SEDS was founded as a chapter-based organization in 1980 at MIT by Peter Diamandis, at Princeton University by Scott Scharfman, and at Yale University by Richard Sorkin. SEDS-USA was founded as a national group in 1982 by Peter Diamandis, Bob Richards, and Todd Hawley. The largest student-run space organization in the world, it consists of an international community of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from a diverse range of educational backgrounds in chapters all over the world, including Canada, India, Israel, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States.