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From Psi to Poetry a Former Mathematical Economist Follows He R Muse

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From Psi to Poetry a Former Mathematical Economist Follows He R Muse I n T h 5 I 5 5 U e A Presidenrial In terview A Poeti c Undertak in g An Oily Enterprise C,llforn\a IIl.tltu'l of T.chnot o ll! N e w s "A New Kind of World" 3 Caltech News interviews J ean-Lou Chameau. 10 From Psi to Poetry A former mathematical economist follows he r muse. Also in this issue A new provost, a new Feynman Prize-winner, alumni on the wa ll s, and a campus for the birds (on the back-page post(,r). Picrure Credits: Cover-Cathy 1-1 ill ; 2,9-Mike Rogers; 3-Jean-Loll Chnm eau ; 3.4,6,8,9- Robert Paz; 4-llerb Shoebr;dge; 5-NAS AlJ PL and Doug Cumm;ngs; 6-Gary Meekl Georgia Tech; IO-Naohiko Ucno; 13-Elizabcrh Allen; 14-Mark Bareelt; I S-Gary Kious! Northrup Grumman; 16-CIAR Phow; Back Cover-Gail Anderson, Roben Paz. Poscer design by DOllg Cummings. ON THE (OVER Issued four times a ye,l f and published by rhe California Insriul[(.' of Technology and rhe With Caltech embarking on an Alumni Association, 1200 East C.'1liforn ia Blvd .. Pnsndena , Cn li(ornia 9 11 25. All rig hts ambitious olive oil (not to be reserved. Third-class postage paid at Pasadena, California. Postmnster: Send address confused with oil drop) experiment, changes to: C((llcch NelliS, Cal tech l-7 1, Pasadena , CA 91 125. Ca/tech News asked artist Cathy Hill to adapt Vincent Van Gogh's The Olive Pickers to the occasion. Exemlil'e Edilor - Heid i Aspaturian Ang;e Il ealko '96 The related story begins below. Writer - Barbara Ell is President of Ibe AllIlIJn; A.r.f()(i£llion Writer - Michael Rogers Roberr L. O' Rourke Prodllclion Arlisl- DOllg Cummings Vire Presidelll for Pllblic l?elatio1lJ Co"'ribNlon - Jill Perr y, Robert Tindol COP) £""ul'S - Alh!.u l1 Bt'nter, ML Ch.lcl Farquhar, Elena Rlidnev Visit Ca\tcch News on the Web al Cirmltltioll Mallager - Susan Lee hll p: II pro ((I Iterh. ed,,1per iOtIirals lCa IlcrbN ell'sl u Fro BLACK GOLD, TECHER TEA We may live in an era of dimin­ when Ca l tech president J ean-Lou eha­ ca n, They skimmed the oil off rhe rop, ishing petroleum resources, but [Wo meau and his wife, Carol Carmichael, yielding half a liter of oil. "As ir looked emerprising Cal tech srudems recen rly out on a weekend stroll , stOpped ca more and morc like olive oil, we were alerted the Institute co the fact that it chat. A longtime proponent of environ­ getting morc and more exc ited," J ones is sitting on valuable oil reserves. Not mental suscainabi lity, Chameau made said. Brent Sweet Li ght black crude, alas, the tWO scudents an offer they seeming­ But rhe final product didn't exactly but Pasadena virgi n li g ht g reen--of the ly couldn't rcfuse: if Adali an and J ones look pristine- there was still some olive persuasion. could actually distill u respectable solid material nO<lting around-so they The Cal tech campus has been home amount of olive oi l, he and Carmichael consulted Bruce Hay, associate profes­ to dozens of Mission 01 i ve crees for would cook dinner for them. sor of biology. lie put their mixture approximately 80 years, but they've Inspired by the prospect of a home­ in one of his centrifuges, all owing the rarely been picked, While they've cooked meal, Dvin and Ri cky scoured students to further refine the liquid and been admired for the shade they pro­ the In ternet for olive oil production extract pure olive oi l. They gave out vide, they've also bee b lasted for the methods, then recuflled ca the task a samples to friends and fa mily, and, at squi h inky slime t at they deposit few days later, They put the cleaned LO p.m. one evening, they dropped by on sidew, Qa when rheir overripe fruit and pirted olives in blenders and cre­ the president'S hOll se und presented a drops to the ground. But the tradition ated a mush, which they then cooked via l of oil to Chameau and Carmichael. of f1at·so-benign neglect is changing, in pots for a couple of hours in three And tWO weeks later, JUSt after Thanks­ thanks co sophomore Dvin Adalian and kitchens in Ruddock, "It made a pun­ giving, the promised dinner took place, junior Ri cky Jones. gent odor that many didn't appreciate," complete with a t<lSting of [he Cal[ech The tWO students- both members of admirted Jones, "It looked li ke excre­ olive oi l and some stOre-bought Ruddock 1I 0use, where Ricky is presi­ ment." Bur the noxious side effeCts of competicars. dent- were seeking relief from typical food processing weren't enoug h to StOp "It had a differem (J avor from com­ fir st~ term stress last October, when Kraft from churning up Cheez Whiz or mercial brands, but I think it was on they stepped outSide for a study break, Harmel from spinning Out Spam, and a par with them," J ones sa id . Added surveyed the parallel lines of crees along they weren't about co deter Adalian and Adalian, "I thought it was good," fn ­ Oil entrepreneurs Ricky Jones '08 (left) and the eponymously named Olive Walk, J ones ei ther, dependent consumers were even more Dvin Adalian '09 hang out under an olive tree and ag reed that it would be an admi­ To extract the oil, they first tried enthusiastic. "Jr W.IS delicious," said along Caltech's Olive Walk. Their impromptu rable diversion CO concoer a batch of using a cinder block ca press the result­ Carm ichael. foray into olive oil production this past olive oi l. Several hours later, exhausted ing slu dge through a plastic bag with As word spread throughout campus winter has launched a new cultivation initiative on campus. from beating most of the olives off one tiny holes. W hen that didn't work, about the students' epicurean feat, tree with a large stick and then washing they borrowed some wi ndow screens in terest in expanding the olive oil en­ them, Adalian and Jones had dumped and pressed the mixture through terprise scarted to grow. Dean Currie, their imprompt u crop into an ice cheSt them, squeezing out 40 liters of liq­ vice pres ident for business and finance, and were preparing CO leave it outside, uid- mostly water- inca a garbage COllli'If,ed 0 11 page 9. 2 I Cali/Orilla I IISt; t lltt 0/ T echn ol ogy · VOLU,Mfi4 I NO . 2, 2 007 , , A N e w K n d ,, o f w o r d Growing "I) ill northern France, in the IJYovince of Normandy, Jean- Loll Chameall seems to have discovered his princij)al affinities early in life: hard work, working with people, new experiences, anel, last bllt not least, lIIathematin emd science. He brollght this olltlook with him when he left the Old World for the new in 1976 to p"rS1le gradllate work ill engilleerillg at Stanford, and it has slil'ved him well throllghollt a career that has ineillded faCIlity positiollS at Pllrellle Uni­ versity and Georgia Tech, tilJle spent rlt/Illing (I cOllipallY, alld, over Ihe last eleCC/de. a move into the IIpper echelom of academic adlllillisll'Cttion. In 1997, he was afJjJoillled dean of the college of enginel!l'ing at Georgia Tech, and fOllr years later he becel1!1e the IIl1iversily's l)rOvosl. LClSt SlIII/­ Iller, he was nallied Ihe ninth president of Caltech. Chrl1l1eall aSSJIIlles the job al a tillle when isslles that he has long challlpioned- forging interdisciplinary and illStitlltionai coliaboratiollS and promoting global sllst(linability, to nallle two--have IiIllerged as //Iajor Ihe//les on both the natio11al anti internettiolla1 s/tlge, It's tin environment in which, tiS he says, scienlislS and engineers have an increasingly complex and vital role to Illay, and to whit"h Cet/tech, throllgh its faCilIty, stlldents, staff, and gradllates, is poised to make IIniqm and far-reaching contriblltiollS. He talked abollt these topics, anel a variety of others, in an illferview wilh Calrech N ews editor Heidi Aspat"rian. extent I:x:fore I came, so it has also been a wonderful surprise to find that chis campus also has outstanding musicians, and people who love sports and [he theater and many ocher aCtivities. What I like is that Caltech provides extracurricu lar opportunities for YOII gtlve tI speech ill 2000 ill tI/hich YOII St/it/thal YOII Ibollgbllbe 21 sl eel/fury them that arc in ma ny respects as good as what they would have at a la rger un ivers ity. lI'ould cOl1sl illlle a Rellll ina nee period for engineers. Wlhal d it! YOII metlll by that? In fact, they're likely better, because they are all ava ilable on a small er scale, which makes for closer and more meaningful interactions. That, tOO, is a very positive thing. Bas ica ll y, J think it's simple. We live in a world [hac is being dri ven more and more by science and techn ology. T hat means [hat people educated in those disciplines have Hou' tIre YOII goillg tlbollt meeting sllldellls? and will continue to have an ad vantage in life, as well as crucial opportunities to in­ fluence the world pos itively.
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