Mohini Misra Receives Fulbright Scholarship
05-22-23
Undergraduates Mohini Misra, Margaret Sui, and Arielle Tycko have been selected to receive Fulbright scholarships. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, created by the U.S. Congress in 1946, is a cultural exchange program that offers grants to students who wish to perform research or pursue creative activities abroad.
Misra, who studies computer science and biology, will attend the Technical University of Munich and work on integrating DNA/RNA-based logic circuits into cell-like systems. The larger goal of this work "is to attain more sophisticated control over biological components that depend on information in nucleic acids, such as CRISPR-Cas systems," Misra says.
After her fellowship, Misra will attend Stanford University to pursue a PhD in bioengineering. [Caltech story]
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Mohini Misra
Algorithms: The Cause of and Solution to Our Modern Problems? A Conversation with Eric Mazumdar
05-19-23
Many academics choose to study one thing and one thing only. Eric Mazumdar is not one of those academics. As an assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences and economics at Caltech, Mazumdar uses tools and ideas from economics to understand emerging problems in machine learning. Some of those problems have grown immensely more complicated with the development of algorithms that steer our choices about the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the movies we watch, the information we digest online, or even whether to grant someone bail or give them a home loan. But algorithms are a double-edged sword; for all the complexity they add to our lives, their behaviors can be easier to model and understand than human behaviors. [Caltech story]
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Watson Lecture on May 24: Yaser Abu-Mostafa Will Discuss the Promise and Perils of AI
05-15-23
On Wednesday, May 24, at 7:30 p.m. PDT in Beckman Auditorium on the Caltech campus, Yaser Abu-Mostafa (PhD '83), professor of electrical engineering and computer science, will cap the 100th anniversary season of the Earnest C. Watson Lecture Series with "Artificial Intelligence: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."
ChatGPT has rocked the general public’s perception and expectations of artificial intelligence (AI). In this lecture, Abu-Mostafa will explain the science of AI in plain language and explore how these details illustrate the risks and benefits of AI. Between the extremes of "AI will kill us all" and "AI will solve all our problems," the science can help us identify what is realistic and what is speculative, and guide us in our planning, legislation, and investment in AI. [Caltech story]
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Kaila Coimbra Named Knight-Hennessy Scholar
05-12-23
Kaila Coimbra, a fourth-year undergraduate in mechanical engineering with a minor in aerospace engineering, has been awarded the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship for graduate studies at Stanford University. The scholarship, which funds students for up to three years of study in any of Stanford's graduate programs, is awarded to applicants who embody visionary leadership and dedication to social good within their fields. [Caltech story]
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A Team of Caltech Undergraduates Win 3rd Place AIAA Best Paper Award
05-11-23
Alongside Soon-Jo Chung, Bren Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist, a team of Caltech EAS undergraduates have received the 3rd place AIAA Region VI Best Team Paper Award. The title of the paper is "SPAMMM – Solar Powered Array for Melting Materials on the Moon." Team members include Caltech undergraduates Parul Singh, Nathan Ng, Avi Patel, Camilo Garrido, Hazel Carey, Saren Daghlian, Kemal Pulungan, Sophie Polidoro, and Catherine Zheng; as well as research intern, Rasool Ray.
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Ask a Caltech Expert: Machine Learning for Conservation
05-08-23
As part of Conversations on Artificial Intelligence, a webinar series hosted by the Caltech Science Exchange, two artificial intelligence (AI) researchers—Pietro Perona and Suzanne Stathatos—discussed AI’s potential as a powerful tool for wildlife conservation and biodiversity research.
Perona is the Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical Engineering at Caltech, and Stathatos is a graduate student who was a software engineer at Amazon and JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA, before coming to Caltech.
In conversation with Caltech science writer Robert Perkins, the engineers describe AI applications for identifying and tracking wildlife that offer fresh insights to biologists and other individuals interested in the environment. [Caltech story]
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Watson Lecture on May 10: Chiara Daraio on Developing Wearables That Can Help Us Monitor Our Health
05-03-23
On Wednesday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. PDT in Beckman Auditorium on the Caltech campus, Chiara Daraio, the G. Bradford Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, will continue the 100th anniversary season of the Earnest C. Watson Lecture Series with "Making Wearable Materials Smarter."
Advances in materials science, manufacturing, and computer science have enabled transformative innovations in wearable materials, with designs that can monitor metabolic activity, change stiffness on command, and even interpret our mood. These new materials will allow garments and fashion to bring together the physical and digital worlds. In this lecture, Daraio will show examples of how these materials will help us stay healthy, how they will revolutionize the way we communicate, and how they will adaptively support our everyday needs. [Caltech story]
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