This is the second "Phoenix" at the SETI Institute; the first was Project Phoenix which arose after the demise of NASA's High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS) in 1992. HRMS had been designed to conduct a broad survey and a targeted star search for evidence of sentient life (aka, signals from technological civilizations) in the Milky Way Galaxy. The SETI Institute picked up the pieces from HRMS, and with private philanthropy, funded a decade of targeted star SETI research using major radio telescopes world-wide under the banner of Project Phoenix.

Today, NASA's Phoenix Mission is seeking evidence for microbial life on the nearby planet Mars, SETI Institute is involved in this search, as well.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070802_seti_martian_dust.html