Since 1926, the Caltech Associates have helped propel Caltech's mission of discovery. The Caltech Associates is a vibrant support group to Caltech.
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Since its founding 90 years ago, members have played a vital role in the life of the Institute. Through annual membership of unrestricted support, Associates members make it possible for our faculty, students, and researchers to create new knowledge, lead innovation, and shape a better future for us all.
04/22/2024
Sarkis Mazmanian, Caltech’s Luis B. and Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology, will join us tomorrow night at The Lotos Club in New York City to talk about his team’s study of the connection between the gut microbiome and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
In their research, they discovered a novel gut-brain interaction in animal models. This discovery informed a pilot human study in which a drug targeting the microbiome was shown to be associated with improvements in anxiety and irritability in trial participants. Their findings suggest that changes in the microbiome regulate behaviors associated with ASD, and could lead to a new approach for improving the lives of people with autism.
Caltech’s Katherine Bouman and her team made headlines when they captured the first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. Next Tuesday, at a Caltech Associates event at Avenue of the Arts Costa Mesa, Professor Bouman will describe the techniques her team developed to produce that image using the Event Horizon Telescope—a network of telescopes around the globe—and the challenges of accounting for time-variability using this method.
She will also discuss the still-unanswered scientific questions that motivate her team to continue improving this computational telescope to see black hole phenomena that remain invisible to us, as well as the techniques the researchers are developing to extract the evolving structure of Sagittarius A*.
In this image, Streptococcus bacteria (green) are seen aggregated around host cells (orange) and host cell nuclei (blue). Unlike animals and plants, bacteria can eat and respire an extraordinary range of nutrients. Understanding this defining feature of bacterial biology can be leveraged to control their growth.
After an elegant dinner in a private home tomorrow night, we’ll hear from Professor Dianne Newman, Caltech’s Gordon M. Binder/Amgen Professor of Biology and Geobiology. Professor Newman will share how her team built upon knowledge of bacterial anaerobic respiration to develop a new strategy to treat chronic infections caused by a bacterium resistant to antibiotics and commonly found in wound infections, including those associated with implanted medical devices such as catheters and ventilators.
See all of our upcoming winter/spring 2024 events on our website.
Our 2024 programming kicks off next Tuesday with a fascinating topic: brain-machine interfaces (BMIs). BMIs consist of tiny electrodes that record brain activity, together with machine learning algorithms that interpret the person’s intent. They can enable people with paralysis to control external assistive devices with their thoughts.
Richard Andersen, Caltech’s James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience and holder of the T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center Leadership Chair, is a pioneer in studying the neurobiological underpinnings of brain processes. His discovery of how the brain signals a person’s intent is helping to inform the development of BMI technology.
His team is collaborating on methods to enable study participants to control robotic limbs and operate computer software that, in turn, has enabled them to drink a beverage, play a computer piano— and even drive an automobile! “Bi-directional” BMIs can supplement the control of a robotic limb with an artificially induced sense of touch. The team is also working on BMIs with the potential to decode the inner dialog we have with ourselves toward the end of restoring speech.
Caltech researchers have developed a protocol for taking the first images of HIV as it undergoes a complex shape-shifting process.
11/16/2023
The remnants of an ancient planet that collided with Earth to form the Moon lie deep within the earth, according to a new model from Caltech researchers and collaborators.
11/07/2023
As part of the 73rd season of the Caltech Playreaders, The Escape, directed by Joann Doyle, is tonight at 6:30 p.m. In this version of the classic confrontation between a man and the Devil, author and Caltech alum, David Brin constructs an irreverent and fantastical nether world.
A rendering of the future Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing by Living Habitats, the landscape architecture firm leading the design of the project in collaboration with state and local agencies. Caltech Associates members will visit the project site this Saturday, November 4! We’ll be joined by Caltech assistant professor of geobiology Julia Tejada and Robert Rock, the principal and COO of Living Habitats.
When completed in 2025, The Annenberg Foundation's Wildlife Crossing will be the largest wildlife corridor in the world. Overcrossing U.S. Route 101 to reconnect the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills in Agoura Hills, California, this bridge will help restore and protect what is considered a biodiversity hotspot—one of only 36 such places in the world—and allow mountain lions and other wildlife to move freely throughout a habitat that has been bisected by human development.
10/25/2023
We’re excited about our tour this Friday of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), where we’ll learn about the future of fusion energy from Dr. Tammy Ma, a graduate of Caltech who now leads the Inertial Fusion Energy Institutional Initiative at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Ma is a member of the team that achieved fusion ignition at NIF, for the first time in history deriving more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. This photo by Damien Jemison was taken inside a NIF preamplifier support structure.
When completed in 2025, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will be the largest wildlife corridor in the world. Overcrossing U.S. Route 101 to reconnect the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills in Agoura Hills, California, this bridge will help restore and protect what is considered a biodiversity hotspot—one of only 36 such places in the world—and allow numerous species to freely move throughout a habitat that was bisected by human development.
Our family-friendly day trip to the Annenberg Wildlife Crossing on Saturday, November 4, will include brunch and a presentation by Julia Tejada, assistant professor of geobiology, who will explore how geological processes, climate change, and biotic interactions have changed and shaped the structure of mammalian communities through time.
In December 2022, a team at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) conducted the first controlled fusion experiment to reach “breakeven,” producing more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. On July 30, 2023, the team succeeded again, yielding even better results.
This image is a rendering of the inside of NIF’s target chamber, showing the target positioner moving into place. Pulses from NIF’s high-powered lasers race through the facility at the speed of light and arrive at the center of the target chamber within a few trillionths of a second of each other, aligned to the accuracy of the diameter of a human hair.
On Friday, October 27, the Caltech Associates will visit NIF for a private tour with Dr. Tammy Ma, an alumna of Caltech who leads the Inertial Fusion Energy Institutional Initiative at NIF.
Tomorrow’s the day for our matinée of Les Misérables at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Preceding the show, we’ll enjoy brunch and a presentation by Jocelyn Holland, Caltech’s professor of comparative literature. Her presentation, “The Laws of Les Mis,” will examine the themes that shaped Victor Hugo’s sprawling 19th-century novel and its 20th-century Broadway adaptation: popular uprisings, abuses of power, and the question of the law in its moral, civil, and divine forms.
Bon voyage! One week from today, we depart for a journey through Rome, Florence, and Turin unlike any other. This trip features private tours and exclusive access to locations for art, science, history, and architecture enthusiasts. Our faculty guide is Rob Phillips, Caltech’s Fred and Nancy Morris Professor of Biophysics, Biology, and Physics, who is an expert on the life and work of Galileo. Highlights include specially arranged access to the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, usually closed to the public; an unforgettable after-hours private visit to the Vatican Museums and the marvelous Sistine Chapel; and an exclusive tour of the library of the Academy of Sciences, guided by its curator.
Scientists believe that Jupiter’s moon Europa may have a massive ocean beneath its icy surface, holding the possibility of life beyond Earth. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are building the Europa Clipper, a robotic solar-powered spacecraft, to investigate Europa and determine if the conditions are present to support life.
Scheduled to launch in October 2024, construction of the Europa Clipper is underway at JPL’s spacecraft assembly facility, a giant cleanroom that Associates members will see on our upcoming tour of JPL this Thursday.
We’re looking forward to our upcoming special event in our Orange County/San Diego region—a matinée performance of the Tony Award-winning musical, Les Misérables. Prior to showtime, we’ll enjoy a buffet brunch followed by a presentation by Jocelyn Holland, professor of comparative literature at Caltech, on the themes that shaped Victor Hugo’s sprawling 19th-century novel and its 20th-century Broadway adaptation.
One of the highlights of our upcoming tour of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is access to the Charles Elachi Mission Control Center. It is named for Dr. Charles Elachi, who taught at Caltech and worked at JPL beginning in 1971, eventually becoming the laboratory's director in 2001.
During his time as director, JPL was involved in more than 20 missions, including three Mars rovers: Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity. Dr. Elachi retired from JPL in 2016 and became Caltech's Professor of Electrical Engineering and Planetary Science, Emeritus.
Our fall season calendar has arrived! We’re excited to share with you the unique programs we’ve planned. Several are “experiential" events that take place off campus and feature a Caltech faculty member who will speak on a topic that illuminates the destination. Visit the Events page on our website to see the complete lineup or download the calendar PDF.
New study proposes how the fortunate planet may have endured.
06/16/2023
Congratulations to the class of 2023 celebrating the 129th commencement today!
06/13/2023
We've just returned from our adventure in Jackson Hole and Yellowstone with Professor Brian Wernicke. Highlights of the trip included a hot-air balloon ride, a float down the storied Snake River, wildlife sightings, and a day trip to see the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone.
A few spaces remain for our exclusive tour of Italy with Professor Rob Phillips this fall. Contact our office for more information.
10/29/2021
The final issue of Caltech Effect celebrates the catalytic impact of the Break Through campaign across the Caltech campus. Read the full issue: https://bit.ly/3uQCGcc
New buildings, cohorts, instruments, and partnerships sparked by the Break Through campaign build on Caltech's core strengths and open new avenues of discovery.
10/28/2021
Alumnus Ardem Patapoutian (PhD '96) has won the 2021 in Physiology or Medicine. Patapoutian shares half of this year’s prize with David Julius “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.” https://bit.ly/3iTHjxt
Patapoutian shares the prize with David Julius for "discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch."
10/27/2021
Caltech recently announced that Break Through: The Caltech Campaign, the largest campaign in the Institute's history, raised $3.4 billion from more than 14,500 donors.
"I'm grateful to all who have decided Caltech is the place that deserves this very, very generous support, which provides us with a firm foundation to go forward into unknown territories," says David L. Lee (PhD '74), chair of the Caltech Board of Trustees. "We appreciate each supporter of this campaign who believes in us, believes in our approach, and believes that we can continue producing some of the most impactful results."
Read more about the Break Through campaign, including the contributions supporting scholarships and fellowships: https://bit.ly/3a9clfL
10/22/2021
We believe that Caltech students are the driving force behind the Institute’s ability to move the needle on many of the world’s biggest social, scientific, environmental, and economic challenges. That's why we invest in students like Hamed Hamze: https://bit.ly/3h8sl5A
As a Repetto-Figueroa Family Graduate Fellow at Caltech, Hamed Hamze (MS '10) modeled hypothetical and real scenarios to learn how people make choices.
10/15/2021
The Associates is committed to supporting the world-changing discoveries at Caltech. Our members are bound together by a desire to build a better future, a shared passion for learning, and a belief that investing in Caltech yields powerful outcomes: https://bit.ly/3yMwXnT
"There is no date in the history of the California Institute of Technology more significant than March 9, 1926, the first meeting of the California Institute Associates."
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Videos
In celebration of Lunar New Year, the Caltech Associates will be hosting its first virtual Mandarin language reception with Professor YC Tai on March 9 at 5 PM. He will discuss how innovations coming out of his lab are solving major medical challenges, including enabling the blind to see with artificial vision. Join and register here: www.associates.caltech.edu/ox2021
Caltech grad students perform at the President's Circle garden party
Kip Thorne dinner
Dare Mighty Things: Private Tour of JPL & Presentation with Kenneth Farley
Break Through on the Road: Join Caltech in San Jose
Memories from 2017: Happy Holidays from the Caltech Associates!
In gratitude for a year full of adventure, innovation and support with Caltech students, faculty, staff, and fellow Associates, here's a fun look back at memories from 2017! Here's to another great year ahead!
*Best enjoyed with sound on for full holiday cheer effect!*
Best,
The Caltech Associates Team
Check out this great animation on the phenomenal discovery from Monday: The detectors at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) received a gravitational wave signal just 1.7 seconds before the first light was seen by Fermi, making this the first event observed in both light and gravitational waves.
#Repost @planetarysociety (@get_repost)
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Fantastic animation of yesterday's BIG discovery! #gravityandlight
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Caption from NASA's official Instagram: Round and round they go - then BOOM! This animation begins with the final moments of two neutron stars (the super-dense cores of exploded massive stars), whirling around each other in a galaxy 130 million light-years away. Gravitational waves (rippling disturbance in space-time, shown here as pale arcs) bleed away orbital energy, causing the stars to move closer together and merge.
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As the stars collide, this explosive event emits light across a series of different wavelengths - first gamma rays (magenta), then ultraviolet (violet), then visible and infrared (blue-white to red) and once the jet directed toward us expanded into our view from Earth, X-rays (blue). Our Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope witnessed this event on August 17, 2017 and we watched it unfold over multiple days with a variety of other telescopes, including the Swift spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope (@NASAHubble), the Spitzer Space Telescope, our Chandra X-Ray Observatory (@NASAChandraXray) and our NuSTAR mission. The detectors at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) received a gravitational wave signal just 1.7 seconds before the first light was seen by Fermi, making this the first event observed in both light and gravitational waves.
Credit: @NASAGoddard/CI Lab
Thank you to the @caltechpipettes for their fabulous performance at our Caltech Associates President's Circle Garden Party! Here they are performing Seasons of Love from Rent.
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#caltech #caltechassociates #caltechstudents #students #caltechpipettes #acapella #rentmusical #caltechexperience #recognitionevent #pasadena #universitylife
Just an ordinary day on the Caltech campus...except today we spotted Professor Aaron Ames' robot talking a test walk by the turtle pond!
Learn more about his research here: http://m.caltech.edu/news/one-step-time-conversation-aaron-ames-61163
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#caltech #caltechcampus #caltechexperience #robots #robotics #engineering #science #scienceiscool #technology #pasadena #universitylife
#throwbackthursday As we prepare for this Saturday's Associates annual President's Circle garden party, here is a glimpse from last year's epic performance with Caltech's very own Konstantin Batygin, assistant professor of planetary science!
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#caltech #caltechassociates #konstantinbatygin #planetnine #smokeonthewater #caltechalumni #presidentscircle #associatestbt #tbt #livebands
Not far from the campus of Caltech, lights blazed from the windows of the home of Henry E. Huntington, retired railroad magnate and art collector. Conversation that night of March 9, 1926, centered on the first formal meeting of the new organization assembled there, the Associates of the California Institute of Technology.
One hundred of southern California's most influential men and women banded together to "aid and advance the welfare of the California Institute of Technology." Caltech, which the Associates had pledged to support, was emerging as a scientific world leader. Its commitment was to educate a small number of students in an atmosphere of research conducted by scientists of the highest distinction.
Caltech, in the mid-1920s, was housed in five modern buildings, part of a master plan by one of the nation's foremost architects, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. The orange groves, symbol of the early campus, were fast disappearing as new structures were built. The growing physical plant and increasing research commitments were of constant concern to Robert Andrews Millikan, director of physical research, chairman of the executive council, and Caltech's first Nobel laureate. The stage was set for the founding of the Associates.
Millikan, with the help of trustee Henry Robinson, decided to "find a hundred men in southern California who would be both able and eager to annually invest $1,000 for a period of ten years". Trustees Allan Balch, Henry O'Melveny, Norman Bridge, Harry Chandler, and Henry Robinson pledged to promote the idea of the Associates of the California Institute of Technology. When the goal of "one hundred members" was reached, Henry Huntington extended the gracious invitation to hold the first formal meeting in his home.
Later, Millikan said that "there is no date in the history of the California Institute of Technology more significant than March 9, 1926, the first meeting of the California Institute Associates. This event signalized the recognition by a large and exceedingly influential body of southern California citizens of the importance of the service which the Institute was rendering."
More than ninety years later, members of the Associates continue to provide valuable, unrestricted funds for early stages of innovative research projects—the hallmark of the Institute. Their continued support allows Caltech to explore new frontiers and to push the boundaries of knowledge.
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Information taken from The Associates of the California Institute of Technology: Patrons of the Century's Science, by Alice Stone
