From a Virginia Tech Mathematics Department memorandum dated August 1, 1980:

"An informal meeting was held on July 31, 1980, to discuss the possibility of organizing a regional, annual conferenece on differential equations in the Virginia area. Those present were Burns, Greenberg, Hannsgen, Herdman, Shaw, Stech and Wheeler.... The consensus of the group was that such a conference should be attempted. It should be participated in by certain universities, in the mid-Atlantic coastal region, where contacts and associations with the Virginia Tech differential equations group exist... The meetings would commence in Blacksburg in 1981, and subsequently rotate among area universities... it was suggested that the conferences be limited to about twenty participants, most of whom would give short talks, and feature one principal speaker."

And so began the South-eastern Atlantic Regional Conference on Differential Equations (SEARCDE). The conference is now a significant annual meeting in the differential equations community. It has evolved a tradition of bringing together senior researchers with younger recent Ph.D.'s and graduate students, and fosters an atmosphere of serious science and friendly communication of ideas.

Here is a list of all previous SEARCDE conference locations and principal speakers.