SETI League Photo Gallery

SETICon02 Technical Symposium
26-28 April 2002, The College of New Jersey

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34 SETI League members gathered at The College of New Jersey over the weekend of 26 - 28 April 2002 for SETICon02, our second annual Technical Symposium. SETI League photo

All attendees received a copy of Proceedings of SETICon02: a collection of papers submitted for The SETI League's 2002 Technical Symposium, published by the American Radio Relay League. If you missed the Symposium, you can still obtain the Proceedings. Must reading for every serious SETIzen. ISBN 0-87259-866-7. Suggested Contribution: $20 postpaid in US, $25 postpaid elsewhere. Order here. SETI League photo

Historian Dr. Steven Dick kicked off SETICon02 with his keynote presentation, "SETI and the Post-Biological Universe." SETI League photo

Prof. Allen Tough, who chairs The SETI League's Strategic Planning Committee, responded to Dr. Dick's keynote presentation by noting how the emergence of artificial intelligence was changing some of our SETI strategies. Later in the weekend, Allen addressed security concerns for the thirty days immediately following contact. SETI League photo

Prof. Rob Lodder,WD8BTA, presented two SETICon papers on behalf of his students. The first introduced a robotic probe built at the University of Kentucky, and the second showed how a tunable liquid crystal filter had been interfaced to their telescope for an Optical SETI experiment. SETI League photo

Dr. Larry Lesyna, who compiles the Project Cyclops Errata for The SETI League website, takes a stab at uncovering what Project Cyclops really said about Optical SETI. SETI League photo

Dr. Claudio Maccone heads a Lunar SETI Studies study group for the International Academy of Astronautics. At SETICon02 he pointed out the advantages of placing a radio telescope inside Crater Daedalus. SETI League photo

SETI League executive director H. Paul Shuch, N6TX, delivered an update on our W2ETI Moonbounce Beacon, and also presented a progress report on the Very Small Array (VSA) project. SETI League photo

SETI League president Richard Factor, WA2IKL, relates his efforts to tame the W2ETI Moonbounce Beacon's high power solid state amplifier, as well as the computer challenges he had to overcome in making our beacon continuously operational. SETI League photo

Perhaps most useful to SETICon02 attendees were the informal discussions (replete with ample refreshments) taking place every evening in the Hospitality Suite. SETI League photo

At times, SETICon02 took on the feel of a family reunion, more than that of a scientific conference. Here old friends Steve Carver K5PT, Mal Raff WA2UNP, H. Paul Shuch N6TX, and Allen Katz K2UYH share past and future glories. SETI League photo

Prof. Allen Katz demonstrates with his pointer how loading of a beam can produce a parabolic curve. He uses this technique in his stressed dish antenna designs, presented at SETICon02. SETI League photo

Marc Franco, N2UO, showed off his 12-foot stressed parabolic dish, built out of surplus materials for about $100 and based upon Dr. Katz's design. SETI League photo

Project Argus stalwart Steve Carver, K5PT, invokes ancient history and modern number theory in his search for magic SETI frequencies. SETI League photo

Mel Lewis teaches engineering at Farley Dickenson University, where his students have been building a SETI station as their senior project. At SETICon02, Mel related the lessons both he and his students have learned in the process. SETI League photo

Telecommunications engineer Bob DeBiase feels we can't predict the electromagnetic signature of another civilization until we know more about the leakage radiation from our own planet. Thus, he proposes a SETI control experiment, whereby spacecraft could look back at Earth and profile its radio signature. SETI League photo

Amateur astronomer Dallas Bader tells why he believes M87, a huge elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, might make an interesting SETI target. SETI League photo

Dr. Robin Corbet tells us how to use known gamma ray bursters as calibrators for determining time and direction for likely SETI targets. SETI League photo

The technical meetings at SETICon02 concluded with a panel discussion on the future of SETI. Left to right: panelists Claudio Maccone, Allen Katz, Allen Tough, Richard Factor, and Rob Lodder. SETI League photo

Our members converging on the Student Center of The College of New Jersey, for our second annual Awards Banquet. George Kontakis photo

Rubber chicken never tasted so good: thirty SETIzens gathered for the SETICon02 Awards Banquet. SETI League photo

SETICon02 banquet speaker Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe related the latest discoveries in panspermia, including DNA studies of microbes found in Earth's upper atmosphere, which he believes to be of extraterrestrial origin. SETI League photo

The SETI League's two highest honors, the Orville N. Greene Service Award and the Giordano Bruno Memorial Award, were this year presented to patent attorney Steve Carver (left) and space scientist Claudio Maccone (right). Here SETI League president Richard Factor congratulates them on their accomplishments. For more details, see this Press Release. SETI League photo

After the Bruno and OG awards were announced, Advisory Board member Dr. Malcolm Raff took the microphone for a surprise presentation. George Kontakis photo

Concerned that SETI League executive director H. Paul Shuch might be getting discouraged after years of negative results, Mal here presents him with his very own Little Green Man. SETI League photo

The SETICon02 prize table was filled to overflowing, thanks to the generosity of our prize donors. Left to right: David Carroll shows off his Second Prize, a helical feedhorn from Olde Antenna Labs. Allen Katz is given the Grand Prize, a WiNRADiO receiver generously donated by Milan Hudecek of Rosetta Labs of Australia, by his brother-in-law, Peter Massardo. Allen Tough holds the First Prize, a Radio Astronomy Supplies dual-frequency feedhorn. The presentations were made by executive director H. Paul Shuch. SETI League photo

As has become our tradition, the Awards Banquet ended with Dr. SETI ® leading us in The SETI League Anthem. George Kontakis photo

Sunday morning's VolCor Breakfast gave The SETI League a chance to recognize the efforts of its volunteer Regional Coordinators, Officers, and Committee Chairs. Around the table, clockwise from lower left: Database Committee chair Harry Kimball, secretary A. Heather Wood, executive director H. Paul Shuch, VolCor Rob Lodder, VolCor and Legal Services Committee chair Steve Carver, new member George Hrysanthopoulos, and president Richard Factor. Present but not pictured: VolCor Allen Tough. All but Kimball and Hrysanthopoulos also serve on The SETI League's Strategic Planning Committee. George Kontakis photo

SETICon02 concluded with The SETI League's annual membership meeting. Sixteen members in good standing attended. Minutes of that meeting appear here. SETI League photo

See 2002 Annual Meeting minutes

Click here for lots more pictures.

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