Updates for Caltech neighbors
Here you can find announcements and news for neighbors, ways to learn more and connect, and links to construction information and events you are welcome to attend.
JULY 2024
Campus will be active this summer, with 528 undergraduates here for research programs such as the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF). Another 229 students will conduct research with off-campus mentors, primarily at JPL, which Caltech founded and manages for NASA. About 400 of the summer program participants are visiting from universities around the nation and the world. Join us to learn about the research projects through 15-minute talks and poster displays on Summer Seminar Day.
Local high school students and teachers also will steep themselves in research on campus this summer.
PUSD students and teachers will join 17 Caltech research groups that have volunteered as Summer Research Connection (SRC) hosts. For six weeks, student–teacher teams will conduct studies at the forefront of science and engineering, mentored by Caltech researchers. Students across Southern California will participate in a hybrid version of the SRC. In addition, the Earthquake Fellows program will bring high school students from Pasadena, Alhambra, and LA unified school districts to campus for a month of seismology studies that complement weekend activities during the school year.
Caltech mentors prize these opportunities to share their science, teach research skills, and connect with junior scholars and fellow Pasadenans.
Featured events
Neighbors, you are welcome at events on campus that are open to the community, including accessible talks on the latest science, varsity games, and musical performances and plays. The events featured below and on the events page for locals may especially interest you. Admission is free for each of the events below. Registration is recommended when possible. Learn more on Caltech's public events page.
Thoughts on amateur sports from an Olympian swimming champion, Caltech Athletics Director Betsy Mitchell
On July 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Ramo Auditorium, Caltech's Behind the Book series features Betsy Mitchell and her new memoir, More than Medals: Lessons from an Olympian. Mitchell won gold and silver medals in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, held a world and American record, and represented the US in women's rowing at the world championships. Her first book is a love letter to amateur athletics and an homage to her parents for their sport parenting. Foreshadowing a second book, More than Medals also introduces how the youth, college, and Olympic sports model is broken and what we can do about it. Mitchell will discuss the state of educational sports in our country with Brian Stoltz, Caltech's Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry, who chairs the faculty athletic committee, and with her co-author, Ann Worthington. Come join us for this important conversation! Details at the main event calendar link.
Stay in touch
If you would like to ask a question, share a comment, and/or be added to our list for occasional emails (a few per year), please email neighbor@caltech.edu. Neighbors are also welcome to subscribe to The Caltech Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights the most relevant research, news, and events at Caltech as well as the individuals who are advancing the boundaries of discovery. You can unsubscribe anytime. If you would like a glimpse of what happens at Caltech, we hope you will explore the This Is Caltech website.
Announcements
Drill on campus Wednesday July 17
Due to a multi-agency drill on Wednesday, July 17, you may see a large number of police officers and first responders on campus, including police cars, fire engines, and ambulances. There will be identifiable replica weapons, actors with makeup meant to simulate injuries, sounds of gunfire and explosions, sirens, and potential signs of distress from actors. Caltech Security is hosting the Pasadena Police Department, Pasadena Fire Department, and other first responder agencies in a training exercise in and around Beckman Auditorium. The exercise will simulate an active assailant situation. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Caltech Security at (626) 395-4701.
Coyote safety
Caltech Security has recently learned of separate incidents on and near the edges of campus where there was an altercation between a coyote and a pet. If you experience a threatening or concerning interaction with coyotes on Caltech's campus or properties, please use this online form or call Caltech Security dispatch at (626) 395-5000. Prompt reporting will help Caltech effectively communicate coyote concerns to city and local authorities.
Ginsburg Center construction
We are working to minimize noise and dust as the excavation process begins for the Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Center for Quantum Precision Measurement and the adjacent grounds. This future facility for physics, astronomy, and quantum information is being built on the north side of California Boulevard, west of Arden Road. See the related pages on this site and on the Caltech Facilities Ginsburg Center project site for in-depth information.
Sustainability center nearing completion
We are excited to report that the Resnick Sustainability Center, a hub for sustainability research and education north of San Pasqual Street and east of Wilson Avenue, is nearly complete. Research and classes will begin in the building this fall. The area to the north will be landscaped in the fall.
Campus on a path to decarbonize
As Caltech and Pasadena pursue sustainability, Caltech announced in January that it intends to buy largely carbon-free electricity and to evaluate a potential transition from natural gas to electricity to power campus heating. These steps could lead to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions produced on campus and in the electricity Caltech purchases by more than 85 percent.
Caltech and Carnegie Science partner
Caltech and Carnegie Science have formalized a partnership, further strengthening Pasadena as a hub for innovation and discovery. Carnegie is relocating its life and environmental scientists to the area.
