Jill Tarter. View of Jill Tarter (1944-), American astrophysicist and SETI researcher at work. Tarter was born in New York, USA. She excelled in the sciences and went on to gain a Ph.D in astrophysics. Whilst doing her Ph.D, Tarter became involved in the SERENDIP project, a project to detect coherent artificial signals from outer space. The SERENDIP project was run by SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) of which Tarter became a `senior scientist. She was chosen as Director of SETI's 'Project Phoenix', a similar project to SERENDIP. Tarter's work has led to her receiving two NASA public service medals.