The SETI League, Inc. Press Release No. 05-05

SETI League Press Release

SETI League Seeks Engineering Intern
For more information contact: Dr. H. Paul Shuch, Executive Director
(201) 641-1770, or email info_at_setileague_dot_org

Little Ferry, NJ.., 3 April 2005 -- Thanks to a significant hardware donation from a corporate sponsor, The SETI League, Inc. is now looking for a full/part time intern to advance a cutting-edge SETI project at its Northern New Jersey headquarters. Since the project is largely software-based, only part-time attendance at HQ will be necessary.

The Project

The SETI League has received a major donation of equipment, including high-speed A/D converters, digital receivers, and Quad-TI6701 floating point DSP boards. These are all "VME" boards which together can form the foundation of a microwave receiver capable of searching a million channels or more for narrowband signals possibly transmitted by extraterrestrial aliens. This is all modern hardware (most manufactured by Pentek) with enormous processing power. In order to be useful, software will have to be written to unify the boards into a working receiver, and to process the data to find signals in the noise. This potentially enormous job is simplified somewhat by resources available on the Internet, but it is still a lot of work.

The "Job"

The SETI League is looking for someone who is willing to work on this project for several months, or longer if possible. It will require selfless devotion for minimal reward. (The project has no budget.) However it will be an intellectual challenge of the highest order, and will allow the budding scientist to get some practical experience in electronics, DSP, advanced math, and other disciplines that will look good on a resume and be pretty interesting, too. (And if your receiver actually finds that elusive alien signal, a little fame may come along.)

The successful volunteer will need these skills:

Understanding of DSP, FFT and possibly the KLT
Ability to program same in C
Sufficient mental versatility to deal with lots and LOTS of hardware registers, VME cards, etc., (in a software sort of way)
Reasonable charisma with mathematics

Although hardware skills would be desirable, there should be sufficient help around HQ to assist with electronic hardware and construction issues.

This position is open immediately. Of course The SETI League understands that potential student interns will more likely be available during the summer. Interested parties are invited to contact SETI League president Richard Factor via email richard_at_setileague_dot_org.

Largely using radio telescopes and optical telescopes, SETI scientists seek to determine whether humankind is alone in the universe. Since Congress terminated NASA's SETI funding in 1993, The SETI League and other scientific groups have privatized the research. Amateur and professional scientists interested in participating in the search for intelligent alien life, and citizens wishing to help support it, should email join_at_setileague_dot_org, check the SETI League Web site at http://www.setileague.org/, send a fax to +1 (201) 641-1771, or contact The SETI League, Inc. membership hotline at +1 (800) TAU-SETI. Be sure to provide us with a postal address to which we will mail further information. The SETI League, Inc. is a membership-supported, non-profit [501(c)(3)], educational and scientific corporation dedicated to the scientific Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

P.S. Tearsheets are always appreciated. Thank you.

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