Students for the Exploration and Development of Space

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space

Founded	October 30, 1980
Founder	Peter Diamandis, Robert D. Richards, and Todd B. Hawley
Type	Student Organization
Focus	"to promote the exploration and development of space"
Origins	Started at MIT and expanded by letter to Omni Magazine
Area served	Worldwide
Method	Student Collaboration and Connections with Space Companies
Members	500+
Key people	Joshua Nelson (current SEDS-USA president)
Endowment	Currently SEDS-USA building national endowment.
Website	seds.org

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is an international student organization whose purpose is to promote space exploration and development through educational and engineering projects.

Mission statement

SEDS is an independent, student-based organization which promotes the exploration and development of space. SEDS pursues this mission by educating people about the benefits of space, by supporting a network of interested students, by providing an opportunity for members to develop their leadership skills, and inspiring people through their involvement in space-related projects. SEDS believes in a space-faring civilization and that focusing the enthusiasm of young people is the key to humankinds future in space.

History

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space was founded in 1980 at MIT, Princeton University, and Yale University, and consists of an international group of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from a diverse range of educational backgrounds who are working to promote space. SEDS is a chapter-based organization with chapters in Canada, India, Israel, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States. The permanent National Headquarters for SEDS-USA resides at MIT. Each chapter is fairly independent and coordinates activities and projects in its own area.

1980s

SEDS is established by on September 17, 1980 primarily by Peter Diamandis, Robert D. Richards, and Todd B. Hawley and their first meeting was held on Thursday, October 30, 1980. After the initial meetings in 1980, SEDS president Peter Diamandis wrote a letter to the editor of Omni magazine deploring the status of the space program and asking students to help make a difference. The letter, published in Omni in early 1981, attracted students from around the world to SEDS. This laid the foundations for the first SEDS international conference, held at George Washington University between July 15-19, 1982. As the decade progressed, SEDS continued to have more international conferences, which rotated among schools including George Washington University (again), University of Alabama in Huntsville, and Caltech. During the end of the decade, UKSEDS was founded at the Science Museum (London) and held their first conference at the University of Cambridge during 25-26 November 1989.

1990s

During the 1990s SEDS continued to host a national conference each year, sometimes in conjunction with the International Space Development Conference through 1997, when the last "SEDS National Conference" was held (conferences would re-appear 7 years later as the "SEDS SpaceVision Conference"). UKSEDS continued to have national conferences at rotating locations each year. During the last years of the decade there was a major decline in SEDS leadership and a connected drop in the number of member chapters around the United States.

2000s

In 2004 the SEDS National Conferences were re-established by MITSEDS and hosted on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on November 11-14. The conference was re-named the SEDS SpaceVision conference and featured many speakers who would return year after year during this decade, including Loretta Hidalgo, founder Dr. Robert Richards, Rick Tumlinson, George Whitesides, Robert Zubrin, and Pete Worden. The SpaceVision conference then visited University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2005), University of Central Florida (2006), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2007), Texas A&M University (2008), and University of Arizona (2009). During this time, UKSEDS continued to have one national conference each year. SEDS also began exploring innovative national projects such as fund-raising for a joint SEDS chapter Zero-G flight and designing an innovative national Rockoon competition modeled after the X-Prize.

What SEDS members do

SEDS members are people interested in doing as much as they can to promote space exploration and development. The first step in this continual process is learning. SEDS provides an environment in which to obtain access to many sources of information including speakers, tours, films, discussion groups & daily NASA updates. Astronomical observing trips and tours of local space facilities also play a significant role in the life of many SEDS members.

SEDS members often take the knowledge they have gained and use it to influence the future of the space program. Students at several chapters have played major roles in organizing large conferences and have established important contacts with members of the space community. Others have helped increase public awareness of the benefits of space exploration by offering presentations to local primary and secondary schools as well as universities. All chapters keep in contact with each other through on-line computer networks.

Finally, SEDS provides an environment in which people of common interests can relax and freely discuss issues important to them.

SEDS Organizational Structure

SEDS is broken up by Country, Region, and Chapter. There are currently a large contingent of SEDS chapters within the United States of America, which are governed regionally and nationally by SEDS-USA. There are also other national sections of SEDS across the world and these disparate groups of students communicate and organize together via SEDS-Earth, the global governing body of SEDS. At the current time (2009) SEDS-Earth is not heavily structured.

SEDS-USA

SEDS-USA is the governing body of all chapters within the United States. It is overseen by a national Board of Directors, Council of Chapters, and a Board of Advisers. The current (2008-09) national directors of SEDS-USA are listed below.

Position	Description	Board Member
Chair	Preside over board and oversee decision-making process.	Joshua Nelson (University of Arizona)
Vice-Chair	Alumni and Advisers liaison.	Ryan McLinko (MIT)
Director of Finance	Keep financial records and control legal and financial matters.	Justin Graves (MIT)
Director of Chapter Affairs	Conduct CoC meetings and work with SEDS-USA chapters.	Grant Atkinson (Texas A&M)
Director of Chapter Expansion	Oversee the recruiting of new chapters and their integration into SEDS-USA.	Rick Hanton (Iowa State University)
Director of Publications	Design and produce all SEDS-USA mass publications.	Matt Cannella (University at Buffalo)
Director of Educational Outreach	Make and compile educational materials about space for outreach activities.	Keri Bean (Texas A&M)
Director of Special Projects	Work for the Board on any special projects specified by the board.	Basant Sagar (MIT)
Director of High School Affairs	Work with other directors to provide opportunities for high school students.	Keri Hancock (University of Arizona)
Secretary	Set up meeting rooms for SEDS-USA national meetings and take minutes.	Bruce Davis (University of Colorado at Boulder)

See also

• Space
• Yuri's Night
• Space Frontier Foundation
• National Space Society
• The Planetary Society
• Mars Society
• NewSpace
• Peter Diamandis
• Robert D. Richards
• Todd B. Hawley

External links

• SEDS Website
• Map of SEDS Chapters Worldwide