When the sky turned red from wildfire smoke and the acrid air stung the eyes of Southern Californians, a different kind of fire emerged—one lit by the pens, lenses, and voices of high school and college journalists.
“My mom used to drag us out in the middle of the night to go watch the volcano when it would erupt. At like 3 am, she’d drag us out, get in our VW Van, and travel up the hill to the volcano,” Lecturer in History Dr. Daniel Lewis explains of his childhood in Hawai‘i. “Right now, it’s erupting in these thousand-foot plumes. Now would be the time to go—it’s mind-blowing.” His time in Hawai‘i left him with a deep appreciation of nature and countless unique stories.
On April 8, members of the Caltech community joined forces with union members from USC for the Kill the Cuts rally in Downtown Los Angeles—part of a National Day of Action opposing proposed federal cuts to scientific research funding. From undergraduate students to postdocs, organizers, and union representatives, our presence at the protest was unified, urgent, and unrelenting.
On April 12th, as part of Make-A-Difference (MAD) Day with the Caltech Y, seven other Caltech community members and I joined Lila Rodriguez-Aceves at the Chief Ya’anna Regenerative Learning Village—12 acres of unceded land in El Sereno, about 20 minutes from campus, where we helped tend the land. The Ya’anna Village is the first parcel of land returned to the Gabrielino Shoshone Nation, one of the original Indigenous peoples of Los Angeles. It is stewarded in partnership with Anawakalmekak, the first and only Indigenous public K-12 school in California.
According to the lawsuit, a reduction in the NSF indirect cost rate to 15% would result in an “annual loss of approximately $14.8 million to Caltech’s planned research budget.” An awarded grant consists of direct costs, which fund the research itself, and indirect costs, an added percentage that covers overhead such as infrastructure and administration. Caltech currently has 210 active awards and subawards from NSF. In Fiscal Year 2024, the Institute spent over $93 million on NSF-supported research, including nearly $22 million in indirect costs.
The Student Shop is opening! The Student Shop is an undergrad run machine shop which allows students to work on personal wood and metalworking projects. We had our grand opening yesterday (Monday May 12th). The shop is located near the big LN2 tank, right next to the loading docks and CES (near murder alley).
If you stroll past the Olive Walk on a sunny Pasadena day, you might see something magical in the air. Is it the scent of freshly pranked upperclassmen? The echo of the Fleming cannon? Or perhaps it’s just the spirit of Caltech’s brand of wizardry—a house system that would make even J.K. Rowling jealous. At Caltech, the hallowed tradition of “houses” isn’t just about where you sleep; it’s about forging family, engineering pranks, and unleashing a level of creativity that would make even Dumbledore drop his lemon drop.
On April 14, Caltech joined eight other American research universities in filing a lawsuit against the Department of Energy (DOE). The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to block DOE’s decision to cap the indirect cost rate on all academic grants at 15%.
Caltech President and Professor of Physics Thomas Rosenbaum will retire from Caltech and assume emeritus status at the end of the 2026 academic year, according to a campus-wide announcement delivered last Monday.
