Winter/Spring 2024 Events

With 20+ dynamic events each year in Southern California, Northern California, and New York City, the Caltech Associates program offers regular opportunities to learn about what's new and what's next directly from the people defining future directions in a broad range of disciplines. Event Q&A sessions afford the chance to gain even more insight. For event registration or information about becoming a member, please contact us at (626) 395-3919.

Guest policy. We welcome guests interested in joining the Caltech Associates to accompany a member at up to two Associates events before deciding. Members should always attend events with their registered guests. Please note that reservations for guests unaccompanied by a member are subject to cancellation.

Every year, thousands of people suffer spinal cord injuries at the level of the neck that lead to tetraplegia, the loss of movement and feeling in all four limbs. Richard Andersen, the James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience and holder of the T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center Leadership Chair, studies how the brain encodes movement and speech, with the goal of developing brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) that can help people with paralysis by allowing them to control external assistive devices with their thoughts.

A BMI consists of tiny electrodes that can record the activities of large numbers of cortical neurons, together with machine learning algorithms that can interpret the person's intent based on the recorded neural activity. Professor Andersen and his team are collaborating with colleagues on a novel approach to BMIs: implanting electrodes in a variety of specialized cortical areas rather than in the motor cortex alone. This approach has enabled study participants to control robotic limbs and computers that, in turn, have enabled them to drink a beverage, play a computer piano, use software, and drive an automobile.

Unlike animals and plants, bacteria can eat and respire an extraordinary range of substrates. Understanding this defining feature of bacterial biology is both intellectually fascinating and practically important, as insights into the metabolism of bacteria can be leveraged to control their growth.

Dianne Newman, the Gordon M. Binder/Amgen Professor of Biology and Geobiology, will tell us how her team built upon knowledge of bacterial anaerobic respiration to develop a new strategy to treat chronic infections of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Among the most virulent and antibiotic-resistant pathogens, this bacterium is commonly found in wound infections, including those associated with implanted medical devices such as catheters and ventilators. Professor Newman will describe a journey that began in the lab with a "crazy hypothesis" that has now reached a stage where it has the potential for exciting real-world applications.

A better understanding of the inner workings of human cells could significantly advance medical technology and our methods for treating disease. Every cell in the human body contains a nucleus—a "vault" that holds the cell's genetic information. The nucleus is protected by a double membrane that shields it from chemical reactions in other parts of the cell.

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) functions as a "gatekeeper" to the nucleus, precisely controlling the exchange of macromolecules between the nucleus and the rest of the cell. Dysfunction of the NPC or its components contributes significantly to human illness. André Hoelz, the Mary and Charles Ferkel Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and his research team have been working to improve our knowledge of the NPC's architecture and its function, which could lead to revolutionary new disease therapies.

As provost, David A. Tirrell helps to secure Caltech's future as a source of discovery and innovation. Over dinner at The Athenaeum, hear from Provost Tirrell, the Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, about the latest Institute developments.

At the heart of our Milky Way galaxy lies a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A* that is evolving on a timescale of mere minutes. It has been theorized for decades that a black hole will leave a "shadow" on a background of hot gas. However, creating a photograph of this using traditional imaging approaches would require an Earth-sized radio telescope.

Katherine Bouman, assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences, electrical engineering, and astronomy, will describe the techniques her team developed to produce the first image of Sagittarius A* using the Event Horizon Telescope—a network of telescopes around the globe—and the challenges of accounting for time-variability using this method. She also will talk about the still-unanswered scientific questions that motivate her team to improve this computational telescope to see black hole phenomena that remain invisible to us and the techniques the researchers are developing to extract the evolving structure of Sagittarius A*, including plans to observe its changing environment in 3D. In particular, she will discuss Orbital Black Hole Tomography, which integrates known physics with a neural representation to map evolving flaring emissions around the black hole.

The gut microbiome has been associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is defined by delayed or reduced social communication and repetition of familiar traits. Sarkis Mazmanian, the Luis B. and Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology, and his research team discovered that specific molecules produced by the microbiome differ between people with an autism diagnosis and control individuals, with outcomes also reproduced in mouse models.

A pilot human study using an oral gut-restricted sequestrant drug showed a reduction of specific microbial metabolites in blood after eight weeks of treatment. Significantly, drug therapy targeting the microbiome was associated with improvements in anxiety and irritability. These findings suggest that changes in the microbiome regulate behaviors associated with ASD and that targeting gut-derived metabolites represents a new approach to treating autism.

Caltech president Thomas F. Rosenbaum, holder of the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics, and Katherine T. Faber, the Simon Ramo Professor of Materials Science, invite President's Circle members to an elegant evening in celebration of members' generosity to Caltech. Enjoy food, drink, and good company at this annual event.

Space solar power (SSP) has long been a subject of science fiction since Isaac Asimov published the short story "Reason" in 1941. Today, we know that solar panels in space—unobstructed by terrestrial cycles of day and night, weather, or seasons—could yield as much as eight times the power of panels on Earth's surface, potentially providing a nearly unlimited supply of solar energy.

The exciting possibility of SSP relies on the ability to transfer energy wirelessly over long distances. Scientists began grappling with this concept in the late 1960s, and recent technological and scientific advances have made it possible to revisit the idea with the hope that it may be achievable in the not-too-distant future. In his presentation, Ali Hajimiri, the Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering, will explain how the synchronized operation of many transmitters, combined with the physical concept of coherence in waves, enables the creation of programmable 3-dimensional focal points that can be used to allow for wire-less energy transfer over significant distances on Earth and in space.

The things humans send into outer space have a way of not staying put. Whether they languish in orbit, crash into each other, or fall back to Earth, the unwanted byproducts of the space industry can pose significant risks—not just to the lives of astronauts, but also to the integrity of the satellite information infrastructure and the safety of individuals and environments on the planet below.

Although the quantity of artificial material in orbit has risen exponentially in the past five years, communities worldwide have viewed outer space as a place that could be polluted since the beginning of the Space Age.

Assistant professor of history and William H. Hurt Scholar Lisa Ruth Rand will explore how space junk became an environmental problem, who has raised the alarm along the way, and why you should care. A historian of science, technology, and the environment, she is in the process of writing a book, currently titled Space Junk: An Environmental History of Waste in Orbit (under contract with Harvard University Press), that focuses on waste practices to trace changing ideas about outer space as a natural resource.