, the Mineralogical Society of America, and the American Geophysical Union, and has received awards from the Geological Society of America, the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the Clay Minerals Society, and the Humboldt and Helmholtz Foundations in Germany.

Megan Seritan

Megan Seritan is Deputy Manager of the Ring-Moon Systems Node at the SETI Institute, part of NASA's Planetary Data System, the agency's archive for planetary science data. She holds a Ph.D. in planetary science from UC Santa Cruz, where she used geologic features on the lunar surface to reconstruct what the Moon's global magnetic field was like in the distant past, and a B.S. in physics from UC Santa Barbara. Planetary magnetism runs through all of her work, from the Moon's vanished field to the volcanic rock and auroras that record Earth's own.

Ross Beyer

Dr. Beyer's expertise as a planetary geologist is rooted in an understanding of the Earth's geology, and how what we know about the processes and landforms on the Earth inform our understanding of similar processes on other worlds. Our cruise will take us through the Ring of Fire, a globe-spanning tectonic belt of earthquake faults and volcanoes which are the result of plate tectonics.  Dr. Beyer will explain these processes in the landforms we'll observe (specifically the volcanoes on Ambrym) and relate them to similar structures on other planets.

Uma Gorti

Uma Gorti is an astrophysicist who has spent more than two decades studying how stars and planets form, and chairs the Astronomy and Astrophysics group at the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center. She also works in the Astrophysics Division at NASA's Ames Research Center, building computational models of the physics and chemistry at work in the gas and dust disks that surround young stars. Her research draws on observations from Hubble, ALMA, and the James Webb Space Telescope, which she uses to test those models against what telescopes actually see.

Together to Explore Space at Sea

Looking for Life

A Growing Search

Meet the Scientists

Life Beyond Earth

Meet Our Speakers

Meet Our Speakers

Bill Diamond

Derek Kozel

Janice Bishop

Megan Seritan

Ross Beyer

Uma Gorti

Upcoming SETI Cruises