On GSC Organization, Chameau A Bit Off the Mark
By Ronnie Bryan
Recently President Jean-Lou Chameau suggested the Graduate Student Council does not represent graduate student interests at large. At the Community Update on Caltech's Financial Situation (02/09/09), he reportedly suggested that the GSC amend our bylaws to allow direct election of our board members and officials. We can forgive Chameau for this faux pas, but we should not let it distract anyone from the issues our board members have been focusing on to help protect to the graduate student population. Notably, the GSC has been advocating on behalf of graduate students primarily over cost of living concerns using data on student opinion gathered from internal surveys. We are very concerned about the potentially increased financial burden to grad students due to a new mandatory fee to support the Healthcare Center, new increases to the premium due to undergraduate opt-out, and new out-of-pocket expenses due to reduced benefits. Add to this the possibility that the Housing Office will raise rates by 6% and you find that graduate students are at risk to incur an additional $1000-$1500 (or more) per year in new expenses, on top of inflation.While the economic circumstances demand that we all make sacrifices, we just hope that these sacrifices are considered carefully. The recent layoffs and organizational consolidation raise the concern that some changes around campus might be being made hastily. We hope that our healthcare negotiations are being done thoughtfully and deliberately, considering all opinions. Unfortunately, it seems as that at least in the case of the undergrad opt-out policy, the decision makers circumvented an important internal control: the Faculty Board Health Committee. Given that the Health Committee has previously recommended against the opt-out policy, was it just convenient for the Institute to neglect that committee's input this time around? Looking forward, when the Health Committee makes it's final recommendation on which new plan we are asked to pay for, I hope that the President considers student well being, and not just the advice of his VP for Business and Finance.
Faculty and institute committees are an important bottom-up way for student interests to gain representation at high-levels in the administration. If committees are not seen as relevant, then members of the Caltech community who are not on the Board of Trustees will naturally feel that their concerns are under-appreciated. Unfortunately there is a perception on campus that committee reports and recommendations are in fact somewhat irrelevant. When one considers the proliferation of actionable, yet languishing, reports on issues relating to diversity on campus, one doesn't find support that faculty and institute committee voices are being heard or taken seriously (notably Status of Women Faculty 2001, GSC/WEST 2003). In light of this, I would turn the question back to the President: Is it perhaps the Institute's laissez-faire operating structure, rather than the number of employees, that has been due for an overhaul?
Which reminds me of another pair of shelved reports dating back to 2004, one an external review by Princeton and the other from the GSC. Both recommended significant changes at the Graduate Studies Office. So before we rush to judgment and experiment with the GSC bylaws that have served us for over 20 years, I would suggest we wait and see if the Institute's own long-overdue organizational changes successfully empower the voice of student concern such that the President is able to hear it.
David Goggins Comes to Caltech
How well do you know Caltech Housing?
By: Havala Pye, GSC Advocacy Housing Point Person
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Fall Housing and Quality of Life Survey. We have collected some valuable information that we will use to better represent your concerns to the Housing Office. A common concern that arose was the need for better transparency regarding the activities and decisions of the Housing Office. Test your knowledge of graduate student housing by guessing whether the following statements are true or false.
TRUE or FALSE:
1. The off-campus waiting list is designed for couples and families only.
2. The charges that appear on my bursar account labeled "Utilities-Lease Prop-Jan" are the electricity charges for January 1 through January 31.
3. I must sign up for the housing lottery in the Spring to live in the Catalina Apartments next year.
4. I can help protect the environment by conserving energy and resources in my home.
Answers:
1. The off-campus waiting list is designed for couples and families only.
FALSE. Currently, any graduate student whether they are single, a couple, or family can sign up to be on the waiting list for the off-campus properties. There are no priority groups, which means that your position on the list is based solely on the date you signed up. However, families with children are allowed to keep their housing for up to 5 years while the normal lease is 2 years. For more information (and to sign up for the waiting list), visit http://housing2.caltech.edu/webforms/lease/grad/form.asp.
2. The charges that appear on my bursar account labeled "Utilities-Lease Prop-Jan" are the electricity charges for January 1 through January 31.
TRUE, but likely FALSE. Billing for utility usage in a Caltech property involves three parties: the utility company, the Housing Office, and the Bursar. Caltech receives a bill from the electric company for your individual unit each month (part of the North Catalina Apartments, Villa, etc) or once every two months (most of the Catalina Apartments). Gas is billed every month for all properties. The Housing Office then divides the bill among the occupants living in the unit and sends the amount to the Bursar. The gas and electricity charges may appear on your Bursar statement as separate items, but have the same label and code. Although the charge may be labeled with one month, like Jan, it could actually be a charge for usage from 10 Nov to 10 Jan or 13 Dec to 13 Jan or whatever the actual billing cycle was. If you are concerned that your bill is not accurate, remember that not every billing cycle has the same number of days and all Caltech units use Green Power which costs more than standard power. If you have a question about your bill, ask the Housing Office, because they can let you know the exact dates for the billing cycle. Housing is working towards displaying the exact dates for the billing cycle on your bursar bill in the future.
3. I must sign up for the housing lottery in the Spring to live in the Catalina Apartments next year.
TRUE. A lottery is held each year for students who wish to remain in the Catalina Apartments or other lottery system properties. Note that there is a limited number of off-campus type properties on the lottery system that are similar to the off-campus properties on the "off-campus waiting list". The date for the lottery has not been set, but it will likely be around April.
4. I can help protect the environment by conserving energy and resources in my home.
TRUE. There are many ways to conserve energy and resources like water in your apartment. To conserve water, Pasadena Water and Power recommends taking shorter showers (5 minutes or less), turning off the faucet when brushing teeth or shaving, and only washing full loads of laundry and dishes (http://ci.pasadena.ca.us/waterandpower/savewater/default.asp). You can save electricity by turning off lights and computers when you are not using them. You may have already noticed Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) in your apartment, which use less energy than traditional incandescent light bulbs. Remember that if the CFL does go out, it must be properly recycled since it does contain small amounts of mercury. CFLs should not be thrown in the trash. Bulbs can be taken directly to the Caltech Safety Office (x 6726). You can also contact your RAs about disposing of the bulbs. For ideas on how to be more sustainable, visit http://besustainable.pbwiki.com, a wiki for sustainability in the Caltech community.
If you have any comments, concerns, or questions related to housing for the GSC Advocacy Committee, you can email us at any time at GSCHous-list@caltech.edu. Please make sure the email is from a caltech.edu address.
Caltech Scientists Discover Self-Regulating Molecular "Transformers" Control the Intracellular Delivery of Proteins
PASADENA, Calif.--Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have uncovered the Transformer like properties of molecules responsible for carrying and depositing proteins to their correct locations within cells. The research could eventually lead to novel treatments for diseases that result from flaws in protein delivery as well as the development of new types of antibiotics.
Shu-ou Shan, an assistant professor of chemistry at Caltech, and her colleagues looked specifically at a pair of proteins that sort cellular proteins and deliver them to their destinations--a process that is essential for establishing and maintaining cellular organization. The proteins, known as the signal recognition particle (SRP) and the SRP receptor (SR), are responsible for shuttling more than a third of all cellular proteins to their targets, including the insulin protein. The SRP/SR system is present in all three kingdoms of life, from humans and other animals, to plants and fungi, to bacteria and primitive archaean organisms.
By tracking the movement of fluorescently tagged molecules, Shan and her colleagues were able to track the behavior of SRP and SR during the protein pick-up and delivery process.
They found that the binding of a protein cargo by the SRP molecule triggered the accelerated assembly of a molecular complex containing SRP, the cargo, and the SR protein. The SRP-SR complex then delivered the cargo to the cell membrane. Once there, the SRP-SR complex spontaneously changed its shape and deposited the cargo at the membrane, like a tiny Transformer toy morphing from a semi-truck delivering goods into a forklift that unloads them. The scientists described their discovery in a recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The Transformer analogy is very appropriate," says Shan. "The 'truck' is able to sense that cargo has been loaded and starts the engine running without instructions from a driver. It can also sense that it has arrived at the destination and, without workers coming to unload the goods, is able to switch on another system to do that by itself." This self-sufficient system, she says, represents "a new way that biology builds switches to regulate complex cellular pathways."
Shan and colleagues also found that the presence of protein cargo delays the breakdown of a small-molecule energy carrier called guanosine triphosphate, or GTP, from which the SRP and SR harvest the energy to form a complex with each other and to undergo all their molecular transformations. "GTP hydrolysis is like a timer that allows the SRP-SR complex to exist for a specified period of time before turning it off. By delaying this timer, the SRP-SR complex persists about 10 times longer than it would without the cargo. This ensures that there is sufficient time for the cargo to be properly delivered to the membrane," Shan says.
"Understanding which steps are important for protein delivery by the SRP could allow the development of medications that prevent diseases that result from defects in the pathway," Shan says. For example, prion disease can be caused by tiny snippets of misfolded prion proteins that accumulate in the cytoplasm of cells when the SRP pathway does not work properly. The accumulation of cytoplasmic prions leads to the degeneration of neurons, and the eventual death of the affected organism."
The research could also lead to the development of novel artificial delivery systems that can shuttle particular proteins to specific locations, and may spur the design of new types of antibiotics that target the SRP protein in bacteria. Blocking the bacterial SRP will indeed kill bacteria, Shan says, but because humans have SRP proteins, it "will also likely affect the operation of cells in your body. Detailed mechanistic studies are required to figure out the difference between the mammalian and the bacteria SRP pathway, and find places to intervene where the bacterial SRP is uniquely susceptible."
Shan's paper, "Multiple conformational switches in a GTPase complex control co-translational protein targeting," was coauthored by Xin Zhang, a graduate student at Caltech, and Christiane Schaffitzel and Nenad Ban from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
From the Chair
You are all no doubt aware that the financial crisis is having a severe influence at Caltech. The final decision was made last week to let go of 100 workers at the Institute. While many auxiliary services will be affected, your research and stipends should not be negatively affected. We are working hard for you on this and many other areas, and I am offended, both personally and on behalf of the GSC, at recent comments by President Chameau.
With regards to the economic criss, the GSC has made some cutbacks that will be noticeable in next year's budget. We have offered to take a 20% cut in the portion of our budget provided by student affairs, and also offered to let our dues (paid by your advisors) be linked to inflation. In the near-term, deflationary environment, this amounts to a further budget concession of perhaps 5%, if current trends continue. We do not seek to be a burden to the institute in its time of financial crisis.
Other cuts you may notice are those in the Graduate Dean's Office, where 3 out of 5 staff members have been cut. It may also interest you to know that the similar office for undergraduates saw no decrease in staffing, instead with cuts to peripheral advisers to the Tech and Technique, their publications. We know that cuts have to be made across campus, but I worry that too much of the graduate student support staff has been cut back and that undergraduates have not been asked to make similar sacrifices.
Even in the midst of this challenging economic climate, we still consider it the GSC's duty to fight to keep our healthcare advantage over other schools. Whether you use it or not, our current healthcare plan is very good, and we do not think that healthcare should be cut back significantly because of an economic crisis, lest a depression of dollars result in a more tangible kind of depression. I should add that we have had some very encouraging talks with administrators of late, and it appears the institute shares our concerns about healthcare. We hope that we can reach a resolution where very little of the healthcare costs due to the opt-out decision will be passed on to students. If we do not, you will be hearing about it from us first.
Sincerely,
Evans
Social Committee Report
March GUSH will be hosted by the Strong Ale Club, who will be serving home-brewed beers. April GUSH will be hosted by Snatch, the women's ultimate frisbee team. GUSH is a great way to promote your club or organization to the graduate student community. Email gscsocial@caltech.edu for more information!
We also discussed the date and theme of the Winter Term party, which will celebrate the luck related paradoxes surrounding St. Patrick's Day this Friday, March 13. The party is likely to be held in Dabney Lounge and Gardens, but stay tuned for updates.
Planning for Gradiators 2009 has already begun! This year we are collaborating closely with the Alumni Association to continue this long-standing graduate student tradition. If you are interested in learning more or helping out with this unique event, please email gscsocial@caltech.edu
As part of our URS programming, we will be hosting a students with dependents BBQ game day on March 8 in the Central Rec Room. Stop by to take advantage of the fun new games, including arts and crafts for families. We also approved funding for a comedy club trip to be run in coordinate with the International Students Program.
Finally, we worked on a new survey to help assess the types of events and programs graduate students want to see more of. Please don't hesitate to share your ideas with us by emailing gscsocial@caltech.edu. Thanks!
Changes at Institute Result in Small Win for LGBTQ Community
Student Affairs has taken the recent Institute reorganization as an opportunity to finally officially recognize Caltech's LGBTQ community. This is partially in response to pressure from the GSC and PRISM to correct a long-standing disparity in the level of support offered by Student Affairs between LGBTQ students and other under-represented minority groups, such as women (Women's Center) and ethnic minorities (Minority Student Education Office).
In the new scheme, all three of these groups will be served under the auspices of a new "Diversity Center" headed by former MSE director Eva Graham. Under Eva, former MSE staffer Luz Rivas will head up the minority piece, and former Assistant Director of the Women's Center Portia Harris will head up the women piece. Current budgetary constraints will not allow for the hire of a new staffer to head up the LGBTQ piece for at least a year. Although the official recognition, for now, is mostly symbolic, the LGBTQ programming budget in Student Affairs has received a substantial increase.
This funding windfall has led to the creation of new events to help foster the LGBTQ community on campus, such as Friday lunches and even a self-defense seminar. There is also to be dedicated floor space in the Diversity Center to host LGBTQ program events. The community has responded positively to the changes, noting it is one of the few upshots to the campus-wide reorganization. The GSC and PRISM plan to capitalize on this positive momentum and continue to collaborate to find creative ways to make up the funding shortage needed to hire a new staff-person.
Academics Committee Report
The GSC Academics Committee has had a busy start to
2009. In January we rolled out a
new program to encourage graduate students and undergraduates to interact with
their TAs and learn more about research and teaching at Caltech. This program, Take a TA to lunch,
provides ~$50 for a group of 4-5 students to take their TA to lunch and discuss
research and academic topics. If you're
interested in forming a group and inviting your TA to lunch, please contact
Cory Tobin (ctobin@caltech.edu) for
details.
Also, on February 5th Academics Committee hosted
a campus-wide Graduate
Student Poster Session in Dabney Lounge. Thirty-one graduate students presented posters and we would
like to thank all presenters for the efforts, as well as the over 100 attendees
including graduate students, undergraduates, staff, administrators, and
faculty. The original idea for the
poster session came from the GSC Board of Directors; it also received support
from the Graduate Dean's Office and the Graduate Studies Committee, especially
chair Professor Brent Fultz.
The posters were judged by a combination of faculty, staff,
and graduate students in two categories: overall best poster and best
interdisciplinary poster. The winners are: Roseanna Zia in the overall category for her poster titled
"Single particle motion in colloids: Force-induced diffusion" and Anthony
Roy in the interdisciplinary category for
his poster titled "Genetic programming of an artificial neural network for
robust control of a 2-D path following robot". We hope to make the poster session a regular event, so stay
tuned in the coming months for an announcement and call for posters!
Last but not least, we continue to solicit nominations for annual
GSC awards for outstanding classroom teaching, TAing, and mentorship on
campus. As the year progresses, be
thinking about great learning experiences you've had and submit nominations at:
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~gscacad/awardinfo.html.
Caltech Scientists Lead Deep-Sea Discovery Voyage
PASADENA, Calif.--Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and an international team of collaborators have returned from a month-long deep-sea voyage to a marine reserve near Tasmania, Australia, that not only netted coral-reef samples likely to provide insight into the impact of climate change on the world's oceans, but also brought to light at least three never-before-seen species of sea life."It was truly one of those transcendent moments," says Caltech's Jess Adkins of the descents made by the remotely operated submersible Jason. Adkins was the cruise's lead scientist and is an associate professor of geochemistry and global environmental science at Caltech. "We were flying--literally flying--over these deep-sea structures that look like English gardens, but are actually filled with all of these carnivorous, Seuss-like creatures that no one else has ever seen."
The voyage on the research vessel RV Thompson explored the Tasman Fracture Commonwealth Marine Reserve, southwest of Tasmania. The voyage was funded by the National Science Foundation and was the second of two cruises taken by the team, which included researchers from the United States--including scientists from Caltech and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, which owns and operates the submersible Jason--and Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The first of those voyages was taken in January 2008, with this most recent one spanning 33 days from mid-December 2008 through mid-January 2009.
Up until now, the area of the reef the scientists were exploring--called the Tasman Fracture Zone--had only been explored to a depth of 1,800 meters (more than 5,900 feet). Using Jason, the researchers on this trip were able to reach as far down as 4,000 meters (well over 13,000 feet).
"We set out to search for life deeper than any previous voyage in Australian waters," notes scientist Ron Thresher from CSIRO's Climate Adaptation and Wealth from Oceans Flagships.
The cruise had two main goals, says Adkins. One was to try to use deep-sea corals to reconstruct the paleoclimate--with an emphasis on the changes in climate over the last 100,000 years--and to understand the fluctuations in CO2 found in the ice-core records. Investigators also wanted to look at changes in the ocean over a much smaller slice of time--the past few hundred to one thousand or so years. "We want to see what's happened to the corals over the Industrial Revolution timescale," says Adkins. "And we want to see if we can document those changes."
The second goal? "Simply to document what's down there," says Adkins.
"In one sense, the deep ocean is less explored than Mars," he adds. "So every time you go to look down there you see new things, magical things."
Among the "magical things" seen on this trip were:
* a new species of carnivorous sea squirt that "looks and behaves like a Venus fly trap," says Adkins;
* new species of barnacles (some of which Adkins says may even belong to an entirely new family); and
* a new species of sea anemone that Adkins calls "the bane of our existence," because it looks just like the coral they were trying to collect.
The sea anemone was particularly vexing for the researchers, because they were hoping to find deep-sea (or abyssal) samples of the fossilized coral, but were unable to find the coral much below 2,400 meters (nearly 7,800 feet). The look-alike sea anemone, on the other hand, kept popping up all over the place on the deep-sea floor, raising--and then dashing--the scientists' hopes.
"Not being able to find the coral down deeper was our single biggest disappointment on the trip," says Adkins.
Still, the 10,000-plus samples collected will help the researchers begin their work of deciphering just what has been happening to the ocean throughout the centuries of climate change, and during and between glacial cycles. First up: dating the fossils collected on this trip in order to determine which slice of history they came from.
"The deep ocean is part and parcel of these rapid climate changes," says Adkins. "These corals will be our window into what their impact is on climate, and how they have that impact. The info is there; now we just have to unpack it."
Further funding for the research came from CSIRO, the Commonwealth Environmental Research Facilities' Marine Biodiversity Hub, and the Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
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From The Chair
GSC Annual Report
Social Committee Report
Academics Committee Report
How well do you know Caltech Housing?
The GRB: Call for reps and input
Cell Phone Do Not Call List
David Goggins Comes to Caltech
Changes at Institute Result in Small Win for LGBTQ Community
Caltech Astrophysicist Awarded Dan David Prize
Caltech Scientists Lead Deep-Sea Discovery Voyage
Transformers
GSC Annual Report
To get an accurate representation of what the GSC has invested it's time and money on over the past year, please check out the 2007-2008 GSC Annual Report.
Cell Phone Do Not Call List
Recently there's been some discussion about a national Do Not Call list for cell phones. Please read this entire article before doing anything!!!!! One message reads:
REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public next month.
REMINDER.... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.
YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS
To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222 .
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.
HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.. It takes about 20 seconds.
Please see http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/04/dnc.shtm before acting on the previous information. Thanks.
The GRB: Call for reps and input
As you undoubtedly remember from New Student Orientation, the Graduate Review Board is responsible for making sure the Caltech honor code is fairly administered among grad students. If that sounds like something you might be interested in participating in, read on:
We are currently looking for more grad student representatives to sit on cases (of which there are only five to ten per year), since most options are NOT represented on the Board right now. However, even if the slots for your option are full, you can still become a director at large: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~grb/
Furthermore, this year the GRB will making changes to its bylaws that will help us better publicize the Board's purpose and its workings. Hence, we're also looking for people to be a part of that process, whether it be as a member of the board or an outside observer.
If you're interested in joining the GRB, want to provide input, or have any other GRB-related inquiries, just send an e-mail (eve@caltech.edu).
Toastmasters
Every Wednesday, noon, 142 KeckToastmasters International has helped millions around the globe perfect their public speaking skills. Meetings are at most an hour long and consist of several pre-prepared 6 minute speeches, a handful of 1-2 minute impromptu speeches on interesting topics, and evaluations of all speakers based on time, grammar, and number of filler words such as "ah"s or "like"s. Toastmasters also provides the opportunity to compete in International speech competitions. Come practice and refine your public speaking skills (and enjoy free lunch). Everyone is welcome.
Pasadena City Council Election March 10
Pasadena City Council Election March 10Voters in districts 3, 5, and 7 will vote on March 10 to elect their representatives to the Pasadena City Council. Most Caltech students are probably in district 7, which is currently represented by Sid Tyler. This year, district 7 voters will choose their new representative from John Walsh (Retired Administrator), Ciran Marie Hadjian (City Planner), Terry Tornek (Business Executive), Gary Ettl (Community Volunteer), and Margaret York (County Police Chief). Sid Tyler has endorsed Terry Tornek to replace him.
Traffic appears to be a top issue in this election; discussion at a recent townhall forum ranged from speedbumps on Molino to extending the 710 to improving public transport and bicycle usage. Installation of a trolley from South Lake to Old Town was among the ideas proposed. City Council members serve 4 year terms, with no limits.
For more information about the upcoming election and to check your district, see: http://cityofpasadena.net/citycouncil.asp
Caltech Astrophysicist Awarded Dan David Prize
PASADENA, Calif.--Andrew Lange, the Marvin L. Goldberger Professor of Physics and chair of the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), has been awarded the 2009 Dan David Prize along with Paolo De Bernardis of the University La Sapienza in Rome and Paul Richards of the University of California, Berkeley.
Lange and De Bernardis have been recognized for leading the BOOMERanG experiment, which provided the first undisputed evidence of the universe's flat geometry. Richards's MAXIMA experiment confirmed the result soon after. The experiments made the first resolved images of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Lange and colleagues were able to deduce the universe's geometry from the angular sizes of the intricate structures in the images, using theoretical tools developed by Marc Kamionkowski, the Robinson Professor of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics at Caltech, and his colleagues.
The Dan David Prize is a joint international enterprise, endowed by the Dan David Foundation and headquartered at Tel Aviv University. The prize is awarded annually for achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural, or social impact on our world. Each year fields are chosen within three time dimensions: Past, Present, and Future. Lange, De Bernardis, and Richards are sharing the $1 million prize in the Past dimension for Astrophysics--History of the Universe.
"The work recognized by this prize was a team effort," says Lange. "Many other people deserve recognition, especially Jamie Bock and his group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) microdevices lab, which developed the detectors that enabled both BOOMERanG and MAXIMA."
Additional analysis of BOOMERanG and MAXIMA's data implied that ordinary matter constitutes a small fraction of the cosmic mass density (5 percent at the present time). These results have been subsequently confirmed and carry important implications for fundamental physics. The nature of most of the cosmic matter (known as "dark matter") is actively being explored, and the flat geometry of the universe is believed to have originated from an early epoch of the universe's inflation, during which space curvature was erased by a prolonged period of vast expansion.
"The measurement of the large-scale geometry of the universe by Lange and his colleagues is one of the great achievements of all time in cosmology; it richly deserves this Dan David Prize," said Kip Thorne, the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech. "We at Caltech should be very proud to be associated with Andrew Lange, his BOOMERanG team, and their achievements."
Lange and his Caltech students worked closely with Bock and his group at JPL in developing the spiderweb bolometers that made possible BOOMERanG and MAXIMA, as well as several other major cosmological and astronomical projects and instruments.
"This technology is about to be launched into orbit on the Planck satellite later this spring," says Lange. "We still have much more to learn from the microwave background."
The other 2009 Dan David laureates are former British prime minister Tony Blair for Present Leadership, and Robert Gallo, director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, for Future Global Public Health. Dan David laureates donate 10 percent of their prize money to graduate students in their respective fields, thereby contributing to the community and fostering a new generation of scholars.