2025 Summer Enrichment Events & Workshops

• "Mentoring Up" with Candace Rypisi, Ed.D. (Assistant Vice Provost and Director of Student-Faculty Programs) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025
• "Decisions, Decisions, Decisions" with Graduate Student Panel (Kayla Jackson, Noah Okada, Levi Palmer, Facundo Perez Paolino, and Yuri Tamama) on Tuesday, July 1, 2025
• "The Ins and Outs of Admissions Committees" with Faculty Panel (Joern Callies, Ravi Ravichandran, Daniel Semlow, Rebecca Voorhees, and Adam Wierman) on Tuesday, July 8, 2025
• "Securing a Strong Letter of Recommendation" with Candace Rypisi, Ed.D. (Assistant Vice Provost and Director of Student-Faculty Programs) on Tuesday, July 15, 2025
• "Networking for Introverts" with James Berk (Career and Pre-Health Advisor, Career Achievement, Leadership, and Exploration Office) on Tuesday, July 22, 2025
• "Resume and Interview Success" with James Berk (Career and Pre-Health Advisor, Career Achievement, Leadership, and Exploration Office) on Tuesday, July 29, 2025
• "Beyond the B.S." with Lori Dajose (Content and Media Strategist at Caltech), Thomas Henning (Graduate Student at Caltech), Sarah Kabboul (Materials Scientist at Valor Atomics), and Kevin Noertker (Co-Founder and CEO, Ampaire) on Tuesday, August 5, 2025

• "Future Pasts: Learning from the History of Prediction" with Jennifer Jahner (Professor of English; Dean of Undergraduate Students) on Wednesday, June 18, 2025
• "Natural Products as a Driving Force for Basic and Translational Science" with Brian Stoltz (Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025
• "The Accidental Geologist: My Journey Through Minerals, Rocks, Meteorites, Planets, Cannons, Calculations, and Whatever Comes My Way" with Paul Asimow (Eleanor and John R. McMillan Professor of Geology and Geochemistry) on Wednesday, July 2, 2025
• "From Motherhood to the Cosmos: My Trajectory into Astrophysics" with Farisa Morales (Program Manager in the Astronomy & Heliophysics Research and Analysis Office at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Dean of Academic Affairs for STEM at Los Angeles Mission College) on Wednesday, July 9, 2025
• "Gravitational Wave Physics and Astrophysics with LIGO" with Alan Weinstein (Professor of Physics & SURF 2025 Dedicatee) on Wednesday, July 16, 2025
• "Against All Odds: Building a Career on the Frontier" with Margaret McFall-Ngai (Faculty Associate in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at Caltech and Senior Staff Scientist; Inaugural Director, Carnegie Science's Division of Biosphere Sciences and Engineering) on Wednesday, July 23, 2025
• "Safe Autonomy: Why Learning Needs Control" with Aaron Ames (Bren Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering and Control and Dynamical Systems; Booth-Kresa Leadership Chair & Director, Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies at Caltech) on Wednesday, July 30, 2025
• "Correlation or Causation" with Frederick Eberhart (Professor of Philosophy & Co-Director of Caltech's Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy) on Wednesday, August 6, 2025

All workshops were presented by Natasha George, Ph.D. (STEM Writing Specialist & Lecturer)

• "Write Your Way Into Grad School" on Monday, June 23, 2025
• "From Research to Report" on Monday, June 30, 2025
• "Reading the Literature Like a Pro" on Monday, July 7, 2025
• "Edit Without Mercy" on Monday, July 14, 2025
• "How to Write an Abstract" on Monday, July 21, 2025
• "Data Visualization" on Monday, July 28, 2025
• "Crafting Powerful Poster Presentation" on Monday, August 11, 2025
• "Making Research Presentations Memorable" on Tuesday, August 12, 2025

This summer, we hosted two Student-Faculty Dinners: one on Thursday, July 17th, and the other on Thursday, July 24th. Both dinners were held at the Bechtel Dining Hall, and the following faculty were in attendance:

Thursday, July 17th Dinner

• David Baltimore (1975 Nobel Laureate; President Emeritus; Judge Shirley Hufstedler Professor of Biology)
• Guillaume Blanquart (Professor of Mechanical Engineering)
• Joel Burdick (Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Research Scientist)
• Tsui-Fen Chou (Research Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering)
• Michelle Effros (Vice Provost; George Van Osdol Professor of Electrical Engineering)
• Isaac Fianu (Assistant Professor of Biochemistry)
• Bill Goddard (Charles and Mary Ferkel Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Applied Physics)
• Ali Hajimiri (Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering; Co-Director, Space-Based Solar Power Project
• Nick Hutzler (Assistant Professor of Physics)
• Austin Minnich (Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics; Deputy Chair, Division of Engineering and Applied Science; Undergraduate Option Representative for Engineering and Applied Science)
• John Preskill (Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics; Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair, Institute for Quantum Science and Technology)
• Douglas Rees (Roscoe Gilkey Dickinson Professor of Chemistry; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
• Andrew Thompson (John S. and Sherry Chen Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering; Director, Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Global Environmental Science; Executive Officer for Environmental Science)

Thursday, July 24th Dinner

• Paul Asimow (Eleanor and John R. McMillan Professor of Geology and Geochemistry)
• Mike Brown (Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy; Terence D. Barr Leadership Chair, Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution; Director, Caltech Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution)
• David Chan (Harold and Violet Alvarez Professor of Biology; Dean of Graduate Studies)
• John Dabiri (Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering)
• Brent Fultz (Barbara and Stanley R. Rawn, Jr., Professor of Materials Science and Applied Physics)
• Wei Gao (Professor of Medical Engineering; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute)
• Julia Greer (Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Materials Science, Mechanics, and Medical Engineering; Fletcher Jones Foundation Director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute)
• Melany Hunt (Dotty and Dick Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering)
• Paul Sternberg (Bren Professor of Biology; William K. Bowes Jr. Leadership Chair, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering)
• Adam Wierman (Carl F Braun Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences)

• Touring Santa Monica on Saturday, June 21, 2025
• Touring the Getty Center on Saturday, June 28, 2025
• Touring the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, July 5, 2025
• Touring Dodger Stadium on Saturday, July 19, 2025
• Touring the Griffith Observatory on Saturday, July 26, 2025
• Touring the Orange County Fair on Saturday, August 2, 2025