A "Gifted" Professor

October 10, 2012, 3:03 pm

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A Group of Caltech Alumni Come Together to Create a Professorial Chair to Honor Their Mentor, Frank Marble

News Writer: 

Shayna Chabner McKinney

Frank Marble, the Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Jet Propulsion, Emeritus, works one-on-one with a student. More than a dozen of Marble's former students thanked their professor for his exceptional teaching and mentoring with a gift to Caltech in his honor.

Credit: Caltech Archives

Gifted teacher. Inspired researcher. Knowledgeable adviser. Personal friend. These are a few of the ways in which professor emeritus Frank Marble's former students describe him. Not too surprisingly, these sentiments also capture some of the many reasons why 20 of Marble's former PhD and graduate student advisees have joined together to honor and thank their mentor by creating an endowed professorship in his and his wife's names.

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Planetary Weatherman: An Interview with Andrew Ingersoll

October 14, 2012, 7:20 pm

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News Writer: 

Shayna Chabner McKinney

Andrew Ingersoll, Earle C. Anthony Professor of Planetary Sciences, has been a leader in the investigation of planetary weather and climate for nearly five decades. His research has included studies of the so-called runaway greenhouse effect that is thought to have boiled away Venus’s oceans, the presence of liquid water on Mars, the supersonic winds on Jupiter's moon Io, and the atmospheric dynamics of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Drop, Cover, and Hold On!

October 17, 2012, 2:23 pm

≫ Next: Clean-Energy Research Accelerates

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Caltech to participate in the Great California ShakeOut

News Writer: 

Andrew Allan

Get ready to drop, cover, and hold on! On Thursday, October 18, Caltech will once again participate in the Great California ShakeOut, the annual statewide earthquake-preparedness drill. Caltech students, faculty, staff, and visitors are encouraged to join the more than 8 million Californians who will have the opportunity to practice how to protect themselves during an earthquake.

Clean-Energy Research Accelerates

October 19, 2012, 11:32 am

≫ Next: Literature in the Middle Ages: An Interview with Jennifer Jahner

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News Writer: 

Ann Motrunich

Caltech clean-energy research is accelerating thanks to the renovation of the Earle M. Jorgensen Laboratory into a cutting-edge facility for energy science. Here, JCAP research engineer John Gregoire uses new high-throughput experimental facilities that are helping speed up research on solar fuels.

Credit: Bob Paz

Caltech clean-energy research is accelerating thanks to the renovation of the Earle M. Jorgensen Laboratory. Transformed into a cutting-edge facility for energy science, the lab unites two powerhouse programs: the Resnick Sustainability Institute and the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis.

Literature in the Middle Ages: An Interview with Jennifer Jahner

October 24, 2012, 2:33 pm

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News Writer: 

Marcus Woo

This fall, Jennifer Jahner joined Caltech as an assistant professor of English. As an undergraduate, she planned to study environmental science at Western Washington University. But as a lifelong reader, she couldn't elude the lure of literature, and she ended up majoring in English instead, receiving her BA in 1998. Afterward, she spent several years as a book editor before returning to academia as a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she took a seminar on medieval literature—a class that she says changed her life. Discovering a passion for the time period and for studying old, rare manuscripts, she got her MA in 2005 and then went to the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her PhD last spring. Jahner recently answered a few questions about her research and her thoughts on joining Caltech.

Beware of Falling Pumpkins

November 1, 2012, 9:03 am

≫ Next: How I Landed on Mars

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A Caltech Halloween tradition continues

News Writer: 

Douglas Smith

At midnight on Halloween, several dozen pumpkins ride the Millikan Gravitational Accelerator—a fancy way of saying they are tossed off the roof of the nine-story Millikan Memorial Library.

How I Landed on Mars

November 6, 2012, 4:51 pm

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Caltech graduate students on the MSL mission drive science, the rover, and their careers

News Writer: 

Shayna Chabner McKinney

Caltech graduate students Lauren Edgar (left) and Katie Stack (right) are members of the Mars Science Laboratory science team.

Credit: Kris Capraro/JPL

Caltech geology graduate student Katie Stack says her Caltech experience has provided her with the best of both worlds. Literally. As one of five Caltech graduate students currently staffing the Mars Science Laboratory mission, Stack is simultaneously exploring the geologic pasts of both Mars and Earth. She and her student colleagues apply their knowledge of Earth's history and environment—gleaned from Caltech classes and field sites across the globe—to the analysis of Curiosity's discoveries as well as the hunt for evidence of past life on the Red Planet.

How to Grow an Entrepreneur

November 8, 2012, 3:41 pm

≫ Next: Diving Into the Unknown: An Interview with Andrei Faraon

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News Writer: 

Ann Motrunich

Recent Caltech grads Cole Hershkowitz (BS '11) and Ka Suen (BS '12) are the cofounders and sole full-time staffers of Chai, a start-up marketing a mobile app that people can use to track and reduce their energy use at home. The two are among many students and young alumni taking advantage of opportunities at Caltech that prepare young entrepreneurs to succeed.

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Diving Into the Unknown: An Interview with Andrei Faraon

November 12, 2012, 3:36 pm

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News Writer: 

Kimm Fesenmaier

Credit: Engineering & Applied Science Communications Office

This fall, Andrei Faraon (BS '04) returned to his alma mater to take a position as an assistant professor of applied physics and materials science. In his work, he builds devices that attempt to use light to manipulate single quantum systems in solids. Faraon recently answered some questions about his research and returning to Caltech.

Bottling Liquid Gold

November 15, 2012, 9:08 am

≫ Next: The Miracle and Beauty of Physics: An Interview with Cliff Cheung

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Caltech Olive Harvest Festival to be held tomorrow

News Writer: 

Andrew Allan

If you happen to see groups of people perched in the trees along Caltech's famed Olive Walk and Beckman Mall tomorrow, whacking at the branches with rakes and PVC pipes—rest assured there's nothing unusual going on. They are participants in this year's Olive Harvest Festival, just trying to gather as many pounds of olives as possible in a day's time.

The Miracle and Beauty of Physics: An Interview with Cliff Cheung

December 5, 2012, 9:19 am

≫ Next: From Theory to Reality: An Interview with Jason Alicea

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News Writer: 

Marcus Woo

When you lift a paper clip off a table with a small magnet, you're accomplishing a remarkable feat: the tiny magnet is overcoming the gravitational pull from the entire Earth. Why does gravity seem so weak compared to electromagnetism and the other fundamental forces of nature? This vast discrepancy in scale—how a small magnet can beat out a whole planet—is related to what physicists call the hierarchy problem. Cliff Cheung—who joined Caltech this fall as an assistant professor of theoretical physics—is fascinated by this "very deep puzzle" (which may be solved through supersymmetry, a class of theories in which every fundamental particle has a partner particle, as well as by dark matter, the mysterious stuff that accounts for nearly a quarter of the universe). Recently, Cheung—who also plays guitar and piano, sings, and writes music—answered a few questions about coming to Caltech and his passion for physics.

From Theory to Reality: An Interview with Jason Alicea

December 18, 2012, 10:10 am

≫ Next: Caltech Senior Wins Churchill Scholarship

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News Writer: 

Marcus Woo

Quantum computers—computers that harness the bizarre laws of quantum mechanics to become vastly more powerful than conventional computers—have been touted as the next leap in technology. Although useful quantum-computing technology is probably years—and possibly decades—away, physicists like Jason Alicea, who joined Caltech's faculty this fall as an associate professor of theoretical physics, are working hard to make it a reality. Alicea's research involves translating purely theoretical ideas into real-life experiments and applications. He recently answered a few questions about himself and his research.

Caltech Senior Wins Churchill Scholarship

February 3, 2013, 2:33 pm

≫ Next: Viewing the Cosmos from the South Pole: An Interview with Jamie Bock

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News Writer: 

Kimm Fesenmaier

Caltech senior Andrew Meng has been selected to receive a Churchill Scholarship, which will fund his graduate studies at the University of Cambridge for the next academic year. Meng, a chemistry and physics major, was one of only 14 students nationwide who were chosen to receive the fellowship this year.

Viewing the Cosmos from the South Pole: An Interview with Jamie Bock

February 5, 2013, 10:52 am

≫ Next: Caltech Senior Wins Gates Cambridge Scholarship

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News Writer: 

Marcus Woo

Almost immediately after the Big Bang—roughly after ten trillionths of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second—the universe suddenly grew. Very fast. The entire cosmos, which at the time was smaller than an atom, expanded to the size of a beach ball in less than a millionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second—before settling down to a more leisurely rate of growth that continues to this day.

Caltech Senior Wins Gates Cambridge Scholarship

April 17, 2013, 10:19 am

≫ Next: TEDxCaltech: Surmounting the Blood-Brain Barrier

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News Writer: 

Kimm Fesenmaier

Catherine Bingchan Xie, a senior bioengineering major and English minor at Caltech, has been selected to receive a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which will fund her graduate studies at the University of Cambridge for the next academic year. Xie, a Canadian citizen, is one of 51 new international recipients selected from a pool of more than 4,000 applicants based not only on intellectual ability, but also on leadership capacity and a commitment to improving the lives of others.

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TEDxCaltech: Surmounting the Blood-Brain Barrier

January 11, 2013, 4:03 pm

≫ Next: Senior Spotlight

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News Writer: 

Kimm Fesenmaier

Researchers are developing nanoparticles that could carry therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier.

Credit: Devin Wiley/Caltech

The brain needs its surroundings to be just right. That is, unlike some internal organs, such as the liver, which can process just about anything that comes its way, the brain needs to be protected and to have a chemical environment with the right balance of proteins, sugars, salts, and other metabolites.

Senior Spotlight

May 21, 2013, 2:40 pm

≫ Next: Ditch Day Is Today

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Tech-savvy student headed to SpaceX

News Writer: 

Kimm Fesenmaier

Caltech's Class of 2013 is a group of passionate, curious, and creative individuals who have spent their undergraduate years advancing research, challenging both conventional thinking and one another. They have thrived in a rigorous and unique academic environment, and built the kinds of skills in both leadership and partnership that will support them as they pursue their biggest and best ideas well into the future.

Ditch Day Is Today

May 24, 2013, 8:06 am

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News Writer: 

Shayna Chabner McKinney

What's this? Take a look at our Ditch Day 2013 Puzzle Page and maybe you can tell us!

Students donning sumo suits, racing shopping carts, rappelling down buildings and wielding slingshots, sledgehammers, and bows took over campus for this year's Ditch Day.

Senior Spotlight

May 30, 2013, 8:28 am

≫ Next: Senior Spotlight: Mason Freedman

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Student programmer builds platform for future technology and career

News Writer: 

Shayna Chabner McKinney

Caltech's Class of 2013 is a group of passionate, curious, and creative individuals who have spent their undergraduate years advancing research, challenging both conventional thinking and one another. They have thrived in a rigorous and unique academic environment, and built the kinds of skills in both leadership and partnership that will support them as they pursue their biggest and best ideas well into the future.

Senior Spotlight: Mason Freedman

June 5, 2013, 12:49 pm

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Two Wins for the Ages

News Writer: 

Marcus Woo

Credit: Nhi Casey

Caltech's class of 2013 is a group of passionate, curious, and creative individuals who have spent their undergraduate years advancing research and challenging both conventional thinking and one another. They have thrived in a rigorous, unique academic environment, building the kinds of skills in both leadership and partnership that will support them as they pursue their biggest and best ideas.