Education

The educational centerpiece of the PSETI Center is the new graduate SETI course offered by Astronomy and Astrophysics, ASTRO 576. This is only the second regular graduate course in the field offered anywhere, and satisfies a requirement of the Penn State astrobiology dual-title PhD program.

Students in the 2018 instance of the course visited Green Bank Observatory where they conducted a novel SETI investigation. Three final projects in the that course have been published as peer-reviewed journal articles.

The 2018 graduate SETI course students stand in front of the Green Bank Telescope.

Current Penn State graduate students with a background in science from any discipline are invited to enroll in Astro 576, which takes a broad view of SETI and its interfaces across the physical and social sciences. 

Prospective graduate students seeking a PhD with a focus on work in SETI should consider applying to Penn State through the Astronomy & Astrophysics degree program, or through any other program participating in the astrobiology dual-title PhD program.