SETI Institute Supports ETH Research on Extraterrestrial Life

(CONNECT) ETH and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, based in Mountain View, California, have entered into a partnership. According to a press release from ETH, the program centers on a new assistant professorship titled "Earth and Planetary Evolution." It will be based in the ETH Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. The professorship will play a central role at ETH Zurich’s Center for the Origin and Prevalence of Life.

The SETI Institute will cover the associated costs totaling $8.5 million over the first ten years. This includes the associated research activities, which also encompass the filling of a research position and postdoctoral fellowships.

“Many of today’s major scientific questions can only be answered through collaboration,” ETH President Joël Mesot is quoted as saying. “With the SETI Institute, we are gaining a renowned partner that complements our areas of expertise and enables new connections across disciplines and continents.” ETH is actively seeking out outstanding partners, “and the SETI Institute is one of them.”

For SETI, this is the first international research partnership of its kind. “For us, the collaboration with ETH Zurich marks the beginning of a new chapter—one in which the search for life beyond Earth is recognized as a global endeavor,” said SETI Executive Director Bill Diamond. “By supporting research capabilities at one of Europe’s leading technical universities, we are not only expanding our research on an international level, but also helping to create a new model for international scientific collaboration.” ce/mm