Happy New Year!

 

2011 was an exciting year filled with opportunities to connect with the Institute and your alumni friends here in Pasadena and throughout the world. Last year saw networking events in Pasadena, Washington DC, the Bay Area, the greater New York City area, Orange County, Chicago, and Boston, among others. Three special international alumni gatherings, in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Paris hosted President Chameau during his travels. 2011 also saw the launch of our popular Life After Caltech series, bringing alumni together with current students.

 

Caltech, named the world's top university, had a banner year as well. As you'll see when you watch President Chameau's annual New Year video below, we have a lot to celebrate when it comes to innovation. And the new year is starting off on a high note for the Institute, with news that Caltech has been named the most selective institution of higher education in the country, based on three key criteria set by The Business Journal on Numbers.  

 

In other news, the popular Huffington Post web site has launched a new section devoted to "the world's greatest mysteries, most cutting-edge discoveries, and most thought-provoking ideas," a move that Caltech's president applauded in a letter posted on the site. 

 

President Chameau announced to the campus community today that Elon Musk, founder and chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Tesla Motors, and the chairman of Solar City, will deliver the address at Caltech's 117th Commencement ceremony on Friday, June 15th.

 

We're looking forward to more great things from Caltech, and from our alumni, in 2012. Make staying in touch with your Caltech network one of your New Year's resolutions!

 

Cheers for Caltech,

 

Alexx Tobeck
Director, Alumni Relations
Executive Director, Caltech Alumni Association

Take a few moments to remind yourself of some of Caltech's extraordinary accomplishments of the past year. The annual New Year's video from the office of Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau is out. more >

Identifying the composition of the earth's core is key to understanding how our planet formed and the current behavior of its interior. While it has been known for many years that iron is the main element in the core, many questions have remained about just how iron behaves under the conditions found deep in the earth. more >

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is an intriguing, alien world that's covered in a thick atmosphere with abundant methane. With an average surface temperature of a brisk -300 degrees Fahrenheit and a diameter just less than half of Earth's, Titan boasts methane clouds and fog, as well as rainstorms and plentiful lakes of liquid methane. It's the only place in the solar system, other than Earth, that has large bodies of liquid on its surface. more >

Superconductors are invaluable for applications such as MRI machines because they conduct electricity perfectly, without losing any energy to heat-a necessary capability for creating large magnetic fields. The problem is that most superconductors can only function at extremely low temperatures, making them impractical for most applications because of the expense involved in cooling them. more >

Researchers have set a new world record for data transfer, at a rateequivalent to moving two million gigabytes per day, fast enough to transfer nearly 100,000 full Blu-ray disks-each with a complete movie and all the extras-in a day. more >

SINCE 1935, THE CALTECH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION HAS BEEN HELPING ALUMNI CONNECT WITH THE INSTITUTE, WITH CURRENT STUDENTS AND WITH EACH OTHER.