Winter/Spring 2026 Events

With approximately 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.

Palo Alto, California
Saturday, January 10, 2026
6:00 pm

Can we harness existing fiber-optic cables used for telecommunications to serve as seismic sensors? Is it possible to refreeze glaciers to the glacial bed to slow ice melt and moderate rising sea levels? The sciences of seismology and geophysics are rapidly evolving with new technologies to address emerging societal challenges.

Zhongwen Zhan, professor of geophysics and the Clarence R. Allen Leadership Chair and director of the Caltech Seismological Laboratory, and Brent Minchew, professor of geophysics, join Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum for a conversation about innovative ideas to improve disaster preparedness and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Pasadena California
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
5:00 pm

President's Circle and Legacy Circle members are invited to join François Tissot, professor of geochemistry and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, for a reception and dinner preceding his Watson Lecture, "Lead Contamination: An Old Foe Rises from the Ashes of the Eaton Fire."

Groundbreaking research at Caltech by geochemist Clair Patterson beginning in the 1950s helped us understand the dangers of lead contamination, leading to the passage of the Clean Air Act and other measures to reduce exposure to lead.

In 2025, Institute researchers again played a role in studying lead pollution, this time caused by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. In his Watson Lecture, Professor Tissot will discuss the research's impact to date, the lessons learned, and the actions that should be taken as such mega fires like this become more common.

Virtual, via Zoom
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
11:30 am

The world's population is expected to exceed 10 billion people this century. With more than 2 billion people already experiencing food insecurity, developing sustainable farming technologies is a humanitarian necessity. How can science help enhance food security and promote cleaner agriculture?

Gözde Demirer, the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, is studying ways to engineer plant genomes that will make them more adaptable to climate change, requiring less water and fertilizer, and resistant to pests and diseases, reducing the need for agrochemicals. Her team is also exploring modifications to soil microbes that improve water and nutrient delivery to plants. They aim to provide methods and technologies that other scientists can use to advance agriculture locally and globally.

Costa Mesa, California
Thursday, February 26, 2026
6:00 pm

Whether hanging on a wall or operating in a national standards laboratory, modern clocks typically rely on radio or microwave reference frequencies to measure time. A new type of clock has emerged that instead uses the much higher frequencies of light waves. These optical clocks are far more accurate than even the current time-standard clocks, employing a revolutionary technology that blurs the boundary between electronics and photonics.

Kerry Vahala, the Ted and Ginger Jenkins Professor of Information Science and Technology and Professor of Applied Physics, will discuss efforts to miniaturize this clockwork to chip-scale, and how such advances will influence science and technology well beyond timekeeping.

Pasadena, California
Thursday, March 5, 2026
6:00 pm

As provost, David A. Tirrell, the Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Carl and Shirley Larson Provostial Chair, helps to secure Caltech's future as a source of discovery and innovation. We will hear from Provost Tirrell about the latest Institute developments.

Provost Tirrell will be joined by Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics Alireza Marandi, who will talk about the work of Caltech's Nonlinear Photonics Laboratory. The lab studies how light can behave in unusual, nonlinear ways, and how to use those effects to build new technologies and practical tools that improve how we sense the world, process information, and communicate.

New York City, New York
Monday, March 9, 2026
6:00 pm

As a medical resident, David Ho (BS '74) saw some of the earliest cases of HIV/AIDS. The elusiveness of the devastating disease and the emerging epidemic captured his attention. He eventually pioneered an approach to HIV treatment that rendered it a manageable chronic disease rather than a terminal diagnosis.

Now widely recognized as one of the world's leading virologists, his studies have extended beyond HIV to include coronaviruses, influenza viruses, and Ebola. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he expanded his focus to understanding and treating SARS-CoV-2 infections. He will join Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum for a conversation about the his latest research and the future of virology and immunology.

Pasadena, California
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
5:00 pm

President's Circle and Legacy Circle members are invited to join Katie Bouman, professor of computing and mathematical sciences, electrical engineering and astronomy, Rosenberg Scholar, and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, for a reception and dinner preceding her Watson Lecture.

As part of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, Professor Bouman co-led the team that produced the first-ever images of black holes, including M87* in 2019 and Sagittarius A* in 2022. Her research group, Computational Cameras at Caltech, uses computer algorithms and sensors to create images of otherwise invisible phenomena. Professor Bouman's Watson Lecture will explore how physics and AI are working together to illuminate the hidden universe.

San Marino, California
Friday, April 10, 2026
6:00 pm

On March 9, 1926, the first formal meeting of the Caltech Associates convened at the home of Henry E. Huntington, where "One hundred of southern California's most influential men and women had banded together to ‘aid and advance the welfare of the California Institute of Technology.'"

Join us as we gather once again at Huntington's home to honor the generosity, foresight, and impact of our members over the last century and beyond. The black-tie affair will feature a cocktail reception, dinner, an entertaining program, dessert, and dancing with live music. All Associates members and their guests are invited, and reserved tables will be available.

Northern California
Saturday, April 18, 2026
6:00 pm

Program details to be announced.

New York City, New York
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
6:00 pm

The core institutional difference between China and the United States lies in the degree of state control. America's Founding Fathers designed a system to constrain government power, following Montesquieu's ideal that "government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another." The architects of the People's Republic of China took the opposite approach, granting the state near-limitless authority. China's central government commands vast economic and administrative power, giving it unparalleled ability to steer the economy.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance Andrew Sinclair will discuss how this system can distort incentives and create inefficiencies, yet also enables China to mobilize capital and coordinate firm behavior on a massive scale. These institutional differences thus create a fundamental strategic challenge for American interests and raise a deeper question: can the US and China cooperate globally, or will we enter a new era of economic fragmentation?

Pasadena, California
Saturday, May 2, 2026
5:30 pm

Associates 100 Legacy Circle members are invited to join Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum for a celebration of their generosity. To commemorate the historic pledges made by the founding members of the Associates in 1926, Legacy Circle members are making a similar commitment to the Institute.

The evening will include a reception, remarks from the president, and the formal unveiling of the Legacy Circle donor wall, which will be installed along the north wall of the Garden of the Associates at Dabney Hall.

Orange County, California
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
6:00 pm

Earth's landscapes are always moving. While many changes unfold too slowly to notice, others, such as beach erosion in Southern California, can be measured over weeks rather than geologic time.

For more than a century, Caltech scientists have helped reveal how the sediment cycle acts as a natural conveyor belt, moving sand and mud from mountains to the sea. Michael Lamb, professor of geology, will discuss his group's research into the sediment cycle, how urbanization has disrupted this system, and how insights from Southern California inform our broader understanding of landscape evolution on Earth and even on Mars.