Connecting with Information at Caltech

Data Points: Connecting with Information at Caltech

VOLUME LXXVI, NUMBER 3, FALL 2013 VOLUME LXXVI, NUMBER 3, FALL 2013

2 Caltech on Twitter

3 From the President

4 Random Walk 4UBMBHNJUF$MJNBUF3FDPSET 5IF"SUPG4DJFODF %JUDI%BZ "OE.PSF

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10 Seeing Is Knowing BY KATIE NEITH $BMUFDITDJFOUJTUTBOEFOHJOFFSTUBLFJNBHJOHUPUIFOFYUMFWFM QVTIJOH UIFCPVOEBSJFTPGIPXXFTFFUIFQIZTJDBMFOWJSPONFOUBSPVOEVT BOEIPXXFWJTVBMJ[FUIFCVJMEJOHCMPDLTPGUIBUQIZTJDBMXPSME 16 8IBUµTUIF#JH%FBMBCPVU#JH%BUB BY MARCUS Y. WOO "MPPLBUUIFJNQBDUCJHEBUBJTIBWJOHPOTDJFODFBOE IPX$BMUFDIDPNQVUFSTDJFOUJTUTBOEFOHJOFFSTBSF DSFBUJOHUIFUFDIOJRVFTBOEJOGSBTUSVDUVSFUIBUXJMMCF OFFEFEGPSVTUPOBWJHBUFPVSEBUBJOUFOTJWFGVUVSF

24 /BWJHBUJOHUIF#SBJOµT.ZTUFSJFT BY KIMM FESENMAIER $BMUFDISFTFBSDIFST BOEUIF8IJUF)PVTF TBZJUµTUJNF UPQJFDFUPHFUIFSBEZOBNJDNBQPGUIFCSBJO±POFUIBU TIPXTJUTDPNQMFYUSBG¾DLJOHBDSPTTUSJMMJPOTPGOFVSPOBM DPOOFDUJPOT"EESFTTJOHUIJTHSBOEDIBMMFOHFDPVME KVTUCFUIFUFDIOPMPHJDBMNPPOTIPUPGBHFOFSBUJPO

28 &WPMWJOH&EVDBUJPO BY ANDREW ALLAN 5SBJOJOHUIFTDJFOUJTUTBOEFOHJOFFSTPGUIFGVUVSFTUBSUT XJUIUFBDIJOHGPSUIFGVUVSF

ON THE COVER: 32 "MVNOJ*NQBDU(BNF5IFPSZ "VTUFO4UZMF Computational scientist Santiago Lombeyda BY THE CALTECH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION created this looping, swirling piece of art (and the more conventional diagram seen on these pages) from the masses of data on gene 35 *O.FNPSJBN interactions coming out of the lab of biologist 'SBODJT)$MBVTFS Barbara Wold, whose work is described on %POBME$PMFT page 21. As part of Caltech’s Center for Advanced Computing Research, Lombeyda serves as both data visualization guru and 36 Endnotes artist, creating computer models, simulations, 4VNNJOHVQUIF$BMUFDIFYQFSJFODF and more for scientists and engineers across all disciplines on campus. multimedia

Caltech on Twitter Follow us, retweet us, and let us know you’re talking about us by including @Caltech in your tweets. VOLUME LXXVI, NUMBER 3, FALL 2013

@Jordan2Mars: You know you’re at a Caltech party when people pause to see the EDITOR Lori Oliwenstein International Space Station. #1yearonMars pic.twitter.com/1uHQ7r9O4b MANAGING EDITOR Doreese Norman

@loveplanets: Just saw a dude whose ASSOCIATE EDITOR Katie Neith shirt said, “Flirt harder. I’m a physicist.” I’m not sure if I feel attracted or repulsed. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Andrew Allan, Kimm Fesenmaier, #Caltech Katie Neith, Ben Tomlin, Marcus Y. Woo

COPY EDITORS @NBCLA: An ancient ocean may have Michael Farquhar, Sharon Kaplan

covered 1/3 of Mars’ northern hemisphere, ART DIRECTOR (+IT\MKP[KQMV\Q[\[ÅVLP\\X"VJKTI Jenny K. Somerville

com/1aRvwbt pic.twitter.com/a2GVtTWcvj STAFF ARTIST Lance Hayashida

@CFCamerer: Nick Christakis in DESIGN AND LAYOUT NYT advocates more lab experiments to Keith & Co. teach economics+. @ Caltech we have done BUSINESS MANAGER so for decades! http://nyti.ms/12Tz4zP Rosanne Lombardi THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY @JadenGeller: I’m usually not a Brian K. Lee, Vice President for Development and Institute Relations sunglasses guy, but I really like wearing these Kristen Brown, Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Communications

@Caltech Fund glasses they sent me. Binti Harvey, Director of Institute Marketing

@Nighthawk_Black: Exciting to THE CALTECH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Heather Dean, President \PQVS\PMTWKI\QWVWN\PMÅZ[\MIZ\PIVITWO _M¼ZMOWQVO\WÅVLUIaITZMILaJM[Q\\QVOQV Read E&S on the go at EandS.caltech.edu this archive: http://exoplanetarchive.ipac. Contact E&S at [email protected] caltech.edu/index.html Engineering & Science (ISSN 0013-7812) is published quarterly at the California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125. Annual subscription $20.00 domestic, $30.00 foreign @konradyandson: This is what you air mail; single copies $5.00. Send subscriptions to Engineering & Science, Caltech Mail Code 5-32, Pasadena, CA 91125. Third-class postage paid at call innovation! Check out this house by Pasadena, CA. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material contained herein @sciarc and @Caltech http://meetdale.com/ forbidden without authorization. © 2013, California Institute of Technology. Published by Caltech and the Alumni Association. Telephone: 626-395-8371. @HannaStorlie: Feast your eyes on Printed by Navigator Cross-Media, Inc., Glendale, California. the @Caltech E&S summer publication. PICTURE CREDITS #DreamJob Inside back cover, TOC, 20 (bottom) – illustration by Santiago V. Lombeyda, Center for Advanced Computing Research, based on data courtesy of the Wold Lab and tools developed by Lombeyda and Katherine Fisher-Aylor of the Wold Lab; 3, 4–5, 7 (top left and right bottom two graphics), 18, 19 @RileyEDixon: Fell in love with (bottom), 20 (left), 22 (top), 24 – Lance Hayashida; 6 – Jenny K. Somerville; +IT\MKP¼[MV^QZWVUMV\J]\Q\¼[-@<:-5- 7 (top right), 10, 12, 15 – Shutterstock; 7 (bottom) – micrograph image by An amazing school to say the least. 5IZa3MVVMLaÅJMZKWTTIOMKZMI\MLJa4QLLa0]JJMTT# TMN\·@]V?MVLa Gu; 8 (right) – Syria Lejau; 9 – B. Saxton & A. Angelich/NRAO/AUI/NSF/ ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); 11–12 – Everett Kane; 12–13 – Ahmed Tweets may have been edited for spelling and grammar. Zewail and Ulrich Lorenz; 13–14 – Kaushik Sengupta; 16 – visualization by Santiago V. Lombeyda, simulation by Bo Li, Michael Ortiz, and Caltech’s PSAAP Center; 19 (top) – L. Shyamal via Wikimedia Commons; 22 (bottom) – Caltech Athletics; 23 – image courtesy of the CRTS survey team; 26 – iStockphoto; 28–31 – Martin Springborg; 32 – Dave Lauridsen; 35 (top) – Don Ivers, courtesy of the Caltech Archives; 35 (bottom) – EAS +WUU]VQKI\QWV[7NÅKM#·:QKPIZL0[]

Special thanks to Maria M. Nastasescu from the president

Connecting with Information

“What do the data tell us?”

Much of our work in training the next generation of scientists and engineers…is about teaching them how to mine and interpret data in such a way that it becomes useful and meaningful.

Much of our work in training the next generation of scientists and engineers— in training critical thinkers of all kinds—is about teaching them how to mine and interpret data in such a way that it becomes useful and meaningful. In this way, education at Caltech is as much about how to use and manage information as it is about the principles and facts underlying modern science and engineering. )VLI[_MÅVLVM_IVLJM\\MZ_Ia[\WKWUU]VQKI\MIJW]\LI\IIVL][MLI\I to communicate), we are seeing its impact extend from the lab into the classroom (see page 28). Our students are being shaped by the information they are learning in Caltech’s classrooms and by the data they are gathering in its labs. This issue of E&S provides a glimpse into what may well be looked back on as a period of transition in science, engineering, and education.

Sincerely, Random Walk

LASERS TO THE RESCUE In popular culture, lasers are typically used by the bad guys to menace superheroes. But at the Beckman Institute Laser Resource Center (BILRC) at Caltech, scientists are using them to help search for light-powered catalysts that will help save the world from carbon emissions. The end goal? Find an efﬁcient and economical way to convert solar energy into stored chemical fuel— much as a plant uses the sun to make food and oxygen via photosynthesis. In their lab, Harry Gray, the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry, and Jay Winkler, director of the BILRC, employ lasers, seen here, to excite a photosensitizer—a substance capable of transferring the energy of absorbed light—which can be seen in the glass tube. The information gathered from this excitation will help the researchers better understand the mechanisms involved in related chemical reactions and will contribute to the design of the improved photocatalysts needed for successful solar fuel production.

4 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 5 random walk

Do not be afraid to take yourselves in an unknown direction. A little ingenuity— and critical thinking skills of your college education— will set you IT’S TODAY, FROSH Christine Cheng participates in a 3-D word search during Caltech’s infamous Ditch Day, held this past academic year on May 28. One of Caltech’s on a path oldest traditions, Ditch Day is an undergraduate rite of spring. Seniors, who are banned from campus once the event gets under way, build complex, imaginative scavenger hunts, puzzles, and of discovery.” other challenges, known as “stacks,” for their younger peers to complete or solve. The 3-D word — University of Michigan search was part of the Ender’s Game stack organized by Lloyd House seniors. Other components president and biochemist WN\PM[\IKSQVKT]LMLI_I\MZJITTWWVÅOP\I[]ZNIKM\MV[QWV\]OWN_IZQKMKZMIUUISQVOIVL Mary Sue Coleman, speaking to an electronic keyboard puzzle. As a senior this coming academic year, Cheng will have her own graduates at Caltech’s 119th WXXWZ\]VQ\a\WKPITTMVOMJINÆMIVLXMZPIX[M^MVNZ][\ZI\MUMUJMZ[WN\PM]XIVLKWUQVOKTI[[M[ commencement, on June 14, 2013 The HTML of Systems Biology An international team of scientists recently published the common format for computational models called Systems most comprehensive virtual picture of human metabolism Biology Markup Language (SBML), which is a bit like HTML. ever constructed. The computational model, called Recon 2, “It’s hard to send an entire database to somebody stitches together several previous models of metabolism else’s program,” Hucka says. “You need a way to write it along with many new research findings, and it includes out—an independent common exchange language—and more than 7,400 biochemical reactions and 5,000 metabolites. SBML provides that.” The hope is that the new tool will help scientists identify Over the years, SBML has enabled the creation previously unknown causes of diseases, make predictions of nearly 1,000 large-scale models, not only of metabolic of drug efficacy, and even enhance personalized medicine. networks but of everything from neural processes and But how did they combine all that data, considering cellular signaling to a zombie apocalypse. (OK, a model that each piece was encoded by different software? of the way infectious diseases spread.) The massive reconstruction was made possible by the “This way of writing down a model in a formal form work of Mike Hucka, a Caltech staff scientist in computing allows people to do better science,” Hucka says. “It makes and mathematical sciences. About 13 years ago, Hucka— models more precise, and it enables many people to working in the lab of John Doyle, the John G Braun Professor collaborate on the same problem, which is something that of Control and Dynamical Systems, Electrical Engineering, people have to do more and more, especially in biology.”—KF and Bioengineering—first developed a machine-readable

6 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 Insider Info Left-handed people make up only 10% of the population, but here at E&S

100%of our copy editors are southpaws.

Situational Awareness… in a Box Number of experiments4 our We already have warning systems in place for severe weather events, and researchers are working on ways to alert us to an imminent earthquake. printing representative ran *]\_PI\IJW]\ILIVOMZW][Ta[UWOOaLIa'7ZIVW\aM\^Q[QJTMJZ][PÅZM to ﬁnd the source of the strange billowing toxic smoke? These sorts of hazardous environmental situations smell emanating from the UIaVW\JMKWUMIXXIZMV\]V\QT\PMa¼^MITZMILaLWVM[QOVQÅKIV\LIUIOM Spring 2013 issue of E&S. To make sure we’re not caught unawares by some stealthy environmental (The culprit was never identiﬁed.) hazard, senior Sandra Fang spent her Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) in 2012 working with computational scientist Julian Bunn to build a prototype device that monitors hazards such as radiation, air Talk about big data! (See page 16.) pollution, and carbon monoxide and other noxious gases that may seep indoors. Science writer Marcus Woo wrote ¹1\¼[[WZ\WNIOTWZQÅML_MI\PMZ[\I\QWVº*]VV[Ia[WN\PMLM^QKM_PQKPKWV[Q[\[ of a dozen or so sensors inside a clear box about six inches on each side. Judy Mou (BS ’13)—then a senior at Caltech—created an accompanying app for Android devices that displays the sensor’s readings and issues a warning if any anomalies are detected—for example if carbon monoxide levels become dangerous. The app also feeds in news and information to keep the user even 58news and feature stories for UWZMI_IZMWNXW\MV\QITMUMZOMVKQM[¸[]KPI[IÅZMWZIVM`XTW[QWVI\IVMIZJa WQTZMÅVMZa.IVOPI[ITZMILa\M[\ML\PMLM^QKM¸KITTMLI[Q\]I\QWVITI_IZMVM[[ E&S during his six-year career at box—and shown that it works. The next step, Bunn says, is to commercialize Caltech before leaving in July to it using funding from investors or, perhaps, a Kickstarter campaign. —MW pursue a freelance writing career.

Brain-Related Beadwork Using fabric, beads, and yarn, artist Liddy Hubbell reinterpreted a micrograph of a cultured neuron (left) as a textile collage (right). The micrograph came from the lab of Allen and Lenabelle Davis Professor of Biology Mary Kennedy, and Hubbell did her collage for an online feature about beauty in science in the journal Cell. In the original image, the excitatory synapses—tiny connections that allow a “sending” neuron to cause a receiving neuron to ﬁre—are stained and appear yellow.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 7 random walk Cities are responsible To address this problem, the newly created Megacities Carbon Project will develop and test methods for monitoring the greenhouse gas emissions of not only cities—such as Los Angeles and for 70% of fossil-fuel Paris, France—but also their power plants. The project includes scientists from Caltech’s Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS), NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and other collaborating CO2 emissions. institutions. For more information, visit the project’s website at megacities.jpl.nasa.gov/portal.

A Tiny MIGHTY Stalagmites Circus Act For environmental scientists, ice cores and ocean sediments have long These nano-mushrooms are made of served as important indicators of past climate change, providing records of nanocrystalline platinum, a precious metal precipitation, temperature, atmospheric conditions, and more for particular that can be used in everything from electrodes periods in our planet’s history. It was believed that for certain large-scale and dentistry equipment to expensive jewelry. climate changes, these weather archives reflected conditions that applied In this case, the platinum mushrooms are to all of the earth, but new findings from stalagmites—large fingerlike actually nanoscale testing specimens that help formations that rise from the floors of limestone caves—imply that the scientists understand the effects of sample-size planet’s tropical regions may have a climate history all their own. reduction on the mechanical strength and According to a study by Caltech geochemist Jess Adkins and colleagues likelihood of fracture of the material being at the Georgia Institute of Technology, climate records found in stalagmites \M[\ML1V\PQ[QUIOMKIX\]ZMLJa@]V?MVLa gathered from Borneo indicate that the western tropical Pacific responded Gu, a graduate student in the lab of Julia Greer, very differently than other regions of the globe to abrupt climate change — professor of materials science and mechanics, a finding that could help researchers better understand what might happen the mushroom stalks are just 120 nanometers in during future climate change events. width, with a single nanometer being equal to Stalagmites are formed when rainwater seeps into the ground, one-billionth of a meter. To test the platinum, dissolving limestone rock that drips into the caves to grow the structures diamond grips are used to pull at the mushroom at a rate of roughly one centimeter every thousand years. Adkins worked heads. This sometimes separates the mushrooms to correlate different depths in stalagmite samples with different periods from the material on which they are embedded of time in much the same way scientists date trees by analyzing their so that the mushrooms stick to each other in rings; he used a type of radioactive dating technique called U-series dating, visually interesting ways. Gu’s image was so then merged data from four different stalagmites from caves across Borneo. QV\MZM[\QVOQVNIK\\PI\Q\_WVÅZ[\XTIKMQV\PM Together, these analyses provided a record of precipitation trends in the 2013 Art of Science competition, a semiannual western Pacific over the past 100,000 years. event that celebrates the interplay between art What they found, says Adkins, is that “some historic climate changes, and science. This year’s exhibit, featuring 35 defined by records from ice cores and ocean sediments in the high latitudes, images, was organized by Caltech’s literary and show up in Borneo, but others do not. This is surprising because most of visual arts magazine, Totem, and sponsored by the field thinks that the mechanisms behind events that happen at higher Robert Gerson Metzner (BS ’38).—KN latitudes are similar, if not identical, to those in the tropics. Our findings question these notions.” —KN

8 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 available now on CALTECH.EDU

SNOW IN SPACE Watch Read Engage Caltech researchers have helped Read about Caltech’s Experience Caltech Renowned television capture the ﬁrst image of a foray into online learning through the stories and theater actor and MOOCs (massive of the extraordinary Ed Asner stars in snow line around a Sun-like star. open online courses) people who explore, FDR at Beckman Snow lines, frosty regions where from the people involved discover, and innovate Auditorium on Saturday, gases are able to freeze and (see page 31). Then, at the Institute. October 19, at 8 p.m. coat dust grains, are critical to check out the “Caltech Click through the Find out more at planet formation. Learn more MOOC Report” at 2012 Annual Report at www.caltech.edu/ www.youtube.com/ www.caltech.edu/ calendar/public- at www.caltech.edu/news. caltech. annualreport2012. events.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 9 Caltech scientists and engineers create new lines of sight with innovative imaging techniques BY KATIE NEITH

hotographs add emotional make up the chemical compounds like everybody else in town.” But soon P context to current events, bring and tiniest biological elements of the after he started his undergraduate loved ones to mind with a single physical world. studies in physics at Brigham Young glance, and keep the past alive when “There is so much about cells that University, a research project led to our memories begin to fade. In science we don’t understand,” says structural his being captivated by the wonders of and engineering, still and moving biologist Grant Jensen. “But we’re and potential advances to be made in images provide a similarly essential learning that many biological processes structural biology. He never looked back. service, offering insight into—and can be understood just by imaging the “I learned that some of the sometimes even answers for—the machinery working in a cell, doing its highest-impact work waiting to be done biggest questions researchers are job. Just a picture of it reveals basically in biology involved image processing, asking about how the world works. how it works.” math, and three-dimensional recon- At Caltech, a number of scientists structions, which is all stuff I love,” and engineers are opening up new Up Close and Biological Jensen recalls. “As a postdoc, I saw that views into our environment and are Jensen says that, growing up near Los it was possible to take multiple images exploring how we can best visualize Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, of a single object from different points the structures and processes that “I imagined I would become a physicist of view and merge them into a 3-D

10 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 reconstruction, and I realized that Once the sample is frozen, it is sheaths assembled around an inner we could do this to cells. Immediately, rotated around an axis while a special- javelin-like rod. When a cholera cell I knew that this was what I would ized digital camera takes a series of bumps into an E. coli cell, the outer be doing for many years.” high-resolution images; the information sheath contracts and propels the inner Jensen says his imaging research gathered by the camera allows the rod of toxin through a port in the is guided by the words of an unlikely team to reconstruct the object in three cholera cell’s own membrane,” explains [KQMV\QÅKU][MJI[MJITT¼[AWOQ*MZZI dimensions and then analyze it in detail. Jensen. “The rod then punctures who once famously said: “Sometimes “Caltech is positioned to do this the E. coli cell and delivers the toxin. you can see a lot just by looking.” To do kind of work because a generous gift We call that a spring-loaded molecular that looking, his lab has become one from the Gordon and Betty Moore dagger.” Jensen says this discovery may of just a handful in the world to own Foundation allowed us to buy the lead to using this structure for medical and operate an electron cryomicro- world’s very best electron cryomicro- purposes, such as designing entirely scope—a unique type of microscope scope in 2002,” Jensen says. “Only new cells to treat infection or disease. that enables a novel imaging technique one or two other labs are doing similar 2MV[MV¼[TIJ_I[IT[W\PMÅZ[\ called electron cryotomography work today; we really have a unique to obtain 3-D images of a complete (ECT), which allows Jensen and his niche in the world.” JIK\MZQITÆIOMTTIZUW\WZ

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 11 Jensen used ECT to unveil the details of how they are assembled. Thanks to that technological peephole, he and his colleagues were able to visualize how —like an outboard motor an- KPWZML\WIJWI\¸\PMÆIOMTTIZUW\WZ in a bacterium is held in place on the outside of the cell membrane by a [\Z]K\]ZM\PI\ZMUIQV[Å`MLITTW_QVO \PMÆIOMTT]UQ\[MTN\W[XQVIVLUW^M the cell through liquid. 7VMWN2MV[MV¼[W\PMZ[QOVQÅKIV\ ECT-powered advances in structural biology is the development of a better picture of how some key HIV structures form; determining the 3-D arrangement of layers present at different stages of the virus’s development has helped us understand how certain antiviral drugs block HIV’s growth and proliferation, he says. His lab has also helped quiet the debate over the existence of cytoskeletons in bacteria —an idea that had previously been dismissed by researchers who simply did not have powerful enough imaging technologies to see the microbes’ QV\ZIKMTT]TIZÅTIUMV\[SMTM\WV[ “We’ve made a lot of progress in understanding why bacteria and viruses have the shapes that they do, which is key to learning about how they work,” Jensen says. Jensen compares ECT to taking apart a car; you may know nothing about cars, but if you pull an engine apart to look at all of its pieces and how \PMaÅ\\WOM\PMZaW]KIVI\TMI[\JMOQV to intuit how it works. ¹?PI\[I\Q[ÅM[UMUW[\Q[]VLMZ- standing how biological processes work at a mechanical level,” says Jensen. “Taking pictures of the cells can, at reactions they undergo … in real time. which reveals objects not only in the times, advance our understanding 0M\IKSTML\PM\QUMMTMUMV\ÅZ[\ usual three dimensions, but incorpo- faster than any other approach.” XQWVMMZQVO\PMÅMTLWNNMU\WKPMUQ[\Za rates time into the image as well. the study of chemical reactions Most electron microscopes Vis ualizing Space and Time occurring at the timescale of the fem- use a steady stream of electrons for tosecond, which is one-millionth-of-a- illumination; Zewail’s new technol- For chemist Ahmed Zewail, however, billionth of a second. For these innova- ogy, on the other hand, employs the “taking pictures” isn’t quite enough. tive efforts, he was awarded the 1999 precision-timed release of individual Zewail’s goal is not only to visualize Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Less than 10 electrons—doled out one by one— biological specimens—or, in his case, years later, Zewail revolutionized the to produce images of objects at the any kind of molecule or nanostructure ÅMTLaM\IOIQVJaJ]QTLQVOWVPQ[MIZTa atomic scale. Each electron contributes —at their most basic level, but also femtochemistry work to create the four- to a picture representing a still at a to see the details of the fundamental dimensional (4D) electron microscope, given point in time. Like the frames in

12 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 by the electron because the electron of chemical and biological phenomena. has properties that make it very Thus far, UST researchers have been convenient for looking at extremely able to use the 4D microscope to small things,” says Spencer Baskin, study a wide range of processes in a senior scientist who has worked in different materials, including thermal Zewail’s lab for 24 years. expansion and phase transitions, Resolving the details of such chemical bond dynamics, and nano- “extremely small things” is impossible mechanical motions. The latter to do with laser light, since its wave- studies yield information about lengths are much larger than any mechanical properties such as stiffness, given nanostructure. To get a “picture” which is of particular importance for of something, you need a wavelength maintaining strength and integrity that’s at least on the same scale or, QVM^MZa\PQVONZWUKWTW[[ITMLQÅKM[ preferably, smaller than the object to the tiniest of nanoscale structures. “ What satisﬁes me most is understanding how biological processes work at a mechanical level. Taking pictures of the cells can, at times, advance our understanding faster than any other approach.”

you are trying to resolve. Electrons Such insights are similarly are perfect for this task because their important when talking about wavelengths shrink as their velocity biological structures; knowing the increases; thus, they can be accelerated mechanical properties of fabrications so that their wavelengths are a pico- made of DNA, for instance, is crucial meter, or a trillionth of a meter, in to building sturdy biotech tools, such as length, making it possible for research- DNA nanotubes for drug delivery ers to capture the details of nano- in the body. And, indeed, earlier this structures at very high resolutions. year, Zewail and his group reported By sending individual electrons out on a breakthrough 4D experiment at known intervals of time, the 4D that began with DNA stretched over a microscope takes that process to the PWTMMUJMLLMLQVI\PQVKIZJWVÅTU next level, not only capturing tiny They cut away several DNA objects but also tracking their precise ÅTIUMV\[NZWU\PMKIZJWVÅTU motions in real time. to create a three-dimensional, “Electron microscopes have free-standing arrangement under the been around for a long time, but the 4D 4D microscope. Next, the scientists microscope extended the technology set the DNA strands vibrating using to the time domain, so we can resolve heat generated by a laser and imaged very fast processes that couldn’t be those motions using electron pulses. IÅTU\PM[MY]MV\QITQUIOM[OMVMZI\ML seen before,” says Ulrich Lorenz, By determining the frequency of the by many millions of such electrons a postdoctoral scholar in Zewail’s DNA’s oscillations, they were able to can be assembled into a digital movie lab. “This is where the power of this directly measure their construction’s of motion at the atomic scale. technique comes in: combining time stiffness, a measurement that had “We used to use laser light to and spatial resolution to get completely never before been possible. probe and interrogate chemical new information about how processes Recently, using a similar systems, but that has been supplanted evolve.” approach, the group also studied The 4D microscope was invented the material properties of protein at Caltech’s Physical Biology Center assemblies called amyloids, which Above: A DNA nanostructure as seen through for Ultrafast Science and Technology are believed to play a role in many the 4D electron microscope invented by chemist (UST). The center is directed by neurodegenerative diseases. Ahmed Zewail at Caltech’s Physical Biology Zewail, who created it in 2005 to “Because we’re using an Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology. investigate the fundamental physics instrument that had never been built

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 13 taking a series of snapshots of where the atoms in a molecule are at each point in time as it goes through a reaction. “People have frequently called our end goal a molecular movie,” says Lorenz. “If you could watch chemistry — this rearrangement of atoms to make new things and transform compounds—in a movie, then you would really have it all. That would be incredible.”

Transparent Technology Engineer Ali Hajimiri isn’t as interested in looking at things, per se, as in looking through them. It’s a sideline of the work his lab has done for the past 15 years, exploring solutions for a host of different problems in electrical engineering. Five years ago, he began to work on silicon microchips able to generate and radiate high-frequency electromagnetic waves, called terahertz (THz) waves. These waves fall into a largely untapped region of the electromagnetic spectrum and were being used to penetrate numerous materials and render image details in high resolution—but only in systems that were generally too bulky and expensive for widespread use. “There were clearly potential applications for these terahertz waves—like advanced security operations and medical diagnostic purposes,” says Hajimiri. “We saw it as a big challenge worthy of our efforts, so we decided to see how far we could get with a terahertz system —how small we could make it.” In December 2012, Hajimiri’s team published a paper announcing that they had developed THz imaging chips that used the high-frequency before, everything we look at is waves to see through — and image Above: A terahertz image shows a key inside something new that no one has items cloaked under — materials such an envelope; without the use of this technique, ever clearly seen in motion before,” as fabric, plastic, paper, and wood. the object would be invisible to the naked eye. *I[SQV[Ia[¹

14 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 normally hidden, the system can also look into large packages, crates, or “There are always new applica- use spectroscopic data to detect the even machinery. Various industries tions that we haven’t thought about chemical signatures of things could use the scanner to check yet,” he says. “Imagine having that like chemical weapons, illegal drugs, equipment for defects without having sensor on your phone, and just sliding and explosives. to take the object apart. For gaming your phone across something to see ¹?PI\_MLQL_I[ÅVLVM_ or human-machine interfaces in _PI\¼[QV[QLMQ\1ÅVLITT\PMXW[[QJQTQ\QM[ ways of making complete THz general, THz systems could have very exciting and challenging.” systems using an integrated-circuit chip-manufacturing process similar to “ Everything we look at is something new those used to make image sensors for cell phones,” says Hajimiri. “Done in no one has ever clearly seen in motion large volumes, it’s extremely low cost— approximately a dollar per chip set. even more impressive implications. Indeed, Hajimiri says, Therefore, THz chips could be used Since the technology can be used the only limits in imaging extensively across multiple platforms to track movement rather than as an technology — as in most of ranging from cell phones to computers imaging technique, people can use science and engineering—are to other handheld devices. I think they it to communicate with their researchers’ imaginations, not could be ubiquitous in the long run.” computers from across the room their abilities. In addition to being cheap, the through certain gestures or even eye “To use the old cliché, we need new chip set—in which one chip acts movements, says Hajimiri. to be able to really think outside of as a light source and the other as a “Current human-machine the box and come up with new ways detector, or camera—is no bigger interactive gaming systems like of doing things instead of succumbing \PIVIÅVOMZ\QXIVL[MVL[W]\[QOVIT[ 3QVMK\NWZ@JW`IZMZMITTaZM[XWVLQVO to preconceived notions about what that are more than a thousand times to big movements of the limbs,” he can or cannot be done,” he says. stronger than those possible using notes. “With terahertz waves, a And when it comes to getting existing approaches, Hajimiri says. gaming system would be able to detect \PMÅZ[\OTQUX[MI\[WUM\PQVOVWJWLa He and his lab members were the slightest movements of the eye, has ever seen before, Caltech’s imaging able to use the THz chip set to detect track where a user is looking, monitor researchers are not only thinking objects hidden inside all kinds of items; their breathing, or even detect a outside the box, they’re building for instance, they’ve been able to heartbeat — it can detect even such there, too. recognize a bullet stashed inside a very small displacements.” After all, as Lorenz points out, teddy bear and reveal a razor blade Hajimiri thinks this terahertz “Seeing something that you normally in a piece of plastic. technology could even be used for wouldn’t be able to see is just so cool. ¹

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 15 What’s the Big Deal about Big Data? For businesses from high-tech companies to banks, big data can mean big money. For Caltech researchers, however, this

new glut of information means a new way of doing science.

by Marcus Y. Woo

16 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 THERE’S NO DOUBT that we’re awash in new computer algorithms and techniques to be able to sort more information than at any other point in history. the important information from the useless. Every time you swipe a credit card, buy something online, In addition, there are often so many different kinds do an Internet search, or upload a photo or video, you of data involved in studying a single problem that it becomes ILL\W\PMOTWJITÆWWLWNLI\I

Left: A frame from a simulation of a ballistic impact, looking at the stress experienced by the more than one million particles involved when a steel spherical projectile 1.778 mm in diameter hits a 1.6 mm-thick aluminum alloy plate at a speed of 2.7 kilometers per second.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 17 Seismic A Greener Networks Cloud

The Southern California Seismic “The cloud” sounds like somewhere New York Times found that some data Network (SCSN)—run by Caltech magical—an ethereal place where centers waste at least 90 percent of and the U.S. Geological Survey— much of our computing happens and the electricity they take from the power operates seismometers at more than where our email, photos, and music grid. And many are in violation of 400 sites spanning the region. These live, along with a seemingly endless various environmental regulations. sensors monitor every quiver and amount of other information. But in To help remedy the problem, shake in the ground, recording seismic reality the cloud isn’t quite so perfect. engineers are working to develop activity and sending the data via micro- The cloud consists of massive UWZMMNÅKQMV\PIZL_IZM¸[]KPI[XZW- wave signals, satellite, and the Internet data centers—enormous warehouses cessors that can run at higher tempera- to Caltech, where it’s stored and containing thousands and thousands tures and require less cooling—and analyzed. Earthquakes are immediately of computers, humming away 24/7. some data centers are starting to run IVLI]\WUI\QKITTaQLMV\QÅMLTWKI\ML Companies like Google, Microsoft, and on renewable energy. But renewable and given a magnitude. Amazon operate tens of thousands of energy is unpredictable: it’s not always The data rates aren’t so big as these data centers all around the coun- sunny, and the wind doesn’t always to be a problem—yet. But they will be try. And because the computers need to blow. That’s where Wierman comes in. a challenge as the SCSN researchers be on at all times—delays or interrup- Data centers are managed by continue to build up the network, tions are bad for business—they carry software that determines which says Caltech geophysics professor a substantial environmental cost. server should do what when. To help Robert Clayton. This year alone will “These data centers are huge these centers deal with erratic energy see the addition of 100 more sensors, power sucks,” says Caltech professor sources, Wierman and his colleagues which will add considerably more of computer science Adam Wierman, have developed new algorithms that data for the seismologists to juggle. who’s working to make such centers optimize how the centers are used. One possible solution is to upload the environmentally sustainable. Account- Say you want to watch a movie online. data to the cloud—which would also ing for 2 to 3 percent of the nation’s Instead of having your network access remove the inherent problem of energy use, data centers emit as much the movie through the nearest data having a data center located in the carbon as the airline industry, he says. center, even if it happens to be cloudy middle of earthquake country. An investigative report last fall by the there, the new algorithms would send But it’s not only the SCSN the task to a center in sunny Arizona, that’s a data goldmine: Caltech also where solar energy is available. operates the Community Seismic Or, if one data center is unusually busy, Network (CSN), a denser network the algorithms would then distribute of about 300 sensors designed for the tasks to other data centers that PWUMWZWNÅKMKMV\MZMLQV\PM8I[ILM- happen to be underused at that time. na region. Data from these sensors is A large fraction of a data center’s automatically processed and uploaded tasks involve backing up data or to the cloud. The eventual goal is to have at least one sensor on almost every block—as well as in schools, PW[XQ\IT[IVLWVMIKPÆWWZWNPQOP Roughly 70 Google rises. That would require expanding searches produce the network by a factor of over 100, as much CO2 as boiling says Mani Chandy, Simon Ramo a kettle of water. Professor and professor of computer science at Caltech, and it would also require new computer architectures \WXZWKM[[\PMQVKZMI[MLLI\IÆW_ in which several thousand signals must be processed every second. “Current algorithms aren’t fast enough to deal with that amount of data,” he says.

18 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 Image Search doing updates and other jobs that don’t Images are among the richest forms of need to be completed right away. data—and the web is full of them. To The new algorithms therefore delay search for a particular image, comput- nonurgent jobs while prioritizing those er algorithms target key words associ- that require immediate attention. ated with the desired picture. But what And if certain servers aren’t needed if you want to look up something whose at all at a particular time—say in the name you don’t know but that you can middle of the night, when demand picture in your head—you know, that is lower—then they will be shut off. broken thingamajig in your car engine Although companies tend to get or that colorful bird in your backyard? nervous when you start shuttling tasks In most cases, images are not around and turning servers on and adequately cross-referenced, linked, or off, the researchers have showed—on indexed to make such a search possible, a fundamental, theoretical level—that explains Pietro Perona, Caltech’s their algorithms are indeed reliable Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical to describe the images and identify and will save companies money in Engineering. Such images are like the important features—like the shape of a the long run. “We’ve been able to mysterious dark matter that pervades beak—the researchers hope that their give really rigorous guarantees on the the universe—they’re everywhere, yet computer-vision and machine-learning algorithms,” Wierman says. Although invisible. “Images account for the larg- software will be able to learn enough the vast majority of data centers have est portion of the web’s data, and we from the human annotators to even- yet to adopt these sustainable ap- don’t know how to treat them,” he says. tually do the same job itself. “You can proaches, Wierman is partnering with “This is big data to the tenth power.” think of this as a network of people Hewlett-Packard, which supplies server To address that problem, Perona and machines who are collaborating to systems to other companies—including and his colleagues are working with a achieve a certain goal,” Perona says. Apple—to implement the algorithms. group at UC San Diego to develop a Ultimately, the Visipedia the sci- Wierman is now beginning to visual encyclopedia that combines entists envision will be almost entirely apply his algorithms to the integration image-processing and machine- automated—and it won’t be aimed of renewable-energy-powered data learning algorithms with expert crowd- only at ornithologists and bird-watch- centers into the electrical power grid sourcing. They’ve dubbed it Visipedia ers. This type of image recognition itself. For instance, when there’s high because, in the same way that Wikipe- and searchability would be great for demand on the grid—say on a swelter- dia relies on the public for content, it online shopping, Perona notes, or as a ing summer day—a utility company relies on both experts and regular users powerful tool for use in science, which could pay a renewable-energy-powered to submit, label, and annotate images. is becoming increasingly dominated by data center to lower its energy usage The researchers are starting rela- visual data, organizing and automat- by, for instance, delaying nonurgent tively small, building Visipedia around ically searching images ranging from computational tasks. The result would bird images so as to take advantage stars and galaxies to cells and tissues be more available energy to be used of the enthusiasm and dedication of and even atoms. Such a visual ency- elsewhere on the grid during those bird-watchers. The idea of Visipedia is clopedia could help scientists hunt for peak times. By providing such a power for you to be able to upload a picture QUIOM[WNI[XMKQÅKSQVLWNZWKSWZ boost, the data centers would act like of a bird you’ve never seen before and geological feature, for instance, from a battery that has stored away extra get back more pictures of the same spe- amid the thousands of pictures taken energy to inject into the grid, Wierman cies—as well as a Wikipedia-like entry of the martian surface. “Once we get it explains. “It’s a huge win for the grid \PI\QLMV\QÅM[IVLLM[KZQJM[Q\ just right for birds,” Perona says, “you because batteries are expensive. It’s Initially, humans will do most can imagine an enormous number of going to be a long time before large- of the image annotation. But as the situations in which you would want scale batteries are widely available.” annotators develop a systematic way something of this sort.” Using his algorithms in this way, he adds, will hopefully propel us ever closer to a sustainable future.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 19 The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) CERN is the sole Tier 0 institution at the European Organization for that creates and stores all of the raw Big Nuclear Research (CERN) in Ge- data. There are 13 Tier 1 institutions neva—where last summer physicists that store the data for different regions Physics discovered the Higgs boson—is a of the world; that information is then machine capable of slamming trillions distributed to and analyzed at hundreds of protons together at up to 99.9999991 of Tier 2 and Tier 3 institutions. percent of the speed of light, so fast About 500 petabytes of data are stored that a proton careens around the among all the institutions worldwide. accelerator’s 27-kilometer circular But that’s not the whole of it. track 11,000 times in one second. There’s also computer-simulation The accelerator creates 600 data, the quantity of which is 10 times million collisions per second, generat- greater than that of experimental QVOIÆ]ZZaWNW\PMZXIZ\QKTM[_PQKP data, Bunn says. Comparing the then decay into yet more particles. simulation data with the experimental Detectors like the Compact Muon data allows physicists to search Solenoid—used by Caltech physicists at for unexpected phenomena—any CERN—measure the velocity, position, discrepancies that might herald a new electric charge, mass, and energy of particle or even a new kind of physics. every particle. That’s a lot of data. This simulation data, too, is distributed Indeed, there’s so much data that via the LHC grid, but because anyone sharing it with the thousands of physi- can generate such simulations, it can cists worldwide poses quite a challenge. be sent as easily from lower to higher In the 1990s, when construction of the tiers as from higher to lower. LHC began, Caltech professor of phys- The group led by Newman and ics Harvey Newman and computation- Caltech physics professor Maria al scientist Julian Bunn came up with Spiropulu has also developed ever- better data-transfer methods; thanks 500 petabytes 5 100,000,000 DVDs to their work, more than 250 petabytes were transmitted through the what turned out to be the best solution: LHC computing grid in 2012 alone. a tiered system through which different As the LHC continues to crank up types of data trickle down from CERN its collision rates, Newman says, the to institutions around the world for ÆWWLWNLI\I_QTTZMIKP\PMM`IJa\M storage and sharing. With this distrib- range (an exabyte is a billion gigabytes). uted system, the data can be accessed Over the next 10 years, data volumes by all the LHC partners without every- and transfer rates are expected to grow thing needing to be copied and sent to a hundredfold. everyone.

20 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 A Faster Internet A decade ago, it was impossible to that would work for the huge networks scientist Iosif Legrand—which doesn’t transfer the large data sets that are required by physicists. “So what we just establish a protocol but optimizes now common at the Large Hadron did was try to really understand the the way huge data sets are transferred Collider (LHC). The problem lay with problem by stepping back and devel- across the world, which is essential for the computers’ so-called protocols— oping a mathematical model of such doing LHC physics. This has allowed the systems of rules that dictate how networks,” he explains. Working with the team to continue breaking records: data is transferred throughout a net- professor John Doyle and a group of last fall, they hit a record-setting 339 work like the Internet, setting up con- electrical engineers and computer gigabits per second, which is equivalent nections and automatically resending scientists at Caltech, Low developed to sending one million full-length information that gets lost or delayed. a deeper, structural understanding of movies in one day. While the protocols of the early these networks that allowed the team Demands for high-speed data 2000s were satisfactory for the Internet to build a protocol that could be as big transfer have continued to grow, and most people’s needs, physicists and complex as needed. “This was not even among nonphysicists. And so, like Caltech’s Harvey Newman knew possible before,” he says. in 2006, Low and his colleagues they would not be able to handle the Low’s ideas led to a new protocol started a company called FastSoft to oncoming deluge of LHC data. To called Fast TCP (for Transmission commercialize Fast TCP. Last year, solve the problem, Newman teamed Control Protocol), which Newman FastSoft was acquired by Akamai up with Steven Low, professor of used to set a new data-transfer record Technologies, which helps everyone computer science and electrical each year from 2003 to 2008. Newman from NBC to NASA deliver their engineering, and one of Caltech’s and his group have since developed online content. So that Grumpy Cat experts on information networks. a sophisticated application called video you watched the other day? At the time, Low says, there was Fast Data Transfer—whose principal There’s a good chance it was brought no systematic way to design a protocol author is Caltech computational to you by Fast TCP.

and her colleagues use genomics, and clinical data. The ultimate goal IÅMTL\PI\NWK][M[WV\PMOMVWUM of the alliance—of which Caltech with its 20,000 genes and hundreds is one of 70 founding institutional Biology of thousands of newly mapped partners—is to pool data, including regulatory elements. She says that the genome data and information about Gains availability of “genome-wide” data for treatment received and outcomes. humans and key model organisms is The resulting vast reservoir of data Perspective transforming how scientists approach will help authorized researchers many problems in modern biology. discover new causal relationships, Barbara Wold, Bren Professor of Of course, the amount of doctors make better diagnoses, Molecular Biology at Caltech, wants to information is large, because each and scientists formulate new untangle the complex webs of inter- human or mouse genome consists hypotheses. This is expected to be acting genes—called gene regulatory of 6 billion DNA bases. This calls for especially powerful for genomic networks—that determine whether a new data-mining tools and ways to diseases of high complexity such cell will ultimately become a muscle visualize data. Currently, integrating as cancer and autism. cell, a bone cell, or some other part of thousands of genomic datasets to “Creating and using large the adult organism. These regulatory extract new relationships among public databases that draw on data networks consist of genes that turn one genes and their regulatory elements is a style of basic biology research another on and off; how those interac- is a major challenge. \PI\JMOIV_Q\P\PMÅZ[\OMVWUM tions play out determines the cell’s fate. In June, Wold coauthored a sequences,” Wold says. “It is very To understand this process in full white paper that announced a new exciting to see it fusing with clinical genetic and biochemical detail, Wold global alliance for sharing genomic UMLQKQVM\W\PMJMVMÅ\WNJW\Pº

Left: Within a genome are sequences of DNA that regulate other genes, dictating when they turn on or off. Sometimes, those regulatory sequences and the genes they control are in completely different sections of the DNA strand—separated by thousands or even millions of DNA base pairs. This diagram illustrates the physical interactions between the genes in the mouse genome that are needed to turn a precursor cell called a myoblast into a myocyte, a type of skeletal muscle cell.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 21 Better Networks

5WJQTMXPWVMJI[M[\I\QWV[ÅJMZWX\QK do as individual devices, researchers use to design any kind of network cables, and satellites allow us to reach have discovered in recent years. But they want. Using this tool, network almost anyone anywhere on the planet. without a way to rigorously predict how engineers could, for instance, compare Our communication networks are a network will behave as a whole, engi- and optimize designs on a computer huge, linking together millions of com- neers have to resort to trial and error, before they actually begin construction. ponents—such as cell-phone towers ZM[]T\QVOQVQVMNÅKQMV\VM\_WZS[\PI\ “The same ideas apply no matter and internet servers. In our data-driven KIV[TW_\ZINÅKIVLLMKZMI[MZMTQIJQTQ\a what your network is,” Effros says— world, the size and complexity of these Now, Effros and her colleagues whether you’re talking about wireless networks will only increase. have devised some new mathematical networks, the Internet, or the sensors The problem is, engineers don’t models of generic network components some grocery stores have installed on have a systematic way of designing that do predict how they would work their shelves to monitor the freshness such intricate networks to function when pieced together in a network. of foods. Some researchers are even QV\PMUW[\MNÅKQMV\UIVVMZXW[[QJTM “Proving that such modeling is even exploring the possibility that such “Network design is more of an art form possible is a surprising result,” she says. models can be used to understand than a science,” says Michelle Effros, The researchers have so far devel- the genetic networks that govern the the George Van Osdol Professor of WXMLUWLMT[NWZ\PMÅ^MUW[\N]VLI- development of embryos, she says. Electrical Engineering at Caltech and mental network components—which ¹1N_MLWV¼\ÅO]ZMW]\PW_ an expert on network and information can be used to analyze all networks to use our networks properly and theory. “People get good at it through built from these components. Effros’s design them better, the path we’re on experience and intuition.” ultimate goal is to keep enlarging this will be limited,” she says. “To keep Network components work library, integrating the models into a expanding our communication differently linked together than they piece of software that others can then capabilities requires real advances.”

A Numbers Game

Analytics—also known as advanced every game and practice, developing statistics—has changed the way formulas to better quantify the pros play baseball and basketball. performance of each player and the And now it’s changing Caltech team as a whole. Every play provides basketball as well. a plethora of data that can be used What is advanced statistics? by coaches during practices, when “It’s information beyond the box determining game-day strategies and score,” explains Oliver Eslinger, lineups, and when instructing players the head coach of the Caltech men’s on how they can improve during the basketball team. Knowing how many off-season. points someone scored in a game isn’t The use of advanced statistics as informative as how that player got is still rare in Division III, Eslinger those points: when and where on the says. “I’d be surprised if any other court he made his shots; whether those DIII coaches are doing what we’re shots were contested jumpers or easy doing,” he notes. “I’d like us to be at layups; whether they were the result the forefront of analytics in college of set plays or were assisted and, if so, sports.” And for a place like Caltech, which teammate passed the ball. \PI\¼[KMZ\IQVTaÅ\\QVO Eslinger and his coaching staff record and annotate every detail of

22 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 Flashes in the Night

Most stars remain static over the course of a human lifetime, but some ZIXQLTaJZQOP\MVLQUÆIZMWZM^MV explode. Objects whose brightness ^IZQM[[QOVQÅKIV\TaIZMKITTML transients, and they help astronomers understand how stars live and die, Above: Examples of discoveries from the CRTS survey show, on the and how black holes form. left, galaxies before supernova explosions. The images on the right show Caltech astronomers using the galaxies with the supernovae circled. When the top right photograph Caltech’s Palomar Transient Factory _I[\ISMV\PMZM_I[IVI[\MZWQLXI[[QVO\PZW]OP\PMÅMTLI\\PM[IUM (PTF) and the Catalina Real-Time \QUM#\PM[WN\_IZMQLMV\QÅM[I[\MZWQL[IVL[MXIZI\M[\PMUNZWUI[\ZWXPa[QKIT Transient Survey (CRTS) have trained transients like supernovae. automated telescopes on the heavens to search for such objects—and have brought in quite a haul. They have While PTF and CRTS might detect basic pattern-recognition and discovered thousands of variable a few tens of transients per night, machine-learning algorithms to identify stars and bright, black-hole-powered Djorgovski says, LSST should be able the information that’s worth keeping. galactic nuclei. But the surveys may \WÅVLI[UIVaI[million. Still, no matter how good the have made their biggest mark by In addition, this fall Caltech’s tools are, there is simply too much data recording thousands of new stellar Owens Valley Radio Observatory for professional astronomers to analyze. explosions called supernovae. Long-Wavelength Array is set to The solution, Djorgovski says, is to Together, PTF and CRTS have begin imaging the entire viewable make that information accessible to discovered almost 4,000 of the more sky every second to search for all. “When you have little data, data than 6,300 supernovae known so far. transient signals at radio frequencies— is precious,” he says. “But when there’s And the surveys’ numbers rise daily. in particular, signals from nearby so much data that you can’t possibly By collecting so much data, astron- exoplanets. These signals arise when do it yourself, it’s actually irresponsible omers have been able to discover particles spewing from the planets’ not to let others do it.” entirely new kinds of astronomical stars interact with the planets’ The CRTS already makes its objects—such as new classes of su- UIOVM\QKÅMTL[,]ZQVOQ\[P]V\ entire data set publicly available; XMZVW^IM¸XZWUX\QVOVM_[KQMV\QÅK for transient signals, the array will the hope is that amateur enthusiasts inquiries, says astronomy professor generate 2.5 gigabytes of raw data will dive in and make their own George Djorgovski. And PTF and every second, a rate similar in scale discoveries. According to Djorgovski, CRTS are only the beginning. to that of the Large Hadron Collider, it’s this democratization of science The Zwicky Transient Facility, says astronomer Gregg Hallinan, that will be the most important also led by Caltech, is a PTF upgrade who’s leading the radio transient search. consequence of the data explosion that’s set to begin its survey in 2015. The impending explosion of in astronomy. And, within the next decade, the data makes the development of “Anybody with an Internet con- Large Synoptic Survey Telescope tools capable of analyzing all of it nection has the same opportunity as (LSST) will begin a constant watch increasingly important, Djorgovski astronomers at Caltech,” he says. of the night sky with greater sensitivity says. That’s why he and his colleagues “And that’s great.” and resolution than ever before. at Caltech and JPL are developing

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 23 NAVIGATING THE BRAIN’S MYSTERIES

H F E F D

E D E D H F H B E E H F

D F

A D A

C E B D

E C

B C A A G

C A G G

CALTECH RESEARCHERS (AND THE WHITE HOUSE) say it’s time to piece together a dynamic map of the brain— one that shows its complex trafﬁcking across trillions of neuronal connections. Addressing this grand challenge could just be the technological moon shot of a generation.

By Kimm Fesenmaier

24 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 ne morning this past April, announcement like this one—an Who knew it would blossom into nanoscientist Michael acknowledgment of the project they what it did? Such are the rare pleasures Roukes and neurobiologist had championed for several years, of academic administration.” Thanos Siapas sat amid the that of a large-scale effort that would What blossomed was a close scientists and engineers packed focus top scientists and engineers on friendship between Roukes and into the East Room of the revealing the details of the brain. Laurent, and a lasting collaboration at the intersection of neuroscience and White House. They listened as nanoscience. After a couple of small Francis Collins, director of the LET’S pilot projects, Roukes helped Laurent National Institutes of Health BACKTRACK introduce the use of tiny neural (NIH), introduced President probes that could be mass-produced. Barack Obama as “our scientist It all really started taking off for In 2002, Siapas joined the in chief,” and watched as the Roukes when, in September 2010, Caltech faculty as a neurobiologist president took his place behind he traveled to Oslo as the director of interested in brain circuits and the the podium. the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at functions of memory and learning. Caltech to attend the annual Kavli These complex functions arise as a After acknowledging the attendees Prize symposium. He struck up a result of the coordinated activation of as “some of the smartest people in conversation there with the directors large populations of neurons distrib- the country”—and joking about the of several Kavli neuroscience centers uted throughout the brain. In order to questionable appropriateness of his about the maturation of technologies elucidate these brain patterns, Siapas VM_[KQMV\QÅK\Q\TM¸\PMXZM[QLMV\OW\ coming out of nanoscience and wanted to capture large-scale record- down to the business of the morning: their potential to improve our ings from freely behaving animals. outlining “the next great American understanding of the brain. His interests aligned perfectly with project,” the BRAIN (Brain Research Why was Roukes, a physicist and those of Roukes and Laurent, and through Advancing Innovative nanoscientist, even thinking about the three began thinking about ways Neurotechnologies) Initiative. neuroscience? That dates back to to enhance the scale and quality of “As humans, we can identify a decision made more than 15 years electrophysiological recordings as galaxies light-years away, we can study before by former Caltech provost well as develop prototype devices to particles smaller than an atom,” the Steve Koonin. In the late 1990s, explore different research directions. president said. “But we still haven’t un- Gilles Laurent (now a director of As a result of these interactions, locked the mystery of the three pounds the Max Planck Institute for Brain Roukes says he became increasingly of matter that sits between our ears.” Research) told Koonin that one of fascinated by the brain. “In fact, Obama went on to describe how \PM\PQVO[PQ[ÅMTL_I[[WZMTaTIKSQVO I’ve sort of switched the center of my his newly proposed initiative would was the ability to insert tiny electrodes activity toward biological applications aim to change that. This newest of into the brain that would allow of nanotechnology,” he says, “with his Grand Challenges would be to scientists to record signals from the brain now being a principal effort. obtain not only a thorough map of multiple neurons at the same time. And all of this is the result of Steve the brain and its roughly 100 billion That got Koonin thinking. Koonin saying, ‘Get to know this guy, neurons, but a dynamic picture of “I knew that Michael was Gilles. See what happens.’” how that complex organ works in real expert at fabricating very tiny things,” time. Ultimately, scientists could use Koonin says. “So I connected Gilles this knowledge to pick apart how we and Michael up and provided a bit of BAM think, learn, and remember as well as seed money to grease the interaction. A year after Roukes’s informal how to better treat disorders such as My intuition in doing so was nothing conversation in Oslo with the neuro- schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, more than having two accomplished science directors, a symposium took post-traumatic stress disorder, and faculty interested in reaching out place outside of London, hosted by the Alzheimer’s disease. across disciplinary boundaries, and Kavli Foundation, the Allen Institute Roukes, Siapas, and many of knowing that new instrumentation for Brain Science, and the Gatsby their colleagues had long awaited an almost always leads to new science. Charitable Foundation. There, a

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 25 number of participants from neurosci- disparate activities is no easy task; avenues that could improve the ence and nanotechnology—including neuroscientists today are generally situation in each of these areas. Roukes, Siapas, and Caltech neuro- restricted to using electrodes that allow They also suggested that entirely new scientist David Anderson—came them to study brain activity from one methods for wirelessly, noninvasively together to identify new opportunities neuron at a time up to only a few. recording neuronal activity could for technological development at the But brain circuits involve millions of prove useful. For example, they wrote interface between these disciplines. such nerve cells, each with thousands of in the Neuron paper that they think “There was spirited discussion about connections that might be rearranging “it will ultimately become feasible to the best avenues and approaches to all the time. Focusing on individual deploy small wireless microcircuits, take,” Anderson says. neurons could lead researchers to miss untethered in living brains, for direct During the course of the sym- the forest for the trees. monitoring of neuronal activity.” posium, a subgroup of participants On the other hand, imaging To take steps toward that goal, —including Roukes; George Church, technologies such as functional MRI Roukes and Siapas have started a one of the leaders of the Human and magnetoencephalography (MEG) Beckman Institute pilot project at Genome Project; Rafael Yuste, a are able to capture whole-brain activity Caltech, in which they are developing neurobiologist from Columbia —but at the expense of single-cell arrays of tiny electrodes called nano- University; and others—got together [XMKQÅKQ\ananotechnologies that would need to ground, where researchers would be beyond that. be developed to fuel a neuroscience able to image, understand, and eventu- Roukes and Siapas’s research revolution. In June 2012, a group ally manipulate collections of neurons would allow them to mass-manufacture including Roukes, Church, Alivisatos, at the level of brain circuits, the BAM tiny silicon probes that could record Yuste, and two others published a advocates called for the development neuronal activity from denser popu- paper in the journal Neuron describing of new tools that would allow them to lations of neurons by using many re- what they dubbed the Brain Activity record every activity spike from every cording sites along the lengths of each Map (BAM) Project. They followed neuron in a circuit. Current imaging probe. “Using these techniques, we can that up earlier this year with a brief techniques cannot record activity make a new generation of needles that overview of the project, this time in from enough neurons and do not reach IZMU]KPÅVMZIVLPI^MUIVaUIVa the journal Science. []NÅKQMV\LMX\P[_Q\PQV\PMJZIQV\Q[[]M more recording sites,” Roukes says. One of the central points in all to achieve this goal. Nor are current of these documents was that many techniques for gathering electrophysi- brain functions may emerge as a result ological measurements able to record THE DETAILS of neuronal activities taking place in activity from enough neurons in dense If nothing else, the published articles physically separate regions of the brain enough patches. However, the authors and less formal white papers produced at the same time. Monitoring such argued, there are promising research by the proponents of the Brain Activity

26 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 Map Project sparked a conversation Asked about the group’s progress, in Washington, D.C., about the Anderson notes that he and his XW\MV\QITJMVMÅ\[\PI\KW]TLJMZMITQbML BRAIN colleagues are just beginning Learning by a large-scale, brain-related national deliberations. “Our plan,” he says, initiative. In February, President “is to solicit input from a broad From Obama even alluded to such a project range of scientists. I think it will be in his State of the Union address— fascinating and instructive to listen Machines two months before announcing the to the different voices in the neurosci- BRAIN Initiative. “Every dollar we ence community and see what kind invested to map the human genome of consensus can be reached.” Neuroscience and nanoscience returned $140 to our economy,” he While many have applauded are not the only fields that are said. “Today our scientists are mapping the initiative and its ambitious scope, likely to benefit from the new the human brain to unlock the answers there are detractors who worry, BRAIN Initiative. Certainly, trying to Alzheimer’s … Now is not the time among other things, that the project’s to understand how hundreds of to gut these job-creating investments funding will steal from other neuro- thousands or millions of neurons in science and innovation. Now is the science projects or that the brain is connect and behave across a time to reach a level of research and the wrong subject for such a focused range of timescales will produce development not seen since the height project. Anderson, however, sees what has been called a “data of the Space Race.” the BRAIN Initiative as “an exciting deluge”—and managing and The president would later opportunity to accelerate progress making sense of that flood of propose getting the BRAIN Initiative in our understanding of brain function information will require new tools started with a budget of about $100 in health and disease by promoting for data management and analysis. UQTTQWVNWZÅ[KITaMIZ¸_Q\P new technology development and A Kavli Futures Symposium funds coming from the National applications.” was held at Caltech in January, Institutes of Health, DARPA (the Roukes agrees. “This is an bringing together 16 scientists Defense Advanced Research Projects incredible opportunity to do a moon from a range of fields to discuss Agency), and the National Science shot in terms of the technology that this issue. The organizers Foundation. Several private organiza- will be developed, which will estimated that recording from a tions, including the Kavli Foundation, democratize how the next generation million neurons a thousand times have also said they will contribute of neuroscience is done,” he says. per second would generate 100 to the effort. But details about the “We would be foolish not to terabytes (102,400 gigabytes) allocation of funding, the areas of capitalize on this moment.” of data per day. However, if you research, and the initiative’s goals compressed the data, you might IVLUQTM[\WVM[IZM[\QTT\WJMLMÅVML be able to get down to about To that end, the NIH has 3,000 terabytes of data per year appointed a high-level working group David Anderson is the Seymour Benzer —a huge amount of information, of neuroscientists to review available Professor of Biology and an investigator with but not beyond the range of other information, to recommend goals the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. big-data projects. that are in line with the vision of the Machine-learning expert Yaser Abu-Mostafa is a professor of electrical initiative, and to come up with a Yaser Abu-Mostafa participated engineering and computer science. His work [KQMV\QÅKXTIVNWZIKPQM^QVO\PW[MOWIT[ in the symposium. “The magnitude is supported by Intellectual Ventures. Caltech’s Anderson is a member of the project and the amount of of that 15-person group, which NSF Michael Roukes is the Robert M. Abbey data will be completely impossible director Collins refers to as the Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and to handle,” he says, “unless you BRAIN Initiative’s “dream team.” Bioengineering. His neuro/nano work is have a method that will be able The team’s charge? First, compile funded by a National Institutes of Health to do the needed mapping, inter- a list of research areas tagged for (NIH) Director’s Pioneer Award and grants pretation, and analysis in an auto- immediate funding. Then submit a from the G. Harold & Leila Y. Mathers mated way.” Abu-Mostafa believes full report in June 2014. Foundation and the National Science that such a method will come Anderson considers himself Foundation (NSF). from machine learning—an area privileged to be part of the working in which, he adds, Caltech has a group. And even more to the point, Thanos Siapas is a professor of computation lot to contribute. he says, “I’m thrilled that the president and neural systems. He receives funding of the United States has recognized from the Gordon and Betty Moore the importance of understanding Foundation, the Mathers Foundation, brain function.” the NSF, and the NIH.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 27 Evolving Education Training the scientists and engineers of the future starts with teaching for the future. by Andrew Allan

s any evolutionary biologist evolution—an educational rewiring, a series of changes to update its core A will tell you, if you don’t evolve, if you will—that is changing the way curriculum. This sequence of general you perish. Throughout time, this students connect with faculty, faculty education requirements has not has proved true not just for entire connect with students, and both been revised for nearly two decades. species, but for societies, organizations, interact with the information and “These changes have important companies, nations, and—especially ideas they’re encountering together. implications not only for how our —institutions of higher education, ¹7VM[QbMÅ\[ITTLWM[V¼\_WZSIVa- students will learn,” Katz says, “but where change is essential to reaching more. We have a diversity of academic for how we as faculty will teach them.” the widest variety of students and to programs and a diversity of students, In the midst of all this reworking remaining competitive in an ever- and the old way just isn’t the solution,” and rewiring, Minnesota photographer M`XIVLQVOÅMTLWNML]KI\QWVITWX\QWV[ says Vice Provost Melany Hunt. and educator Martin Springborg And so, by modernizing the “There’s a renewed vigor in the came to Caltech as part of his work on undergraduate core curriculum, way we think about undergraduate a nationwide photographic essay he’s restructuring the campus’s writing education, and a commitment among compiling; he spent three days taking center, founding a dedicated center the faculty to improve it,” adds shots of faculty and students as they for teaching and learning, and Jonathan Katz, chair of the Division went about the business of teaching using the online arena to expand the of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and learning. The photographs on Institute’s educational reach, Caltech who has been closely involved in the next few pages are from that look is undergoing an educational Caltech’s recent initiative to institute at a day in Caltech’s educational life.

At the Hixon Writing Center— under the leadership of campus writing coordinator and lecturer in writing Susanne Hall—students work one-on- one with professional and peer tutors to generate ideas, develop arguments, organize their thoughts, and enhance clarity in academic, technical, and personal writing.

28 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 Cassandra Volpe Horii (left), director of the Caltech Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach, works with Professor of Biology and Geobiology Dianne Newman (on left at head of table, below) and her Principles of Biology course TAs to provide guidance in implementing the latest teaching methods, developing better lectures and more targeted homework assignments and exams, and obtaining and analyzing feedback from students.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 29 Right: Teaching and learning at Caltech take place as much outside the classroom as inside. Students taught by David Tirrell, Ross McCollum- William H. Corcoran Professor and professor of chemistry and chemical engineering, discuss their latest research in his Biomolecular Engineering Laboratory, which focuses on the design, construction, and characterization of engineered biological systems.

Caltech is using burgeoning online technologies not only to improve the learning experience of students enrolled at the Institute but also to reach a wider audience of curious and science-literate individuals.

30 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 Left: Caltech has a long history of exceptional teaching by faculty such as Professor of Geology and Geochemistry Paul Asimow, winner of the 2012 Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching, who here is seen teaching freshmen in his geology survey course, Earth and Environment.

The online arena is changing the _MZM\PMÅZ[\+IT\MKPXZWNM[[WZ[ allows teachers to rethink the structure way professors impart knowledge to to teach MOOCs through the of their classroom presentations. students—both in university settings Coursera platform. “We hope that more and more around the world and at home. Caltech “MOOCs provide the latest of the passive process of listening is using burgeoning online technologies technology for several of our goals, to lectures happens at home on the not only to improve the learning experi- such as developing Caltech students’ student’s laptop,” says Hunt, “so that ence of students enrolled at the Institute communication skills and pedagogical the classroom experience can become but also to reach a wider audience of experience,” Lester says. “These a more engaging, interactive process.” curious and science-literate individuals. IK\Q^Q\QM[_QTTPMTX\WLM^MTWX[KQMV\QÅK It is with the goal of improving In mid-2012, Caltech joined with professional careers in the 21st century.” teaching and learning at Caltech Coursera, an online education company Vice Provost Hunt says that —and ultimately the Caltech that offers courses from the world’s top MOOCs have virtually unlimited experience—that these types of universities and organizations free of potential for impacting teaching and additional resources are being made charge. Through Coursera, Caltech learning, not only allowing Caltech available to both students and teachers. launched a series of MOOCs—massive faculty to share their research with This educational evolution, which is open online courses—at the end of last a global audience but also enhancing changing the way students and faculty year. Bren Professor of Biology Henry education on campus by allowing connect and engage with each other Lester, Professor of Astronomy George students to go back and review lectures and with information, will ensure Djorgovski, and Professor of Economics or brush up on previous lessons. that Caltech remains a uniquely and Neuroscience Antonio Rangel Adding an online component also challenging environment.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 31 alumni impact

Game Theory, Austen Style Could Jane Austen have been a social scientist? Michael Chwe (BS ’85) thinks so.

In his book Jane Austen, Game Theorist, Caltech have intentions toward Emma herself. In this alumnus Michael Chwe—now an professor of political case, Chwe says, Emma falls into a classic trap— science at UCLA—makes the case that the beloved overconfidence in her own strategic powers. author was a careful observer of strategic thinking. And that, Chwe believes, is the point. Chwe first became intrigued by the idea while “Austen’s novels do not simply provide ‘case watching the film Clueless, the 1995 adaptation of material’ for the game theorist to analyze,” Chwe Austen’s novel Emma. writes in his book, calling the novels as a whole “I never took a literature class at Caltech, much “an ambitious theoretical project, with insights not to my detriment,” Chwe laughs. “But when I read yet superseded by modern social science.” Emma, I was struck by how Austen carefully crafted Austen famously questioned the barriers scenarios that mirrored modern strategic thinking.” between social classes. But with Chwe’s help, Chwe contends that more than 100 years before she has now crossed another divide—the one the mathematician John von Neumann established between art and science. game theory as a discipline for studying conflict and

cooperation, Austen was already on the case. Michael Chwe (center) gets a chance to meet two of Jane Take Emma’s Emma Woodhouse, who tries to Austen’s characters thanks to TACIT (Theater Arts at Caltech) play matchmaker between the simple Harriet Smith and two Caltech graduate students. Emma Woodhouse, right, is played by Meg Rosenburg, who is earning her PhD and Mr. Elton, the village vicar. Emma’s attempts at in planetary science, and Mr. Elton is Kelvin Bates, who is manipulation backﬁre when Mr. Elton turns out to working toward a PhD in environmental chemistry.

32 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE FALL 2013 Big Data for the Masses Rajiv Ghanta (BS ’05) and Cesar Del Solar (BS ’04, MS ’05)

While looking for a way to track his personal health and financial data on a single screen, Rajiv Ghanta realized that he had an information problem—there was too much of it. “Caltech prepared me to be comfortable around numbers,” says Ghanta. “But the largest system in Sorting and Sharing a the brain is the visual cortex. Our brains are optimized Mountain of Gene Sequences to handle larger amounts of information when it is presented visually, making it easier to detect patterns.” John Quackenbush (BS ’83) So in 2010, Ghanta and fellow Caltech graduate Cesar Del Solar founded Leftronic, a web service that Since the first announcement in 2000 that a working allows customers to aggregate data in real time from draft of the sequence of the human genome had been a wide variety of sources and then present that data in assembled, gene-sequencing technology has sprinted an elegant dashboard with enough charts, maps, and forward. It’s now possible to have your chromosomes other statistical eye candy to turn the casual number read in less than a day and for the price of a used car. tracker into a true data wonk. The dashboards can then But once researchers have a genome in hand— be displayed on a website, an HDTV in the lobby of what then? That’s what fascinates John Quackenbush. a building, a smartphone, or any web-enabled device. “The challenge is no longer how to generate these “We started Leftronic because we felt everyone vast amounts of sequencing data,” says Quackenbush, should have the tools to understand their data quickly a professor of computational biology and bioinformatics and easily,” Del Solar says. at Harvard. “Now we need to effectively collect, Now you can have a whole new stat to keep manage, and interpret the information in ways that track of: the number of hours you spend staring at make it useful and—above all—private and secure.” your nifty new Leftronic dashboard. In 2011, Quackenbush founded GenoSpace to create an advanced cloud-computing environment that enables complex genomic and clinical data to be Location of Alumni No. of Caltech Alumni securely stored, analyzed, and made accessible to a broad range of researchers and health-care providers. In a ceremony at the White House this past 22,584 summer, Quackenbush and 12 other scientists were recognized as Open Science Champions of Change for their commitment to sharing scientific data. “With these new collaborative tools,” Quackenbush says, “we can accelerate the pace of scientific progress while respecting the important role each individual Location of Alumni Web Visitors patient can play in the process of medical discovery.”

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Alumni stories provided by the Caltech Alumni Association. For more about these stories and to read about other alumni in the news, go to alumni.caltech.edu.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 33 CaltechEngineeringAd_6-13:Layout 1 6/4/13 3:43 PM Page 1

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Francis H. Clauser, 1913 –2013

Francis H. Clauser (BS ’34, MS ’35, Hopkins University. He chaired the PhD ’37), the Clark Blanchard Mil- department until 1960, recruiting lead- likan Professor of Engineering, Emer- MZ[QV\PMÅMTLNZWUUIVaKW]V\ZQM[\W itus, passed away on March 3 at age create a world-class research center. 99. Born in the decade following the In 1965, Clauser was invited to the ?ZQOP\*ZW\PMZ[¼ÅZ[\XW_MZMLÆQOP\ newly created University of California he was a founder of modern aeronau- campus in Santa Cruz to set up the tics and helped usher in the Space Age. engineering school, and in 1969 he re- Upon earning bachelor’s degrees turned to Caltech to chair the Division in physics at Caltech, Clauser and of Engineering and Applied Science. his twin brother, Milton, entered the He stepped down in 1974 but remained aeronautics program run by Theodore the Millikan Professor of Engineering von Kármán. After receiving their doc- until his retirement in 1980. torates, the brothers joined the Douglas Clauser was a Fellow of the Alumnus in 1966, one of the initial 23 Aircraft Company in Santa Monica, American Institute of Aeronautics people to be honored. where Francis soon became the direc- and Astronautics, the American Clauser is survived by his sister, tor of aerodynamic design research, Physical Society, and the American Betty Celeste Valois; his son, Wolf lau- assembling a team that profoundly Association for the Advancement of reate in physics John Francis Clauser QVÆ]MVKMLI^QI\QWVLM[QOVJaLM^MTWX- Science. He was also a member of the (BS ’64); and his daughter, Caroline ing mathematical methods for shaping National Academy of Engineering, Helen Ryan. tails, wings, engine nacelles, and air \PM[KQMV\QÅKZM[MIZKP[WKQM\a;QOUI scoops. @Q\PMMVOQVMMZQVOPWVWZ[WKQM\a To learn more about Francis Clauser’s life, In 1946, Clauser founded the Tau Beta Pi, and Caltech’s Gnome visit caltech.edu/content/francis-clauser. aeronautics department at Johns Club. He became a Distinguished

Donald Coles, 1924–2013

Donald Coles (MS ’48, PhD ’53), pro- tics, the American Physical Society, fessor of aeronautics, emeritus, passed and the American Association for away on May 2. He was 89 years old. the Advancement of Science, After receiving his undergraduate and he was elected to the National degree from the University of Academy of Engineering in 1984. Minnesota, Coles came to Caltech for In 2000, the Donald Coles Prize in his graduate degrees; he then spent his Aeronautics was established at Caltech; entire research career at the Institute, it is awarded at commencement to retiring in 1996. An expert on the the aeronautics PhD “whose thesis dis- XZWXMZ\QM[WN\]ZJ]TMV\ÆW_IVL\PM plays the best design of an experiment LaVIUQK[WNZW\I\QVOÆ]QL[+WTM[ or the best design for a piece of experi- XZW^QLML\PMÅZ[\ZMTQIJTMM`XMZQUMV- mental equipment.” In 2011, GALCIT tal data for local surface friction in (the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories []XMZ[WVQKÆW_)UWVOPQ[\MIKPQVO at the California Institute of Technolo- To learn more about the Donald Coles’ life, achievements was the development of gy) created the Donald Coles Lecture- visit caltech.edu/content/donald-coles-0. IKW]Z[MQV\MKPVQKITÆ]QLUMKPIVQK[ ship in Aerospace in his honor. that bridged the gap between classical Coles is survived by his wife, [PMIZÆW_[IVL\PMQZIXXTQKI\QWV[QV\PM Ellen; by his four children, LM[QOVWNKWV\ZWT^IT^M[IVLRM\ÆIX[ Christopher, Elizabeth, Kenneth, Coles was a fellow of the American and Janet; by his sister, Marjorie Institute of Aeronautics and Astronau- Schlaegel; and by two grandchildren.

FALL 2013 E NGI N EER I NG & SCI E NCE 35 endnotes

CALCULATING CALTECH: We asked alumni to provide us with an equation to sum up their Caltech experience, reminding them—of course—to deﬁne their variables. Here is what some of them came up with. Caltech = excellence 2 Excellence through mathematical calculations at Caltech E = mc Excellence equals minds creatively challenged

iπ At Caltech, 1 = 2. e = -1 CIT = U/∞ Caltech requires double sums up Caltech: rational, When you go to Caltech, the concentration and irrational, real, complex, whole, aW]KZMI\MQVÅVQ\M effort; as a consequence, natural, positive, negative. possibilities for yourself. aW]OM\LW]JTM\PMJMVMÅ\[

When I graduated from Caltech, I applied for this license plate, which is the polar coordinates equation for the number 1, which Caltech is.

My equation for Caltech is the simple exponential formula, y = ex. For me, it implies ;$ the explosive amount of knowledge that continues to accumulate and accelerate. where S is entropy. Although, as we know, entropy tends to increase in any x closed system, locally we may assert Caltech = e that Caltech brings order out of as in exponential accumulation of knowledge disorder, knowledge out of ignorance. at an exponential accelerating rate.

As in, from the one Caltech comes a seemingly 1 ´ ∞ inﬁnite amount of potential and creativity.

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