Learning the Ropes Unveiled
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1- Ll. Cl) 1- 1- The campus community biweekly October 3, 2002, vol. 2, no. 14 New home page Learning the ropes unveiled Electronic Media Publications (EMP) is pleased to launch a revamped Caltech home page that packs new features and Paul Wennberg Charles Steidel search capabilities into a clean, stream lined design and provides templates for Two faculty creating or updating departmental or individual pages. named geniuses When the page is opened, a summary of the latest campus news appears prominently under a navigational bar Professor of Astronomy Charles Steidel with 12 main links that organize all major and Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry campus Web pages. Pointing at a link and Environmental Engineering Science brings up a short description of what it Paul Wennberg have been named 2002 contains, and clicking on it immediately MacArthur Fellows, a prestigious honor replaces the news area with a menu of bestowed each year on innovators in a possible destinations. variety of fields and commonly known as At the top of the page is a banner im the "genius grant." age of campus scenes that rotate periodi They were among 24 fellows an cally; visitors can browse all of the scenes nounced by the John D. and Catherine T. by clicking on the banner directly. The MacArthur Foundation of Chicago. Each right side of the page provides access to recipient will receive a five-year, $500,000 an improved site search engine incorpo grant, no strings attached. rating the Google technology, as well as The two join past Caltech winners to searches of the personnel directory, Jacqueline Barton, Hanisch Memorial calendar, Archives, and library databases. Professor and professor of chemistry; Campus Web masters can also join in John Benton, the late Dreyfuss Professor the site's redesign by using the provided of History; Michael Dickinson, professor templates to easily update or create of bioengineering; Hideo Mabuchi, asso Caltech's incoming class of 2006 builds bonds with an exercise called The Ropes, at the annual Frosh pages that conform to the new style. The Camp orientation, held September 23-25 at Astro Camp in Idyllwild. ciate professor of physics and control templates can be accessed at www.caltech. and dynamical systems; John Schwarz, edu/caltech/templates. Brown Professor of Theoretical Physics; According to Caltech alum Aurelius Family Night to James Westphal, professor of planetary Prochazka (PhD '97), who programmed science, emeritus; and Erik Winfree, as the former and new home pages, the feature film and fun sistant professor of computer science new site works best with the latest and computation and neural systems. browser versions, but "every attempt Evil aliens have kidnapped all adults from Steidel has made numerous contribu was made to accommodate all browsers Earth. What are the kids, who are left be tions to the field of cosmology in the commonly used on campus." Preferred hind, to do? Play all day, for one thing. But ongoing attempt to understand galaxy browsers are Internet Explorer, version 5 when they get hungry for snacks, then formation and evolution. In particular, and above; Netscape, version 6 and what? That's when they turn to Jimmy he's known for developing a technique Nelson Nash wins above; and Mozilla. A list of all usable Neutron, a kid who is way ahead of his that effectively locates early galaxies at browsers is located at www.caltech.edu/ friends in the smarts department, but a bit prescribed cosmic epochs, allowing for Medal of Excellence caltech/browser-requirements. of a slouch when it comes to being cool. the study of large samples of galaxies in The home page project was super At this year's Caltech/United Way Fam the early universe. Access to these Denise Nelson Nash, director of Caltech vised by Charlie White, manager of EMP, ily Night, kids and their families will be samples, observed primarily using the Public Events, has been selected by the which is also responsible for the able to see a screening of Jimmy Neutron: Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Institute as its 2002 Medal of Excellence @Caltech online community and the Tech Boy Genius, in Beckman Auditorium. See permits mapping of the galaxies' distri winner. The annual award, sponsored by Today daily news service. Gail Anderson, how Jimmy outsmarts the aliens, gets the bution in space and detailed observation the Pasadena-based nonprofit Women at who designed the page, has also built parents back home safely, and wins the of individual galaxies, thus providing Work, recognizes women from area insti Web sites for Dining Services, Housing admiration of all the girls ... or does he? insights into their formation. tutions who have made outstanding Services, the bookstore, and other cam Family Night is set to take place on Steidel says he hasn't yet decided what contributions in the workplace. pus departments. Friday, October 11. All scheduled events to do with the grant. "I'm giving it some "I was so surprised and pleased to are free to members of the Caltech and thought, but I'm still in the disbelief phase • find out that I won," Nelson Nash said . JPL community and their families. it took me completely by surprise!" he said. "It's a great honor, and I'm grateful to my The movie will top an evening com "The unique nature of the fellowship makes colleagues and to the administration for plete with a pasta dinner, children's art, me feel like I should put a great deal of their vote of confidence in choosing me." and tons of fun on Beckman Mall. On thought into coming up with a creative use She and two other finalists-Mary CA LT EC H hand will be Sulley from Monsters, Inc., for the money. It does feel a bit odd to be ~- Ellen Barba, supervisor of staff opera .. Spider-Man, and Sleeping Beauty, who recognized for work that is by its nature ~~) tions in the Infrared Processing and will stay awake long enough to make collaborative and dependent on the hard Analysis Center (IPAC), and Suzette poodles out of balloons. Come for the work of many people, but at the same time I Cummings, assistant to the dean of stu ~l face painters, stay for the caricaturists. am very excited by the possibilities." dents and to the vice president for stu ";::::.::: ·r· Tickets for the free dinner are available CALl OIO ~ .. A graduate of Princeton University and .... c ....... dent affairs-were selected from the pool u•"..,"" now in Human Resources, the Caltech Y, Caltech, Steidel was a faculty member at of nominees by an advisory committee the Women's Center, the Caltech Book MIT before returning to the Institute. He \ and presented to the Institute Adminis I .IPL store, the Caltech Children's Center, JPL's has also received fellowships from the trative Council for a final decision. Child Educational Center, and the JPL Sloan and Packard foundations, as well as In nominating Nelson Nash, Paul The leaner, smarter Caltech home page features store. see Geniuses, page 6 Carroad, administrator for the Division of a sleek new look and Google search technology. see Family Night, page 6 see Nelson Nash, page 6 2 Caltech 336, October 3, 2002 Elachi receives Alexander Varshavsky, Smits Professor of Cell Biology, and Avram Hershko of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, will share the E. B. Takeda Award Wilson Medal at the 42nd American Society for NewsBriefs Cell Biology Annual Meeting this December. The JPL director and Caltech vice president medal conveys the society's "highest recognition Charles Elachi has been named the winner for science, and is awarded each year for signifi of a 2002 Takeda Award for his work in cant and far-reaching contributions to cell biology over the course of a career." developing spaceborne radar instruments to monitor the global environment. The awards, established last year by the Hoffmann appointed Takeda Foundation of Japan, honor indi graduate dean viduals who demonstrate outstanding achievements in the creation and applica Michael Hoffmann, Irvine Professor of Environ tion of new engineering knowledge to mental Science, was appointed dean of graduate benefit human needs. studies in July. He replaces Roderick Kiewiet, who Elachi, an expert on imaging radar and returned to full-time professorial duties earlier this year. other remote-sensing technologies, shares Gary Lorden, former acting vice president for his prize with two Japanese researchers, student affairs, said, " The job of graduate dean Nobuyoshi Fugono and Ken'ichi Okamoto, requires great skill in collaborating with faculty, for work benefiting the environment. He will students, and others in the administration to help receive half ofthe monetary award of 100 make our graduate programs as strong and effective as possible. In his long Caltech career, million yen (approximately $833,000), which Mike has gained a wealth of experience in admis will be presented at a ceremony on Novem sions, in working with graduate students as an ber 20 in Tokyo. option representative, and as the executive officer Born in Lebanon, Elachi joined JPL in for environmental science and engineering." 1971 after graduating from Caltech. He A faculty member since 1980, Hoffmann is an During the Palomar Observatory's Astronomical Fiesta on Friday, expert in environmental chemistry. Awarded the served in a variety of research and manage September 20, visitors took tours of the 200-inch telescope, just one Alexander von Humboldt Prize for his research and ment positions before being named director of several observatories sitting on the crest of Palomar Mountain. teaching in that field, and the American Chemical in 2001. As a researcher, he is probably best Society Award for Creative Advances in Environ known for his role in developing imaging mental Science and Technology, Hoffmann is also radar systems for the Space Shuttle that Deaths a member of two scientific-journal editorial boards Personals and the scientific advisory board of Germany's allow scientists to penetrate clouds and David Morrisroe, a former Caltech vice presi Max Planck Institute for Chemistry.