Research Ambassador Shirt Design Gallery
Every year, the Research Ambassadors are tasked with designing a shirt for members of the current cohort. To document this annual process and credit the people we partner with, our team has put together this gallery page. Check out past designs and their stories below!
(This page is currently undergoing maintenance, as of February 2025).
Like most organizations, the Student-Faculty Programs Office uses a database to manage records, applications, and people. Unlike most organizations, our database has a name and logo: Slick the Cat.
Designed in 1988 by Cliff Galbraith for special use by our office, Slick the Cat captures the essence of the quintessential SURF student. Mow the lawn? Do it later. Take out the garbage? Do that later. Pay bills. You'll probably do it later, anyway. But SURF? You must SURF NOW!
Special credit also to Emma Isella for her help in recoloring the original Slick the Cat for usage on the t-shirt. Shirts were ordered in a limited-run through CustomInk.com.
In 1966, filmmaker Bruce Brown released the iconic surfing documentary, The Endless Summer. Inspired by its equally iconic poster, Sulekha Kishore suggested that the Research Ambassador cohort add their own spin as part of the annual t-shirt designing task.
Special permission was granted by Bruce Brown Films, LLC to proceed with this project. From Alex Mecl, CEO of Bruce Brown Films, LLC: "Hats off to the creative students who proposed an Endless Summer x Caltech collaboration t-shirt for their summer program! Including a female surfer in the iconic lineup was awesome! For us, it's all about inclusion, so we appreciate this opportunity to work with the faculty and student body to get this out there. Let's celebrate creativity and diversity together!"
We also owe major thanks to Joseph DiGiovanni, an office friend who generously worked on redesigning the poster, based on the Ambassador's feedback.
You can also read more about John Van Hamersveld, the artist behind the original poster, here. Shirts were ordered in a limited-run through CustomInk.com.