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 a Silicon Valley technology veteran and current President and CEO of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. The SETI Institute is a nonprofit astrophysics and astrobiology research, and education organization focused on the study of life in the Universe. Prior to joining the Institute, Mr. Diamond held various executive management positions in applied technologies, most recently at the optical networking company, Oclaro, Inc. Mr. Diamond has over 30years’ experience in laser photonics and optical communications networks, X-ray imaging, and semiconductor processing technologies. His corporate background ranges from venture-backed start-ups to Fortune 100 multinationals, including CEO positions at WaveSplitter Technologies, Denselight Semiconductor (Singapore) and Xradia, Inc, (now part of Zeiss). He was also President of COMET Technologies USA, leading US operations for the Swiss COMET, AG corporation. Mr. Diamond holds a B.A. in physics from Holy Cross College and a Master’s in Business Administration from Georgetown University. He is a past member of the Advisory Board for the McDonough School of Business Administration at Georgetown and is a current member of the Optical Society of America, the International Astronomical Congress and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Science and Innovation Council, BASIC, in San Francisco

Cristina Dalle Ore

Cristina is a planetary scientist and recognized NASA researcher whose work has taken her to the far reaches of our solar system, without ever leaving Earth. With a particular interest in decoding the mysteries of icy worlds in space, she has been a key contributor to the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Cassini mission to Saturn. Her discovery of ammonia on Pluto was a landmark finding in the field of planetary science. Cristina holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from UC Santa Cruz and has shared her insights through TEDx and global science forums. Today, she brings her passion for exploration down to Earth, offering a cosmic perspective on the icy landscapes we encounter on our planet

Eduardo Bendek

Dr. Eduardo Bendek is an astronomer with over 20 years of experience in optical instrumentation for ground- and space-based telescopes, specialising in high-precision astrometry and exoplanet detection. He began his career at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile before earning his PhD in Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. He has held research positions at NASA Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he contributed to the coronagraph instrument of the Roman Space Telescope. Currently a Senior Optical Scientist at the SETI Institute working for NASA Ames, his research focuses on technologies for the future Habitable Worlds Observatory — a mission designed to search for potentially life-bearing planets

Mark Showalter

Planetary astronomer Mark Showalter’s research career is one that has steadily progressed outward through the solar system. He’s hitched a ride on some of NASA’s highest-profile missions to the outer planets, participating in Voyager’s “grand tour” of the giant planets, Cassini’s extended exploration of the Saturn system, and the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt

Marziye Jafariyazani

Dr. Marziye Jafariyazani is a Data Scientist for NASA’s TESS Mission at the SETI Institute, where she is part of the Science Processing Operations Center of the mission at NASA’s Ames Research Center. TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) is designed to discover new exoplanets by monitoring stars and looking for tiny dips in their brightness caused by planets passing in front of them. Before shifting her focus to our own galaxy and analyzing stellar time-series data to help discover Earth’s cousins, Marziye dedicated her Ph.D. thesis and subsequent postdoctoral research at the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Observatories, and Caltech/IPAC to exploring distant galaxies. She studied the processes of star formation within them, their chemical composition, and what these factors can reveal about formation and evolution of galaxies

Michael Lam

Michael Lam is a research scientist working with the SETI Institute and as part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav). He completed his PhD from Cornell University, was a postdoctoral fellow at West Virginia University, and was an assistant professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology before joining the SETI Institute. His research ties together many fields of astronomy: radio telescopes, observations of pulsars, physics of interstellar gas, and the newly-opened field of gravitational wave observation

Orkan Umurhan

Dr. Orkan Umurhan is a mathematical physicist and planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, where he investigates how planets form and how icy landscapes evolve on Earth, and from Mars and all the way out to Pluto. He has served as a NASA mission scientist on enterprises like New Horizons and studies how dust and gas chaotically swirl into the building blocks of planets in young solar systems. He’s involved in new mission design concepts to visit comets and is currently writing a book on cosmic turbulence. A dedicated science communicator and educator of decades, he shares the wonders of planetary science with audiences of all ages—and has even appeared on TV from time to time! When contemplating sublime cosmic mysteries, he's a baseball-dad musician who enjoys trekking through exotic wild landscapes of this planet with his partner and son

Peter Tenenbaum

Peter Tenenbaum joined the SETI Institute to analyze data for NASA’s Kepler mission, helping detect and characterize exoplanets—contributing to discoveries that now number over 3,000. He later worked on Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, becoming Lead Software Engineer at NASA Ames Research Center, where he oversaw data processing systems. Today, he adapts TESS software for broader scientific use. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and previously worked at CERN in Geneva and SLAC in Palo Alto

Simon George

Dr. Simon J. George is an experimental research scientist at the SETI Institute, focusing on the role of metals like iron, nickel, zinc, and molybdenum in the chemistry of life. His work involves developing innovative instruments to study these metals, with the goal of understanding their role in the origin of life. Dr. George's career has spanned national laboratories, universities, and industry before joining SETI in 2023. As an astrobiologist, he studies the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. He is particularly interested in extremophiles (organisms that thrive in extreme environments) and the complex metal-containing proteins that were likely key in early life forms

Meet Our Speakers

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

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

Cristina Dalle Ore

Eduardo Bendek

Mark Showalter

Marziye Jafariyazani

Michael Lam

Orkan Umurhan

Peter Tenenbaum

Simon George

Upcoming SETI Cruises

Meet Our Speakers

Meet Our Speakers

Bill Diamond

Cristina Dalle Ore

Eduardo Bendek

Mark Showalter

Marziye Jafariyazani

Michael Lam

Orkan Umurhan

Peter Tenenbaum

Simon George