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Fredric ("Fred") Raichlen, professor emeritus of civil and mechanical engineering in Caltech's Division of Engineering and Applied Science, passed away on December 13, 2014. He was an expert in coastal engineering whose pioneering studies of tsunami mechanics have led to standards for designing tsunami-resistant structures that have saved lives around the world.

Caltech professor Julia Greer is showing that the relationship between strength and weight is not graven in stone by creating brand-new materials that are incredibly strong but weigh next to nothing.

Guruswami (Ravi) Ravichandran, the John E. Goode Jr. Professor of aerospace and professor of mechanical engineering, has received the Warner T. Koiter Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Professors Frances Arnold, David Baltimore, Carver Mead, and Axel Scherer have been named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Fredric ("Fred") Raichlen, professor emeritus of civil and mechanical engineering at Caltech, passed away on December 13, 2014. He was 82 years old. Raichlen was an expert on the mechanics of tsunamis, the waves created by underwater earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other geologic events.

Integrating optics and electronics into systems such as fiber-optic data links has revolutionized how we transmit information. A second revolution awaits as researchers seek to develop chips in which individual atoms control the movement of light within the chip through optical "wires," and photons could replace electrons as the vehicle for performing computations. Andrei Faraon (BS '04), an assistant professor of applied physics and materials science in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, presents a preview of this revolution at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, December 17, in Caltech's Beckman Auditorium. Admission is free.