News

05-17-21

Computer science and economics student Alexander Wang, advised by Adam Blank, Teaching Assistant Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, and by Antonio Rangel, Bing Professor of Neuroscience, Behavioral Biology and Economics, is one of four recipients of the 2021 Henry Ford II Scholar Award. Alex is interested in mathematical and computational modeling and financial markets, as well as neuroscience and decision making. He has previously worked as a quantitative research intern at the quantitative hedge fund Cannon Global Investment Management and as a data science intern at the biotechnology startup Metagenomi. He has also conducted computational neuroscience research at Caltech, studying the pharmacokinetics of neuropharmaceutical drugs with Henry Lester, Bren Professor of Biology, Neuroscience, and Biological Engineering, and studying the mechanisms involved in adeno-associated viral (AAV) transduction with Viviana Gradinaru, Professor of Biology, Neuroscience, and Biological Engineering. This summer, he will be working at Susquehanna International Group as a quantitative trading intern. After graduation, he plans to pursue graduate school in neuroscience, with a focus on computational neuroscience. 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: honors CMS Henry Ford II Scholar Award Antonio Rangel Adam Blank Alexander Wang Henry Lester

05-10-21

Computer science student Ethan Mann, advised by Adam Blank, Teaching Assistant Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, is one of four recipients of the 2021 Henry Ford II Scholar Award. Ethan is interested in machine learning and systems programming, and he enjoys taking technical classes that blend theory and coding. Last year, he researched with Yaser Abu-Mostafa, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, to model the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic with artificial intelligence. He has also interned at the Big Memory startup MemVerge and researched efficient metasurface lens simulation with Sunil Golwala, Professor of Physics and Director of the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, and Jack Sayers, Research Professor of Physics. This summer, Ethan will be interning at Facebook as a software engineer, and he looks forward to working in the technology industry after graduating. 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: honors CMS Henry Ford II Scholar Award Yaser Abu-Mostafa Adam Blank Ethan Mann

05-07-21

Recent graduate Thomas Anderson has been selected as a 2021 Howes Scholar in Computational Science. This award was established to honor Fredrick Anthony Howes, who managed the Applied Mathematical Science Program in the U.S. Department of Energy during the 1990s. Dr. Howes was highly respected and admired for his energy, dedication and personal integrity. [Past Recipients]

Tags: honors CMS alumni Thomas Anderson

05-04-21

The Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences seeks nominations to recognize and honor individuals within the EAS community who have actively contributed to EAS’s goal to be a diverse, equitable, and inclusive engineering community. The award is available to members of the EAS community, including current students, postdoctoral scholars, staff, and faculty. Nominations are due Wednesday, May 19, 2021 and are accepted from anyone in the EAS community, EAS alumni and members of the Caltech community. Click here for full description of how to make a nomination.

Tags: APhMS EE honors GALCIT MedE MCE CMS ESE

04-27-21

Alexei Kitaev, Ronald and Maxine Linde Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Election to the National Academy of Sciences is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to scientists and engineers. [Caltech story] [NAS Release]

Tags: honors CMS Alexei Kitaev

04-05-21

A good way to find out what a cell is doing—whether it is growing out of control as in cancers, or is under the control of an invading virus, or is simply going about the routine business of a healthy cell—is to look at its gene expression. Lior Pachter, Bren Professor of Computational Biology and Computing and Mathematical Sciences, has developed a complex software tool that enables the processing of large sets of genomic data in about 30 minutes, using the computing power of an average laptop. Like a Swiss Army knife, the tool can be used in myriad ways for different biological needs, and will help ensure the reproducibility of scientific studies. "The interdisciplinarity of our team was crucial to conceiving of and executing this project," says Pachter. "There are people in the lab who are computer scientists, biologists, engineers. Sina Booeshaghi is in the mechanical engineering department and brings the perspective of his design background and engineering." [Caltech story]

Tags: research highlights MCE CMS Lior Pachter Sina Booeshaghi

03-24-21

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, which produced the first-ever image of a black hole, revealed a new view of the massive object at the center of the M87 galaxy: a picture of its polarized light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarization, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of a black hole. "We are now able to see a different dimension of the light circling the M87 black hole," says Katie Bouman, Assistant Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Electrical Engineering and Astronomy, Rosenberg Scholar, and co-coordinator of the EHT Imaging Working Group. "The image we reconstructed earlier showed us how bright the light was around the black hole shadow. This image is telling us about the direction of that light." [Caltech story]

Tags: EE research highlights CMS Katie Bouman

03-10-21

Katie Bouman, Assistant Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Electrical Engineering and Astronomy; Rosenberg Scholar, was featured in Inverse Magazine as one of the astronomers who captured the first image of a black hole. In 2019, Bouman and a group of more than 200 astronomers from all over the world managed the inconceivable: They captured the first image of a black hole, rendering the invisible visible. "Ideally, to see a black hole, we would need a telescope the size of the entire Earth," says Bouman. "We had to come up with a computational telescope that size." [Inverse article]

Tags: EE research highlights CMS Katie Bouman

02-22-21

Paul Rothemund, Research Professor of Bioengineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences, and Computation and Neural Systems, has developed a technique that allows him to precisely place microscopic devices formed from folded DNA molecules in not only a specific location but also in a specific orientation. This method for precisely placing and orienting DNA-based molecular devices may make it possible to use these molecular devices to power new kinds of chips that integrate molecular biosensors with optics and electronics for applications such as DNA sequencing or measuring the concentrations of thousands of proteins at once. [Caltech story]

Tags: research highlights CMS Paul Rothemund KNI CNS

02-16-21

Metals that Work Like Magic, a podcast from the Wall Street Journal, features Jamil Tahir-Kheli, research staff member working with Carver Mead, Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Emeritus. The podcast focuses on the history of superconductivity research over the past forty years and potential applications.

Tags: EE research highlights CMS Carver Mead CNS Jamil Tahir-Kheli