A family talks across a table with a presenter at Explore Caltech

Local community engagement / Outreach

Learn from Caltech

Caltech professors, students, and staff share cutting-edge research in free public talks and partner with local schools to deepen STEM education in and beyond Pasadena.

In 2025, more than 31,200 people participated in Caltech Astro events, Watson Lectures, Explore Caltech, and the AIM math party, all described below. Thousands of schoolchildren connected with new and favorite topics in science, engineering, and math through science fairs and scientist visits at their schools, field trips including the Science Journeys series on Caltech's campus, and Caltech Seismo Lab and campus tours. More than 100 high school and college students participated in summer research immersions and academic boot camps, while more than 100 middle- and high-school students gained ground in math and science through weekly one-to-one tutoring.

In-person events

A crowd in auditorium seating wears 3D glasses to view a chemistry slide.

The free public Earnest C. Watson Lecture Series offers a unique, accessible opportunity to learn more about cutting-edge science directly from Caltech's premier researchers. Come early to mingle over food, drink, and music, as well as interactive displays related to the evening's topic.

Three Junior Watson program participants look at an object held by a researcher in a laboratory.

Small groups of accomplished high school students participate in Junior Watson companion events to the Watson Lectures. Participants meet with admissions counselors, tour the speakers' laboratories, have dinner with members of their research groups, and attend the evening talks.

People wait in line to look through a telescope with researcher guides outside Beckman Auditorium.

Caltech Astro's frequent, free public outreach events include monthly Stargazing Lectures followed by guided stargazing through telescopes, regular Astro on Tap nights at a local pub, sidewalk astronomy, ask-an-astrophysicist events on trains, and dark sky events at national parks.

A Caltech researcher talks with children and families at a science festival

At the free public Explore Caltech event, offered on a yearly basis, local families and individuals learn about science and engineering taking place across and beyond Caltech. The event includes a variety of activities and is hosted by the Caltech Postdoctoral Association.

Two children in hats play with Rubik's cubes at a table.

Hundreds of families and individuals come to Caltech for a math-themed party hosted annually by the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) since its 30th birthday party in 2024. The celebration features games, puzzles, and food and beverages. AIM has called Caltech home since 2023.

Middle and high school students gather outside of Beckman Auditorium for a Science Journeys program.

Science Journeys are free public programs designed for middle and high school students and open to all ages. Caltech graduate students and postdoctoral scholars share their research, what inspires them, and their story so far (like Sneha Aenugu's). Registration is required.

Two scientists talk with families about astronomy

People who attend Pasadena's multi-day STEM celebration, an annual tradition since 2016, the City of Astronomy Science Festival, can learn about the cosmos, hear about recent discoveries, and meet astronomers from Caltech and neighboring institutions.

Caltech researchers talk with a City of STEM participant over a demonstration of lung function

A contingent of Caltech scientists and engineers leads activities in several fields of science and engineering each year at the official science festival of Los Angeles County, the City of STEM + Los Angeles Maker Faire.

School programs and field trips

Caltech volunteers talk with students at a local elementary school over a science demonstration

Science nights, classroom visits, and assemblies in schools in and near Pasadena ignite interest in STEM. Caltech students and researchers share engaging activities, primarily organized by Caltech's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach.

Graduate students teach children how to see objects on microscope slides at the PUSD Science Fest.

The free public PUSD Science Fest, sponsored by the Pasadena Unified School District and hosted annually on a school campus, includes an array of Caltech-led activity stations.

Participants in a Science Olympiad hosted at Caltech test a bridge they've constructed.

Dozens of teams of middle school and high school students come to Caltech and Polytechnic School from across Southern California for Science Olympiad tournaments. More than 1,000 students, teachers, and volunteers participate.

A large building houses Caltech's Seismological Laboratory.

School classes throughout Southern California schedule free tours of Caltech's Seismological Laboratory. Guides discuss how scientists gather information, study earthquakes, and use this information to understand our earth. By reservation.

Children run outdoors as participants in a GO-Outdoors field trip.

Teachers in Pasadena public schools work with GO-Outdoors, a Caltech outreach club, to codevelop field trips, classroom visits, lesson plans, and other resources that help students learn about the geosciences and fieldwork.

Children on a field trip to Caltech cheer during the ME72 engineering competition.

For decades, students in local schools have come to Caltech to watch the annual ME72 mechanical engineering contest. Teams of Caltech students compete to win technical, fun challenges, from airship battles to bot hockey to robotic games in a pond.

A Caltech student talks with elementary school students

Caltech students and postdoctoral scholars teach biweekly science lessons at James Madison Elementary School in the Visiting Scientists program, which is organized by the school and Caltech's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach.

Immersive learning

An undergraduate researcher helps high school students conduct research outdoors

Students at Pasadena Unified School District high schools participate in the six-week Summer Research Connection. In 2025, a former participant won first place in the Regeneron Science Talent Search for work he conceived during this program.

Participants in the SEAL summer research program at Caltech pose for a photo in the laboratory.

Students at Blair High School, Crescenta Valley High School, Benjamin Franklin High School, and the Institute for Educational Advancement participate in SEAL. Caltech mentors help high school clubs research sustainable energy.

Participants in Caltech's Earthquake Fellows program gather outdoors.

The Caltech Earthquake Fellows program is a May through August learning experience for 10th and 11th grade students in nearby high schools. Selected fellows explore life as a seismologist during Saturday sessions and a one-month summer research immersion.

Participants in the Caltech Connection mentoring program gather on a flight of stairs.

Caltech Connection helps locals who have a knack for science take their first steps into the scientific realm, to paraphrase its faculty founder. Caltech graduate students and postdoctoral scholars mentor students from Pasadena City College and other nearby colleges in guided research activities.

A participant in the Rising Tide outreach program works in a Caltech laboratory

Rising Tide introduces Pasadena City College (PCC) students to chemistry and biology research techniques, advanced laboratory environments, and graduate education. A Caltech graduate student who is a PCC alumnus founded Rising Tide.

Veterans sit at a table watching their instructor, also a veteran, teach.

A 10-week summer research program at Caltech, the DIVE program helps veterans enrolled at local community and four-year colleges build skills in synthetic biology and bioengineering. The program's four student, faculty, and staff founders include veterans.

Warrior-Scholar Project participants tour a Caltech laboratory.

Caltech hosts a Warrior-Scholar Project STEM Boot Camp that helps veterans succeed in college and afterward. Sessions include lectures by Caltech and JPL scientists, STEM tutorials, and lessons in important factors for academic success including time management.

Mentoring and tutoring

Participants in the Young Legends program gather at Caltech.

The undergraduate student government (Associated Students of Caltech, or ASCIT) sustains a tutoring relationship with the Young Legends, a program of the San Gabriel Valley chapter of the National Council of Negro Women. ASCIT won the organization's Community Education Award.

An Upward Bound participant gives her final presentation for the program.

High school students who could be the first in their families to go to college or whose families are low income can gain essential skills in a summer program at Pasadena City College. Caltech students often serve as mentors in the program, Upward Bound Math Science.

A Rise tutor and the student she taught celebrate the student's accomplishments.

More than 100 Caltech students tutor 8th–12th grade students from public schools in and near Pasadena, meeting weekly. This low-cost Rise tutoring is a service of the student-led, nonprofit Caltech Y. By application: see information for school-age students and for tutors.