News & Events

06-23-22

Lorenzo Shaikewitz, advised by Professor Aaron Ames, Bren Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Control and Dynamical Systems, is a recipient of the 2022 Henry Ford II award. Lorenzo is interested in all things robotics, focusing specifically on bringing robots into daily life through human-robot interaction. This summer, Lorenzo will work with Professor Dorsa Sadigh at Stanford University on robotic assistive feeding. He plans to pursue higher education and a PhD in robotics after graduation. The Henry Ford II Scholar Award is funded under an endowment provided by the Ford Motor Company Fund. The award is made annually to engineering students with the best academic record at the end of the third year of undergraduate study.

Tags: MCE Henry Ford II Scholar Award Aaron Ames Lorenzo Shaikewitz

06-17-22

Carver Mead, Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Emeritus, has been awarded the 2022 Kyoto Prize by the Inamori Foundation of Japan. According to the Inamori Foundation, he was awarded the honor for his "leading contributions to the establishment of the guiding principles for VLSI systems design." [Caltech story]

Tags: EE honors CMS Carver Mead

06-17-22

Professors Tim Colonius and Lihong Wang have received named chairs. Tim Colonius has been named Cecil and Sally Drinkward Leadership Chair, Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. Lihong Wang has been named Andrew and Peggy Cherng Leadership Chair, Department of Medical Engineering. 

More »

06-17-22

Adam Wierman, Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences; Director, Information Science and Technology, is the recipient of the 2022 Northrop Grumman Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Adam was recognized for his extraordinary teaching quality, innovative course design, and his commitment and service to the undergraduate educational experience.

06-17-22

Benedikt Barthel, a graduate student working with Professor Beverley McKeon, is a recipient of the 2022 Richard B. Chapman Memorial Award. At Caltech he worked on the resolvent based analysis of turbulent flows. His work focuses on using variational, and optimization-based methods to extend the resolvent framework to the modeling of nonlinear dynamics. He is particularly interested in analytical and asymptotic methods, and how these can be combined with numerical, and data driven methods to derive simple yet useful models of complex physical phenomena. The Richard B. Chapman Memorial Award is given to an EAS graduate student in hydrodynamics who has distinguished himself or herself in research.

Tags: honors GALCIT Beverley McKeon Richard B. Chapman Memorial Award Benedikt Barthel

06-13-22

On Friday, June 10, 2022, Caltech held its 128th Commencement with a ceremony on campus, marking the first in-person Commencement since 2019, allowing hundreds of graduates to process in front of a crowd of cheering friends and family on Beckman Mall. The Institute honored graduates with 560 degrees: 218 bachelor's degrees, 139 master's degrees, and 203 doctoral degrees. [Caltech story]

Tags: Commencement

06-13-22

How do we cut U.S. global warming gas emissions by 50 percent within the next 10 years? For starters, be a part of the solution: jump on Zoom for the Caltech Energy 10 (CE10) public program on June 14–15 to join researchers as well as industry and government leaders as they outline the steps needed to meet this ambitious goal. "We are seeing the effects of climate change ramp up faster than expected, and there is widening consensus that the time for action is now," says Harry A. Atwater, Otis Booth Leadership Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and director of the Liquid Sunlight Alliance. "Rewiring U.S. energy production and consumption is one way to tackle this worsening issue head-on and in a practical way." [Caltech story]

Tags: energy Harry Atwater

06-09-22

The student winners of the 2022 Demetriades - Tsafka - Kokkalis Prizes were announced at the end of this academic year. Ida Qin, advised by Professor Joel Burdick has received the prize in Biotechnology. Her research is in comprehensive temporal understanding and state estimation during robot-assisted surgery. Alan Gu, advised by Professor Michael R. Hoffmann has received the prize in Entrepreneurship. His research is in capturing CO2 at point emission sources to accelerate reaching a goal of carbon neutrality. Joeson Wong, advised by Professor Harry A. Atwater has received the prize in Nanotechnology. His research is focused on the optoelectronic physics and engineering of atomically thin photovoltaics. Fengyu Zhou, advised by Professor Steven Low has received the prize in Environmentally Benign Renewable Energy Sources. His research involves the global optimality and relaxation exactness of the Optimal Power Flow problem in single-phase and multi-phase networks. Stacy Larochelle, advised by Professor Jean-Philippe Avouac and Professor Nadia Lapusta has received the prize in Seismo-Engineering, Prediction, and Protection. Her research uses geodesy, data analysis and modeling to further the understanding of mechanical interactions between water and the solid Earth, from fluid-induced earthquakes to groundwater extraction.

Tags: APhMS honors MCE Harry Atwater CMS Demetriades - Tsafka - Kokkalis Prizes Nadia Lapusta Jean-Philippe Avouac Steven Low Joel Burdick Ida Qin Stacy Larochelle Fengyu Zhou

06-09-22

A team of graduate students in Caltech's Advanced Mechanical Bipedal Experimental Robotics Lab (AMBER), led by Professor Aaron Ames, Bren Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering and Control and Dynamical Systems, is developing a new method of generating gaits for robotic assistive devices, which aims to guarantee stability and achieve more natural locomotion for different users. "If you're designing a trajectory for a robotic assistive device, a satisfactory gait should not only be stable but also feel natural," says Amy Li. [Caltech story]

Tags: research highlights MCE Yisong Yue Aaron Ames Maegan Tucker Kejun Li Rachel Gehlhar

06-09-22

Ali Hajimiri, Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering; Co-Director, Space-Based Solar Power Project, has been chosen by the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology (ASCIT) to receive a 2021-2022 ASCIT Teaching Award. These awards recognize individuals who inspire and motivate students, are approachable, and present course material effectively and efficiently. [Past Winners]

Tags: EE honors Ali Hajimiri