Jill Tarter is a SETI Institute Trustee and the inspiration for Jodi Foster’s character in the movie, “Contact.”
On a personal note, I was introduced to Jill via John Gertz, former SETI Chairman and President and CEO of Zorro Productions. She engaged in a correspondence with my daughter, sending a handwritten note thanking her for a $2.00 donation to the SETI Institute and including a bevy of space-related materials to encourage her interest in science.