Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
From SpaceWiki
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, or SEDS for students who will be late to their next class if they waste time saying the full title, is an international student organization whose purpose is to promote space exploration and development through educational and engineering projects done at the students' respective schools or universities. (If this were a term paper, that run-on sentence would probably get us docked a point or two.) SEDS was originally established on September 17, 1980 primarily by founders Peter Diamandis, Robert D. Richards, and Todd B. Hawley. The first SEDS meeting was held on Thursday, October 30, 1980. After some 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 the SEDS organization. This laid the foundations for the first SEDS international conference, held at George Washington University between July 15–19, 1982 (the modern incarnation of which is called SpaceVision). As the three founders of SEDS moved on after completing their various degrees, they proceeded to create other notable organizations in the space community that SEDS members routinely flock to after leaving SEDS, among them, the Space Generation Foundation and the International Space University.
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 members can 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 lives and university careers 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 yearly events 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 via the internet and meet often through instant messaging chats and Skype telephone conversations.
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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 this time SEDS-Earth is not heavily structured but it is the hope of many SEDS students that a few leaders will soon begin work to bring SEDS back together into a more cohesive global organization.
Students wishing to be part of SEDS or join a local chapter should check out the SEDS website at http://seds.org.
SEDS-USA Executive Board
The SEDS-USA executive board is elected by the SEDS-USA council of chapters to handle management and other public duties for the SEDS-USA organization as a whole. It's range of responsibilities is set by the SEDS-USA constitution and the SEDS-USA bylaws.
| Chairman | Rick Hanton |
| Vice-Chairman | Sara Meschberger |
| Director of Chapter Affairs | Dan Pastuf |
| Director of Finance | Christopher Ogden |
| Director of Chapter Expansion | Hallie Gengl |
| Director of Publications | David Holewka |
| Director of Public Relations | Zachary Liquorman |
| Director of Educational Outreach | Dina Cavicchia |
| Director of National Projects | David DeBoth |
| Director of High School Affairs | Anna Ho |
| Webmaster | Joshua Sosa |
| Secretary | Mike Lotto |
SEDS-India Executive Committee
| President | Sabyasachi Bhowmick |
| Vice President | Vaibhav Tiwari |
| Secretary | CH Kalyan Chandra |
| Joint Secretary (Events and Projects) | Sejal Chauhan |
| Joint Secretary (Public Relations & Outreach) | Aditya Beghel |
| Treasurer | Ruchy Dubey |
Chapters
| Name | School | Country | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caltech SEDS | California Institute of Technology | United States | here |
| Iowa State Space Society | Iowa State University | United States | here |
| MIT-SEDS | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States | here |
| Texas A&M SEDS | Texas A&M University | United States | here |
| UASEDS | University of Arizona | United States | here |
| SEDS-UCF | University of Central Florida | United States | here |
| CUSEDS | University of Colorado at Boulder | United States | here |
| Purdue SEDS | Purdue University | United States | here |
| FIT-SEDS | Florida Institute of Technology | United States | here |
| GW Space Society | George Washington University | United States | here |
| UB-SEDS | University at Buffalo | United States | here |
| Illinois Space Society | UIUC | United States | here |
| BU SEDS | Boston University | United States | |
| ERFSEDS | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University | United States | here |
| Olin SEDS | Olin University | United States | |
| UVA SEDS | University of Virginia | United States | |
| UCLA SEDS | University of California - Los Angeles | United States | |
| Princeton SEDS | Princeton University | United States | here |
| OU SEDS | University of Oklahoma | United States | |
| SEDS @ UM | University of Michigan | United States | here |
| SLU-SEDS | St. Louis University | United States | here |
| U of K SEDS | University of Kentucky | United States | |
| ASU SEDS | Arizona State University | United States | |
| DSS SEDS | University of North Dakota | United States | here |
| Memphis SEDS | University of Memphis | United States | |
| UW SEDS | University of Wisconsin - Madison | United States | here |
| CSM Space Society | Colorado School of Mines | United States | |
| RPI SEDS | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | United States | |
| Nigeria SEDS | Unknown | Nigeria | |
| Spain SEDS | Unknown | Spain | |
| Austria SEDS | Unknown | Austria | |
| Germany SEDS | Unknown | Germany | |
| Belgium SEDS | Unknown | Belgium | |
| Southampton SEDS | University of Southampton | United Kingdom | |
| King College SEDS | King College | United Kingdom | |
| St Andrews SEDS | University of St Andrews | United Kingdom | |
| Leichester SEDS | Leichester | United Kingdom | |
| Manchester SEDS | Manchester | United Kingdom | |
| Kingston SEDS | Kingston | United Kingdom | |
| Durham SEDS | University of Durham | United Kingdom | |
| Edinburgh SEDS | University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | |
| Norway SEDS | Unknown | Norway | |
| Turkey SEDS | Unknown | Turkey | |
| Israel SEDS | Unknown | Israel | |
| Kuwait SEDS | Unknown | Kuwait | |
| Afghanistan SEDS | Unknown | Afghanistan | |
| Nepal SEDS | Unknown | Nepal | |
| Philippines SEDS | De la Salle University | Philippines | |
| Singapore SEDS | Unknown | Singapore | |
| Trichy SEDS | National Insitute Of Technology - Trichy | India | |
| Kumaraguru SEDS | Kumaraguru College Of Technology | India | |
| Surathkal SEDS | National Insitute Of Technology - Surathkal | India | |
| SEDS VIT | VIT | India | |
| Hyderabad SEDS | Jawahar Lal Nehru Technical University | India |
Relationship with SpaceWiki
SpaceWiki ran a contest for SEDS members and alumni from December 1, 2010, through February 1, 2011, allowing participants to win money for their SEDS chapters. Another such contest is now in the early planning stages.
