I worked for Jill Tarter in 2008 as an REU student, classifying radio frequency interference (RFI) at the Allen Telescope Array. This was like 20+ hours in the car so this is some of what we talked about! (Pic is me in 2008 looking for RFI- no idea what this device was) /1

First, Jill was the most intelligently intimidating person I ever met, esp to a college kid. I don’t mean that in a bad way! But I did spend a lot of the summer thinking “please don’t think I’m stupid” because wow, she’s a serious intellect. /2

First, Carl Sagan. Jill is the inspiration for Ellie Arroway in Contact (has a framed/autographed pic of her and Jodie Foster in her office) and was great friends w Carl. I was curious what he was like bc you hear mixed stories /3

Per Jill, there was pre and post cancer scare Carl. Pre-cancer he was all the wonderful stuff you heard. Post cancer tho, she started calling him “King Carl” bc he decided his time was more valuable than others’. “I didn’t like that Carl as much.” /4

Example: apparently Carl Sagan post cancer would show up in Mountain View w several assistants, and send them all out to get him a pastrami sandwich for lunch so he could get the best one bc he decided his time was more valuable than anyone’s. /5

Another random one: I asked Jill what the most random place was she ever went. “Probably Sri Lanka to visit Arthur” was the answer. As in, she hung out w Arthur C Clarke /6

But yeah probably one of my FAVORITE stories she told me was dealing w UFO crazies. As she put it, “every once in awhile I pick up the phone I hear ‘Mrs. Tar-tar?’ on the end and know immediately what I’m in for...” /7

Now the thing is Jill is very nice and doesn’t want to be rude but says the thing about conspiracy theorists is they never want a few min of time to have you explain it. They’ll take ALL the time and never be convinced at the end. This is tough /8

So, what to do? She usually sends them to someone else- she had a creation scientist arch nemesis at the time and she’d say “I don’t have time but you know who’d really be interested?” And pass on his contact info for example /9

Which yeah TBH makes me think watch out Avi Loeb, be careful what you wish for, Jill has decades more experience in THAT department too /10

My favorite tho was for a brief period she’d have the UFO crazies talk to each other, take down contact info and pass it on to the next guy. This only worked so long tho bc one guy called back a half hour later. “Why’d you make me talk to that guy? He’s completely nuts!” /11

But yeah so many stories but here’s a last one. In 2008 I was in the middle of filing a sexual harassment complaint against a famous physics prof. I told her about it and she of course was supportive. Then a DECADE later... /12

That guy finally publicly got dealt with as part of the MeToo movement, my complaint being part of the takedown article. I hadn’t talked to Jill in years but she STILL reached out immediately to ask if I was alright and if I needed anything when she saw it. /13

So yeah that’s the sort of person Jill Tarter is. Brilliant and driven for decades and probably has met countless ppl, but still reaches out to an old student and doesn’t forget you. Science and SETI are both infinitely richer that she’s been in it so long. /fin

Ok I lied: BONUS STORY! Jill took all the REU students up to the ATA for a week in summer. This was a two van caravan. Also important: Jill has a bit of a lead foot

(Also not important but cool, her license plate says SETI!)

We got pulled over by a CA state trooper and she was very “sorry officer give me a ticket etc,” then trooper goes to second van. We are def getting a ticket. Then... we see they and the trooper are laughing! What?!

Trooper comes back, lets Jill off w a warning. We are SO confused but call up the 2nd van. Turns out he asked what they were, we said a summer program at SETI, trooper starts talking about his cousin who saw aliens in Texas...

“Oh, we’re only interested in REAL aliens!” was the response from the van of college kids. And hey got us out of the ticket

But yeah I remember joking to Jill she should get out of tickets w her fame in the future and she shut that down. She does NOT really like celebrity much, even jokingly. Unlike some new folks on the SETI scene... /really done now