Caltech’s annual Distinguished Alumni Awards—the highest honor the Institute bestows upon its graduates—recognize “a particular achievement of noteworthy value, a series of such achievements, or a career of noteworthy accomplishment.” The 2024 luminaries include a lauded best-selling science-fiction author and futurist; a chemist whose electron microscopy analysis revolutionized our understanding of genes and messenger RNA; a leading tech industry executive, venture capitalist, and mentor; and a chemical-sensing innovator whose research has led to life-saving discoveries.

Engineer Mory Gharib (PhD ’83) delves into the mechanics of the body’s most critical biological pump to reveal its secrets and develop lifesaving medical devices.

Brendan Bubion recently joined Caltech as a senior video producer with the Academic Media Technologies (AMT) team. On July 27, he received a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award for his work as the lead producer of the Weekly Arts series for KCET/PBS SoCal.