Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the ninth leader of Caltech, will conclude his service on June 30, 2026, after a dozen years in office. He plans to continue his association with the Institute as part of the faculty.

In a correspondence to the Caltech community, Rosenbaum conveyed his decision to resign from his administrative leadership role at the conclusion of the upcoming academic term. He noted that his role as president “has been to maintain and enhance our culture, our values, our close-knit environment, our dedication to primary sources and foundational principles, our support for evidence-based inquiry, and our passion for learning and exploration.”

He further remarked: “Caltech enjoys a robust financial foundation, extraordinary new research and educational facilities, and, perhaps most crucially, the ability to attract and retain the brightest and most creative individuals from diverse backgrounds and every part of the globe. Our formula for success is not inherently complex; it lies with the individuals who make up our community, yet it demands diligence, awareness, and a commitment to reach ever greater heights.”

Rosenbaum began his presidency on July 1, 2014, fulfilling two complete terms at Caltech. At the behest of the Caltech Board of Trustees, he consented in 2023 to extend his service with part of a third term, aiming to finish his term at the conclusion of the 2025–26 academic year. In making this announcement publicly, Rosenbaum enables the Board and the faculty to initiate the search for the next president of the Institute, with specifics to be revealed next week.

“I have total confidence that the faculty and Board of Trustees, collaborating together, will identify and attract an inspiring new president to guide the Institute into an even brighter future,” said Rosenbaum, while emphasizing his ongoing dedication to his role as Caltech’s president and his obligation to oversee the Institute, its assets, and its academic and research efforts in the upcoming year. “Significant work remains to be accomplished and new challenges to overcome in the next 15 months.”

During his tenure at Caltech, Rosenbaum has aimed to prepare the Institute and its members to realize their full potential. In his inaugural speech on October 24, 2014, he expressed his goal to “ensure that Caltech’s core identity emerges from within, rather than being imposed externally” and that the Caltech community continues to “distill the hard-earned lessons of the past to foster a sense of wonder and completeness for the future.”

In the same speech, he identified five core elements that define Caltech, which, collectively, he stated, “yield intellectual magic”:

• An unwavering dedication to excellence. “Every appointment—students, faculty, and staff—is significant. Central to this approach is the imperative for diversity: diversity of thought, diversity of background, diversity of experience.”
• Ambition on all levels. “We are in an era in the annals of science and technology where competition for federal funding promotes conservatism, yet the brilliance of Caltech lies in its boldness to explore new concepts, its readiness to embrace risk, and even to fail if the potential yields transformative discoveries.”
• Concentration. “As limitations become more pronounced, we will be increasingly pressured to delineate areas where the Institute can excel globally and where it cannot. We will need to build partnerships … while preserving our capacity to define the intellectual direction.”
• Connectedness and intensity. “This is an inherent quality of Caltech, rooted in an organizational framework with minimal disciplinary boundaries and the cultural norm of shared knowledge.”
• Insight. “The arts enable us to navigate as life thrusts us into scenarios where we must conceive problems beyond established boundaries. They provide us with flexibility of thought and familiarity of experience that is not entirely our own, while challenging us to articulate the core of our beliefs.”

Over the 11 years following this address, these principles have shaped and continue to influence Rosenbaum’s presidency. He champions the significance of fundamental science and curiosity-driven inquiry and persistently directs the Institute and its community toward new advancements and innovation for the benefit of humanity, spanning areas such as neuroscience and translational medicine, sustainability and green chemistry; astronomy and planetary science; and the rapidly advancing fields of robotics, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence (AI), among others.

Under Rosenbaum’s governance, Caltech has more than doubled its endowment and completed a landmark capital campaign, Break Through, which garnered $3.4 billion from over 14,500 contributors; launched initiatives to improve students’ educational and extracurricular experiences and to make a Caltech education more financially accessible; and reinforced the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), managed by the Institute on behalf of NASA. Caltech has also forged strategic alliances with other research-centered institutions and private enterprises that will drive advancements in science and engineering for years to come; envisioned and built new campus facilities and spaces that allow researchers to pursue daring ideas and profound questions; and initiated programs and projects that connect the wider community and region to Caltech, sharing in the thrill of discovery.

Those breakthroughs have featured the 2015 detection of gravitational waves, disturbances in spacetime caused by the most catastrophic occurrences in the universe; the demonstration of the first wireless transmission of energy in space, which also marked the first instance of detectable power being transmitted to Earth; the creation of a novel vaccine that offers protection against COVID-19 and closely related pathogens; and the initiation of significant missions by JPL to examine the universe’s early history (SPHEREx) and our nearest planetary neighbor (Mars 2020: Perseverance Rover). During Rosenbaum’s time in office, members of Caltech’s esteemed faculty have been honored with three Nobel Prizes (including two awarded for the detection of gravitational waves); faculty have also received the National Medal of Science, the Breakthrough Prize, the Kavli Prizes, MacArthur Fellowships, and various other prestigious accolades.

“Since his appointment in 2014, Tom has embodied Caltech’s mission to enhance society through research integrated with education. He broadened our intellectual enterprise, fortifying our connection to the wider community, and consistently served as a dedicated steward of Caltech’s legacy at the forefront of discovery, innovation, and education,” remarked David W. Thompson (MS ’78), chair of the Caltech Board of Trustees, in a statement today to the Caltech community.

Thompson also commended Rosenbaum for his steadfast leadership and for providing clear guidance through unprecedented challenges on a global, regional, and local scale. Rosenbaum’s leadership during such events—fromthe COVID-19 crisis; to a reassessment of Caltech’s enrollment methods and the extracurricular student journey, alongside contemplation of the Institute’s history; to the catastrophic fires in Los Angeles that ravaged the Altadena and Pacific Palisades neighborhoods, displacing countless individuals and obliterating the residences of over 300 members of the Caltech community—exemplifies the resilience and determination of Caltech and its individuals. By collaborating, uplifting one another, and taking thoughtful and educated measures, often with advice from the campus’s own scientific authorities, the Institute has managed to thrive.

“On a personal note,” Thompson remarked, “I have been impressed by Tom’s capability to excel as a leading scientist, an educated historian of higher learning, and a steady advocate underscoring the significance of science and technology as essential tools for enhancing the human condition.”

A specialist in the quantum mechanical properties of materials, a pursuit he maintained during his presidency at Caltech and plans to continue post-presidency, Rosenbaum has been a part of the national academic landscape and a proponent for fundamental scientific and engineering research for over four decades. He arrived at Caltech in 2014 from the University of Chicago, where he held the role of provost from 2007 to 2014 and was the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor of Physics. Over his tenure there, he occupied a variety of academic and managerial leadership positions, which included directing the University of Chicago’s Materials Research Laboratory from 1991 to 1994 and leading its interdisciplinary James Franck Institute from 1995 to 2001 before acting as vice president for research and managing Argonne National Laboratory from 2002 to 2006. Before joining the faculty at the University of Chicago in 1983, Rosenbaum conducted research at Bell Laboratories and at IBM Watson Research Center.

Rosenbaum earned his bachelor’s degree in physics with distinction from Harvard University in 1977 and obtained his PhD in physics from Princeton University in 1982.

He is a member of the Society for Science Board of Trustees, where he was appointed chair in 2024; serves as a General Member of the Aspen Center for Physics; and participates on the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Los Angeles Committee.

“Collaborating with Tom as both a physicist and as the chair of the Faculty Board is perpetually a joy and a source of inspiration,” states Gil Refael, the Taylor W. Lawrence Professor of Theoretical Physics, who has chaired Caltech’s faculty board since 2022. “Tom guides Caltech with a mind and heart dedicated to furthering science and supporting those who conduct it. Caltech is an extraordinary institution. It serves as a sanctuary where leading researchers can advance our collective mission with minimal interruptions and profound collegiality. Tom blended seamlessly into this environment, dedicating tremendous effort over the past decade to safeguard and enhance our Institute. Working alongside Tom is a unique honor, and I eagerly await another year of our partnership.”

In recognition of what Rosenbaum has accomplished to date, the following outlines some of the key contributions, occurrences, and advancements during his leadership.

Enhancing Research

Research stands at the core of Caltech, encompassing all dimensions and contributions. The Institute’s academics, scientists, engineers, and innovators explore and tackle significant scientific inquiries and urgent social dilemmas in a setting that fosters and bolsters high-risk, high-reward initiatives in fields such as quantum science, AI, bioinformatics, economics, energy, and sustainability, all while striving to resolve foundational questions regarding the essence of life and human conduct.

Throughout his term, Rosenbaum guaranteed that Caltech researchers were equipped with the resources and autonomy necessary to innovate, trial, and establish new domains of investigation, resulting in countless achievements, including:

• The initial direct detection of gravitational waves, arising from the fusion of two black holes, by the twin LIGO detectors funded by the National Science Foundation. This breakthrough validated a major expectation of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Subsequent enhancements to the LIGO observatories, designed, constructed, and operated by Caltech and MIT, alongside the addition of other gravitational-wave observatories to the LIGO collaboration, have amplified the sensitivity of the instruments, facilitating increased detections of black-hole collisions, and mergers involving pairs of neutron stars and a neutron star with a black hole.
• The pioneering demonstration by Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) of the capability to capture solar energy in space and wirelessly relay it to the Earth’s surface. SSPP was established thanks to philanthropic contributions, projected to exceed $100 million, from Donald Bren, a lifelong member of the Caltech community, alongside his wife, Brigitte Bren, a trustee of Caltech.
• The development of the mosaic-8 nanoparticle, an innovative vaccine offering protection against a range of COVID-19-causing viral variants and closely associated viruses.
• A new technique enabling standard computational devices to assess error rates in quantum computing—a critical advancement for realizing the potential of quantum computing—along with a created ultraprecise timekeeping device resulting from the fusion of atomic clocks and quantum computers that will assist physicists in better exploring the laws of nature, as well as a newly developed method for transforming electrical quantum states into sound waves and vice versa.
• Advanced new robotic systems, many inspired by nature, including a flying robot bat, a mobile artificial jellyfish, and a bionic jellyfish aimed at exploring the planet’s oceans, as well as a bioinspired robot capable of performing eight distinct types of motion.
• Innovative techniques to sever the human-made connections between carbon and silicon prevalent in widely utilized chemicals—a preliminary step toward making these chemicals biodegradable—and to “evolve” bacteria that can synthesize these connections as well as bonds between carbon and boron atoms. This research allows chemists to produce these compounds in more sustainable ways. Other sustainability-oriented initiatives led to new approaches to reduce environmental impacts from chemical manufacturing, technologies forextracting carbon dioxide from seawater, along with strategies to enhance wind-farm architecture.
• Innovative breakthroughs utilizing AI and machine learning, including the creation of a catheter design that minimizes the chances of bacterial infections. Additional AI- and machine-learning-based approaches have been crafted to identify which lung cancer variants are most prone to metastasizing, to uncover countless previously unnoticed earthquakes, to forecast monsoon precipitation levels in South Asia, and to create unmanned drones that react instantly to shifting wind patterns. This field of research has been driven by Caltech’s AI4Science initiative, which aspires to incorporate contemporary AI technologies across all domains of science and engineering. Concurrently, acknowledging that emerging technologies like AI can pose unforeseen dangers, Caltech specialists have also led efforts to evaluate the health implications of pollution produced by AI data centers.

Over the last decade, Caltech has persisted in extending its long-standing legacy of pioneering neuroscience investigations and the examination of brain function and behavior. In October 2014, Caltech authorities spearheaded or co-headed an astonishing six out of the 58 initiatives supported by the first round of funding from President Barack Obama’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnology (BRAIN) Initiative. The subsequent year, Caltech neuroscientists demonstrated that an implanted neural prosthetic device (a brain–machine interface, or BMI) could transform a paralyzed individual’s intention to move a robotic appendage into the actual motion of that apparatus. Further advancements in this research—which spurred a monumental $115-million contribution to Caltech for neuroscience studies—have facilitated the creation of a BMI that could eventually empower individuals who are unable to speak to think of a word and have it accurately relayed to a computer and the development of a novel window into the brain that permits scientists to observe brain activity through ultrasound, among numerous other advancements.

Moreover, the Institute bolstered its research initiatives in medical engineering with the establishment of the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering, and in translational medicine, through the inception of the Merkin Institute for Translational Research. It also formalized a partnership with City of Hope, which fostered collaborations that advance both fundamental scientific inquiries and translational endeavors. In collaboration with the Heritage Medical Research Institute (HMRI), established by Caltech trustee Richard Merkin, Caltech instituted the Heritage Research Institute for the Progress of Medicine and Science, which provides assistance for faculty engaging in translational medicine research.

With such backing, Caltech scholars persistently pursue enhancements in contemporary medicine and the human experience, creating a variety of wearable biosensors that monitor key health indicators such as metabolites, hormones, proteins, and medication concentrations in human perspiration. They have also engineered remotely-controlled bacteria for focused drug delivery to tumors within the body; noninvasive techniques for ongoing blood pressure assessment and stroke risk evaluation; contact lenses designed to avert blindness in individuals with diabetes and prosthetic heart valves inspired by dragonfly larvae; gene therapy aimed at repairing neural pathways in the brain; and an array of innovations for enhanced medical imaging.

Beyond foundational inquiry, Caltech’s researchers create and fabricate novel instruments that they and others utilize to propel advancement and insight. These instruments encompass the Next Generation Palomar Spectrograph at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory, employed to meticulously analyze objects including asteroids, comets, and distant stars, galaxies, and supernovae; alongside a suite of Caltech-crafted tools designed to enhance the functionality of the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Maunakea in Hawai’i, such as: the Keck Cosmic Web Imager, heralded as one of the premier instruments for capturing spectral images of celestial entities; the Keck Cosmic Reionization Mapper, intended to generate detailed maps of the gas enveloping dying stars and other cosmic web elements; and the planet-imaging Keck vortex coronagraph.

Additionally, Caltech researchers developed a groundbreaking all-electron device for measuring phenomena occurring at femtosecond (one millionth of one billionth of one second) intervals; and crafted a first-ever massspectrometer for the swift identification of numerous isotopic variations of individual molecules, providing understanding into a molecule’s lineage and formation context—data essential for contemporary geochemistry assessments and forthcoming Mars sample-return initiatives.

Recently, JPL specialists established the Compact Fire Infrared Radiance Spectral Tracker, which generates intricate images of high-temperature surfaces like areas ravaged by wildfires.

Moreover, investigators from the campus and JPL attained new funding for ambitious initiatives aimed at designing and testing scientific apparatus to examine Earth and the cosmos—within shorter timeframes and at reduced costs than before—facilitated by the 2024 inception of the Brinson Exploration Hub, made feasible through a $100 million contribution from The Brinson Foundation to Caltech.

Enhancing Student Experience and Support for Early Career Researchers

Caltech is consistently acknowledged as one of the premier research and educational institutions globally. In alignment with his predecessors, Rosenbaum, true to the Institute’s long-standing tradition of challenging the status quo, introduced new initiatives, appointed advisory panels, and restructured administrative offices to bolster the Institute’s capability to attract top-tier student candidates, to ensure that enrolled students receive financial resources and support vital for affording a world-class education, and to enhance their experiences at Caltech.

With Rosenbaum at the helm, the Institute amplified investment in undergraduate admissions to guarantee that Caltech can effectively convey the advantages and significance of a Caltech education to prospective applicants while also increasing the representation of Pell Grant recipients among undergraduates, as well as enhancing the recruitment of women and students from rural areas.

Indeed, the Institute has significantly increased its investment in undergraduate financial assistance for lower- and middle-income families. Caltech now provides grant aid packages (which entail no loans and no repayment) that entirely cover tuition, fees, housing, and meals for most students from families earning less than $100,000. Students from families making under $200,000 can anticipate grant aid packages that fully address their tuition costs.

Simultaneously, the president supervised the initiation and advancement of new programs for students, postdoctoral scholars, and early-career faculty to encourage their academic growth and training, enhance exposure and collaboration across disciplines, and aid the transition to campus and their academic careers at every stage of the process. The First-year Success Research Institute (FSRI) and the Graduate Summer Research Institute (GSRI) have proven instrumental in acclimating new undergraduate and graduate students to the rigor of Caltech, fostering community, and connecting participants across diverse fields. Similarly, the Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship program aids in recruiting and retaining promising postdoctoral scholars, providing them with professional training and developmental opportunities that benefit them throughout their careers.

Fortifying the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JPL, established by Caltech researchers in the 1930s, has been administered by Caltech for NASA since its civilian space agency was founded in 1958. Caltech’s management contract for JPL has been extended twice, each for five-year periods, during Rosenbaum’s presidency.

Since the president’s inauguration on July 1, 2014, JPL has initiated 40 missions, encompassing orbiters, landers, rovers, CubeSats, technology demonstrators, and more; there are currently 43 missions in operation.

Institute faculty are now leading five NASA missions as principal investigators or chief scientists, including the recently launched SPHEREx, an orbiting observatory tasked with mapping the entire sky in three dimensions, contributing to pivotal inquiries about the cosmos’ initial moments; the Mars Perseverance rover, which is navigating the Red Planet’s surface in search of signs of ancient life; and NuSTAR, an orbiting X-ray telescope designed to explore the most extreme, dense, and energetic objects in space. Additional Caltech faculty contribute their expertise to about two dozen more active NASA missions.

Caltech has nurtured innovative partnerships between campus-based faculty and JPL-based colleagues, with the Institute granting access to cutting-edge research facilities and tools. Most recently, in 2024, the Institute announced the establishment of the Brinson Exploration Hub, designed to provide internal backing and funding to interdisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers for developing and testing innovative scientific concepts and tools on accelerated timelines and at reduced costs compared to traditional methods.

Meanwhile, Caltech’s Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST) is working on self-driving, and occasionally self-assembling, autonomous robots, devices, and vehicles. CAST also features a wind tunnel capable of replicating Martian environmental conditions, and the center played a crucial role in testing the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter prior to its launch and demonstration on Mars.

Transformative Fundraising: Break Through and the Student Initiative

The Break Through campaign, initiated in 2016 and concluding on September 30, 2021, amassed $3.4 billion—a record-breaking amount for an institution of Caltech’s caliber—providing a transformative level of philanthropy for the Institute and its community.

Contributions to Break Through comprise a $750 million commitment by senior trustee Stewart Resnick and his spouse, Lynda Resnick, to advance Caltech’s sustainability agenda, enhancing the Resnick Sustainability Institute; over $139 million from the estate of Allen V. C. Davis for endowed faculty support; $137 million in unrestricted contributions from the late Gordon Moore (PhD ’54) and Betty Moore; $115 million from Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen to establish the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech; and $100 million from Donald Bren, a lifetime member of the Caltech community, alongside his wife, Caltech trustee Brigitte Bren, to initiate the Space-Based Solar Power Project and fund endowed professorships.

Additionally, nearly $30 million was contributed by Caltech’s faculty and staff, alongside $770 million donated by alumni. Over 6,000 contributions were received from first-time donors to Caltech.

In the aftermath of Break Through and in the pursuit of boosting support for undergraduate and graduate students, Rosenbaum led the Initiative for Students. This Initiative aspires to gather $250 million, which includes targets of $100 million for undergraduate scholarships, $60 million for graduate fellowships, $30 million for health and wellness initiatives, $25 million for career advising, and $35 million for co-curricular activities.

Encouraging Collaborations

While Caltech remains compact, specialized, and dedicated to its areas of expertise, the Institute has made strides to enhance its already significant international influence through purposeful and strategic alliances. Under Rosenbaum’s guidance, the Institute officially established a collaboration with Carnegie Science in 2021 to promote research in life and environmental sciences in Pasadena. In 2022, it also became the new location for the independent, nonprofit American Institute of Mathematics (AIM), supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), which brings together and finances concentrated collaborations among mathematicians—both pure and applied—as well as theoretical biologists, computer scientists, physicists, and others tackling enduring mathematical challenges.

Continuing its longstanding tradition of cooperation and alliances with industry to advance fundamental science and the commercialization of Caltech’s research and technologies, Caltech welcomed its first corporate ally, Amazon Web Services (AWS)—the cloud-computing division of Amazon—onto campus in 2018. Together, Caltech and AWS promote the advancement of quantum computers and associated technologies that could transform data security, machine learning, medical innovations, sustainable practices, and additional fields.

More recently, Caltech unveiled a long-term collaboration with Broadcom aimed at advancing quantum science research and breakthroughs that may lead to new innovative technologies and applications. This partnership will establish the Broadcom Quantum Laboratory at Caltech, a dedicated space that will unite experts in quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum measurement, and quantum engineering.

To capitalize on these relationships, maintain support for the Institute’s robust innovation and invention pipeline, and further cultivate an entrepreneurial ecosystem, Caltech recently allocated resources to aid researchers in developing their projects and technologies, establishing an innovation center, and creating dedicated research and startup spaces both on and near campus, alongside launching entrepreneurial support programs and services for faculty and students.

Campus Advancement

Throughout Rosenbaum’s leadership, Caltech’s campus—considered among the most picturesque college landscapes in California—has seen continued development to provide sustainable, cutting-edge facilities and areas that promote collaboration, foster discovery and innovation, and enhance the educational environment for the future leaders in STEM.

Caltech’s newly constructed and renovated buildings include:

• Bechtel Residence, the Institute’s latest undergraduate facility, which enables Caltech to accommodate all undergraduates on campus for their entire four years;
• Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Neuroscience Research Building, a 150,000-square-foot, advanced facility that consolidates researchers investigating the complexities and functionalities of the brain into a single space.
• Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Center for Quantum Precision Measurement, the newest building on campus, currently in development with a projected completion in 2026. The Ginsburg Center will bring together researchers focused on precision measurement, quantum information, and gravitational wave detection.
• Hameetman Center, the campus’s newly established central hub for community engagement, opened its doors in February 2019. Named in honor of Caltech trustee Fred Hameetman (BS ’62) and his wife, Joyce, the center features a spacious public lounge, an expanded Red Door Marketplace, the Caltech Store, music rehearsal rooms, student-club areas, a versatile room, and a conference area.
• Ronald and Maxine Linde Hall of Mathematics and Physics renovation, which transformed a 1923 experimental facility for electric power transmission into the new home of Caltech’s mathematics department. Renovated through a donation from alumnus Ronald Linde (PhD ’64), vice chair emeritus of the Board of Trustees, and his wife, Maxine, Linde Hall now accommodates over 125 mathematicians.
• Resnick Sustainability Center (RSC), made possible by a $750 million commitment from Lynda and Stewart Resnick, serves as the central hub for the Institute’s sustainability efforts. The new facility equips specialized resources, space, dedicated staff, and tools accessible to researchers across Caltech’s Pasadena campus and JPL. It encompasses four resource centers of the Resnick Sustainability Institute (the Solar Science and Catalysis Center, Remote Sensing Center, Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Facility, and Translational Science and Engineering Facility), along with Caltech’s undergraduate chemistry labs, additional classroom and laboratory spaces, a high bay, and a solar rooftop.

Community Involvement

Building connections between Caltech and the broader community has been one of Rosenbaum’s principal goals, as these interactions allow the public to partake in the thrill of innovation and discovery, providing valuable perspectives and insights to the future leaders in science and engineering. Throughout his time at Caltech, Rosenbaum has invited renowned speakers to campus through the Presidential Distinguished Speaker Series, including Katherine Fleming, CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust; Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company; Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund; and Leroy (Lee) Hood (BS ’60, PhD ’68), CEO of Phenome Health and co-founder and professor at the Institute of Systems Biology.

The Breakthrough Insights series featured Rosenbaum in discussions with prominent figures like SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell, Alphabet chairman John Hennessy, Zoom founder and CEO Eric S. Yuan, and Alibaba chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang. He also welcomed Microsoft founder Bill Gates for a Q&A session with Caltech students.

Further, to expand Caltech’s influence and assist the public in comprehending scientific issues that garner interest but are not always fully understood, Caltech launched the Caltech Science Exchange, a multimedia website vetted by faculty that offers content explaining the science behind significant topics, including emerging viral threats, neuroscience, earthquakes, voting and elections, artificial intelligence, quantum science and technology, sustainability, and most recently the science of wildfires. Articles, faculty expert pieces, and live events articulate the science behind societal phenomena as they unfold and contribute to a comprehensive lineup of programming aimed at introducing the public to Caltech’s research and the individuals driving the discoveries.

In alignment with this vision and ultimately supporting Rosenbaum’s aspiration for Caltech, the Institute recently revitalized its century-old Watson Lecture Series, which features accessible and captivating talks from scientists and engineers across Caltech’s Pasadena campus and JPL who are pioneering in their fields.

Caltech has also acted as the host for the Southern California Science Olympiad State Tournament since 2016, a team-oriented science and engineering competition for middle and high school students. In 2022, the Institute held the national tournament. Last autumn, Caltech collaborated with the Getty to present the PST ART exhibition Crossing Over: Art and Science at Caltech, 1920–2020, showcasing artists who engage with both the history of science and contemporary scientific research.