Stories About Our People

05/22/2013

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.

10/08/2012

Caltech Elects New Member to Board of Trustees

Michael Rogers

Semiconductor-industry leader, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Wenchi Chen has been elected to Caltech's Board of Trustees.

10/04/2012

Caltech Welcomes New Students

Kimm Fesenmaier

This year, the first week of October marks the first week of instruction for the fall term at Caltech. With the school year’s beginning, the Institute has welcomed some of the most accomplished and outstanding new undergraduate and graduate students who will become an active part of campus through their research, coursework and student activities.

09/26/2012

Matthew Elliott: Modeling Networks

Marcus Woo

Matthew Elliott is Caltech's newest assistant professor of economics. Born in England, he earned his BA and MPhil from Oxford in 2002 and 2004. After receiving his PhD from Stanford in 2011, he spent a year at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before arriving in Pasadena this fall.

09/26/2012

Working Optimally

Kimm Fesenmaier

Venkat Chandrasekaran, an assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences, arrived at Caltech in early September.

09/22/2012

A Worthy Endeavor

Douglas Smith

The space shuttle Endeavour's final flight ended Friday, September 21, when it landed at Los Angeles International Airport en route to its new life as an exhibit at the California Science Center. But without Caltech professors Christopher Brennen and Allan Acosta and alumnus Sheldon Rubin, the entire endeavor might not have been possible.

09/26/2012

David Hsieh: Discovering Materials

Marcus Woo

David Hsieh, an assistant professor of physics, is one of Caltech's newest faculty members. Hsieh grew up in Hong Kong before hopping the Pacific to earn his BS in physics and mathematics in 2003 from Stanford. Hsieh then received his PhD from Princeton in 2009 and was a Pappalardo Fellow at MIT before joining Caltech's faculty on September 1. He recently answered a few questions about his work—and some culinary experiments.

08/22/2012

Caltech InnoWorks Shows Middle School Students the Fun Side of Science and Engineering

Kimm Fesenmaier

During the inaugural Caltech InnoWorks Summer Science Camp at Pasadena City College, Caltech undergraduates led 22 middle school students through a week of hands-on science and engineering projects. With the slogan "By Students, For Students," InnoWorks aims to get underserved middle school students more interested in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine.

07/11/2012

New Professor Practices the Art of Organic Chemistry

Kimm Fesenmaier

Gregory C. Fu, a new faculty member and the Altair Professor of Chemistry at Caltech, uses his intuition and creativity to develop new chemical reactions that make chemical conversions more efficient—enabling organic chemists to convert reactants into their desired products in fewer steps or with higher yields than previously possible, for example. He talks about the creative aspects of organic chemistry, some of his current work, and making the move to Caltech.

07/03/2012

Recipe for Success: Chandler Cafe Now Serving Dinner

Andrew Allan

Your stomach growls to let you know it’s time for dinner. But what can you do when you don’t feel like cooking and you’re on a budget? Head over to Chandler Café for the new all-you-can-eat dinner buffet!

06/20/2012

Forging Ahead

Marcus Woo

Tom Harris came to Caltech with an undeclared major, thinking he would study computer science. But, having been an avid Lego builder as a kid, he was drawn to mechanical engineering. He also has an interest in medieval history, which similarly dates back to his childhood—he loved pirates and knights, and both his parents were history majors—and after he took Brown's medieval history class, his impression of the study of history changed.