On January 14, 2025, President Biden honored nearly 400 junior faculty members from across the country with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Among the honorees are three Caltech professors: Katherine Bouman, associate professor of computing and mathematical sciences, electrical engineering and astronomy; Katerina Chatziioannou, assistant professor of physics; and Nicholas […]

In light of the fires that have burned throughout the Greater Los Angeles region, Michael Lamb, professor of geology, has revised the topic of his Watson Lecture.Why do debris flows often occur after wildfires, and what can be done to forecast their impact? On January 29, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. PT in Caltech's Beckman Auditorium, […]

Experiments from the Caltech lab of Chiara Daraio, G. Bradford Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, have yielded a fascinating new type of matter, neither granular nor crystalline, that responds to some stresses as a fluid would and to others like a solid. The new material, known […]

Scientists at Caltech and Princeton University have discovered that bacterial cells growing in a solution of polymers, such as mucus, form long cables that buckle and twist on each other, building a kind of "living Jell-O."The finding could be particularly important to the study and treatment of diseases such as cystic fibrosis, in which the […]

The Caltech community is responding to a natural disaster of historic scale as several wildfires continue to impact Southern California, including the Eaton fire and the Palisades fire. Many staff, faculty, postdocs, students, and their families have experienced significant losses: More than 250 individuals and families across campus and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have […]

Researchers have discovered two sets of ancient wave ripples on Mars, signatures of long-dried bodies of water preserved in the rock record. Wave ripples are small undulations in the sandy shores of lakebeds, created as wind-driven water laps back and forth. The two sets of ripples indicate the former presence of shallow water that was […]

Theoretical chemist Martin Karplus (PhD '54) passed away December 28, 2024, at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Karplus was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013 for work that laid the foundations for the field of computational chemistry, which uses advanced software to predict chemical processes using quantum mechanics. He was the […]

On November 8, astronomers at Caltech's Palomar Observatory in the mountains above San Diego directed a brand-new spectrograph instrument to capture data from a newfound supernova. The resulting spectrum—a detailed look at the rainbow of different light wavelengths emanating from the erupting star—delighted many of the Caltech team members, who have been working on the […]

John O. Dabiri (PhD '05), Caltech's Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering, has been honored by the Biden White House with the National Medal of Science, the country's highest honor for exemplary achievement and leadership in science and engineering.In a ceremony held at the White House on January 3, Dabiri received his award from […]

To make these programs happen, students, postdoctoral scholars, research staff, and faculty relied on management, advice, sponsorship, and support enthusiastically provided by staff. The network of support for the outreach above included the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach; the Office of Strategic Communications; the Campus Arts and Culture Liaison; the Office of External Relations; […]