News

02-05-21

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic forced Caltech to shift to a model of remote learning, Adam Blank, Teaching Assistant Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, focused their research on new technologies and techniques with the potential to improve student comprehension and the quality of education. Blank concentrated on making classes work remotely and helping students overcome the issues inherent in being away from campus. "The biggest thing is that I am unafraid to use a new tool, see it fail, and switch to another new tool," Blank says. "I adapted quickly—I think it's the way that I would put it—because I am used to trying new technologies all over the place and seeing what works and what doesn't." [Caltech story]

Tags: CMS teaching Adam Blank

01-20-21

Graduate student Yashwanth Nakka, working with Soon-Jo Chung, Bren Professor of Aerospace; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Research Scientist, and colleagues have won the Best Graduate Student Paper award at the 2021 AIAA SciTech Forum in the area of Guidance, Navigation, and Control. The paper is entitled “Information-Based Guidance and Control Architecture for Multi-Spacecraft On-Orbit Inspection,” and the co-authors are Caltech postdoctoral scholar Wolfgang Hoenig and research engineer Alexei Harvard, as well as JPL colleagues Changrak Choi and Amir Rahmani. This work was supported by the JPL-CAST Swarm Autonomy project. 

Tags: GALCIT CMS Soon-Jo Chung postdocs Yashwanth Nakka Wolfgang Hoenig Alexei Harvard Changrak Choi Amir Rahmani

01-13-21

Steven Low, Frank J. Gilloon Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences and Electrical Engineering, has been named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). He is being recognized, “for theoretical foundations and real-world deployment of Internet congestion control and smart grid optimization.” The ACM Fellows Program recognizes and honors outstanding ACM members for their achievements in computer science and information technology. [ACM release]

Tags: EE honors CMS Steven Low CNS

01-13-21

Mathieu Desbrun, Carl F Braun Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, has been named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). He is being recognized, “for contributions to geometry processing and discrete differential geometry.” The ACM Fellows Program recognizes and honors outstanding ACM members for their achievements in computer science and information technology. [ACM release]

Tags: honors CMS Mathieu Desbrun

12-04-20

Anima Anandkumar, Bren Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, has been elevated as a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for contributions to theory and applications in signal processing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The IEEE Fellow is one of the most prestigious honors of the IEEE, and is bestowed upon a very limited number of Senior Members who have contributed importantly to the advancement or application of engineering, science and technology. [Elevated class of 2021]

Tags: honors CMS IST CNS Animashree Anandkumar

12-04-20

Pietro Perona, Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical Engineering, has been elevated as a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for contributions to visual recognition algorithms and datasets. The IEEE Fellow is one of the most prestigious honors of the IEEE, and is bestowed upon a very limited number of Senior Members who have contributed importantly to the advancement or application of engineering, science and technology. [Elevated class of 2021]

Tags: EE honors CMS Pietro Perona CNS

12-04-20

Aaron Ames, Bren Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering and Control and Dynamical Systems, has been elevated as a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for contributions to hybrid and safety-critical nonlinear control with demonstration on robotic systems. The IEEE Fellow is one of the most prestigious honors of the IEEE, and is bestowed upon a very limited number of Senior Members who have contributed importantly to the advancement or application of engineering, science and technology.  [Elevated class of 2021]

Tags: honors MCE CMS IST CNS Aaron Ames

11-30-20

While existing models to predict the spread of a disease already exist, few, if any, incorporate artificial intelligence (AI). Yaser Abu-Mostafa, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, is using a new model for predicting COVID-19's impact using AI and it dramatically outperforms other models, so much so that it has attracted the interest of public health officials across the country. "AI is a powerful tool, so it only makes sense to apply it to one of the most urgent problems the world faces," says Yaser Abu-Mostafa. [Caltech story]

Tags: EE research highlights CMS Yaser Abu-Mostafa CNS

11-23-20

Caltech has awarded the third annual Milton and Rosalind Chang Career Exploration Prize to alumna Nivetha (Niv) Karthikeyan (BS ’20) for her proposed project “Intersections: Building Solidarity Through Community Archives,” which intends to construct and share a new online community archive recording how people of color have historically created alliances, coalitions, and communities with other racial minorities in the United States.

Tags: honors CMS alumni Nivetha Karthikeyan

11-18-20

Methods that were originally created to help robots to walk and autonomous cars to drive safely can also help epidemiologists predict the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aaron Ames, Bren Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering and Control and Dynamical Systems, and colleagues took these tools and applied them to the development of an epidemiological methodology that accounts for human interventions (like mask mandates and stay-at-home orders). By utilizing the U.S. COVID-19 data from March through May, they were able to predict the infection wave during the summer to high accuracy. "This is the greatest health challenge to face our society in a generation at least. We all need to pitch in and help in any way we can," Ames says. [Caltech story]

Tags: research highlights MCE CMS IST Aaron Ames CDS Andrew Singletary