It was the late physicist Gerry Neugebauer (PhD ’60) who offered Tom Soifer his first taste of scientific freedom. When Soifer was a Caltech junior, in 1966, Neugebauer gave him a chance to run the world’s first purpose-built infrared telescope.
Issue 2: March 2017
Acts of Mentorship
Welcome to the second edition of The Caltech Effect. Explore the unique relationships that inspire Caltech people to achieve the extraordinary. An adviser models unorthodox research. Undergrads evolve from solo stars into team leaders. Postdocs help others at a time when personal achievement is paramount. A junior is encouraged to launch a hedge fund from his dorm room. Real users and industry experts help students invent wheelchair technologies. Astronomers pass the torch of discovery from one generation to the next. Read on!
Have a Mentor, Be a Mentor
At Caltech, one in five undergraduates plays a varsity sport, and many students also find a counterpoint to the academic rigors that come with being a Techer in the university’s more than 100 clubs and organizations. On the field, court, or stage, students find opportunities to be collaboratively ambitious—and ambitiously collaborative. In this video, Mandy Gamble, head coach of the Caltech men’s and women’s tennis teams, joins women’s co-captain Sophia Chen and men’s co-captain Morgan Lebby to reflect on how success comes from knowing how to be both a leader and a team player.
DIY: Two Mentors Create Opportunity
If you want to know what’s special about a Caltech education, talk to Professor Tom Soifer (BS ’68).
“We prize giving students opportunities to do something new—giving them freedom and responsibility,” he says. “Caltech encourages people to do spectacular things.”
Professor Neugebauer in 1965, the year Tom Soifer took his Physics II class and the two met for the first time
Members of Gerry Neugebauer’s “infrared army” build a shed on Mount Wilson to house the new telescope.
Infrared pioneers Tom Soifer (left), Gerry Neugebauer (right), and Keith Matthews (BS ’62), who stayed on to become a staff scientist at Caltech
A portion of an all-sky image created with data from the IRAS mission
Gerry Neugebauer led international projects and the Palomar Observatory, but his roots were in the lab.
A NASA Spitzer Space Telescope image of the core of the Milky Way, which cannot be seen in visible light because of dust between Earth and the galaxy’s center
Soifer co-led a Caltech Associates President’s Circle trip to Hawaii in 2015, offering behind-the-scenes insights at the world-leading W. M. Keck Observatory.
PMA grad students, postdocs, and a visitor (far left) conversing in 2015
Tom and Mary Anna Soifer
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The Human Side of Engineering
Mentors in the Caltech course Design for Freedom from Disability gave students Stephanie Moon and Lawrence Lee a new view of the power engineers have to benefit others.
Says co-instructor Andy Lin: “It’s gratifying to see that the work I’m helping with is making a difference in students’ lives and the lives of people with disabilities. At the end of the course, I get teary-eyed. I see how the students want to maximize their engineering skills to help people.”
How was your Caltech experience shaped by a mentor?
We asked some alumni—including fellowship donors and a Nobel laureate—about their faculty advisers.
The Adventure Continues
Carver Mead (BS ’56, MS ’57, PhD ’60)—the Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Emeritus—is a forefather of the information age and a self-proclaimed Caltech lifer. He pursues his curiosity and follows his hunches into unknown scientific territory. Again and again, his ideas have evolved from unorthodox to ubiquitous, changing how we live our lives.
Above, a 1971 photo of Mead (far right) with students
For instance, it was Mead who asked how many transistors could fit on one microchip. It turns out the number is nearly infinite—and Mead later delivered on that observation by introducing the method for chip design that led to the smaller, faster devices you use every day.
Once satisfied with his headway in one direction, Mead would set off on a new adventure. So the students he has mentored are as important as the breakthroughs he has created. After he leads them into new terrain and new ways of thinking, he relies on his students to carry on the work and open up their own fields of discovery.
Above, Mead in 1980 designing an integrated circuit
A group of his former students joined together in 2014 to establish the Carver Mead New Adventures Fund at Caltech. In the spirit of Mead’s approach, this endowment provides seed funding in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science for researchers with interesting—perhaps even “crazy”—ideas. Nearly 200 people, about half of whom studied with Mead, have added to the fund, which currently totals more than $2.5 million and is growing.
Already the New Adventures Fund has seeded an interdisciplinary computer science initiative called Caltech Computes, research groups in applied mathematics and machine learning, and a program that supplies all Caltech electrical engineering undergraduates with “hacker kits” to help them get to work right away inventing new devices.
In this story, some of Mead’s protégés who were instrumental in establishing the New Adventures Fund share their thoughts about his influence, marking just a few milestones in his formidable career.
Above, a 1976 photo of Mead in his office
1960s: Starting with the basics
Mead studied how transistors do what they do, proceeding from the most fundamental level—the quantum behavior of electrons. What he learned led him to invent a cornerstone of wireless communication: the gallium-arsenide transistor in your smartphone. More important, Mead chased the question of exactly how small electronics could get. His work produced the basis for Moore’s law, a prediction made in 1965 by close friend and fellow Caltech alumnus Gordon Moore (PhD ’54), who credits Mead with coining the name. This vision of exponential progress has helped drive the ongoing explosion in technology during our lifetimes.
Above, Mead as pictured in the 1965 edition of Caltech’s student yearbook, Big T
“As a senior, I had a tough time in his course on circuits—which pushed from analysis to synthesis—and dropped it for the sake of my GPA. When I returned for my master’s, Carver ‘punished’ me by making me grade that same class. So I learned synthesis. At the time, I didn’t realize that Carver had changed my life, but I found my career in creating things that didn’t exist before, and you absolutely have to have synthesis to do that.”
Charlie Trimble (BS ’63, MS ’64)
Caltech trustee, founder and former CEO of Trimble Navigation, and pioneer of GPS technology
Above, photo from the 1963 Big T
“At Carver’s 80th birthday party I joked that I didn’t think I could have found a better employment agent. Via Gordon Moore, he facilitated my entire career. My technical experience with Carver led to the discovery and a patent for an aluminum-silicon Schottky diode for use in integrated circuits. At Intel I used this to develop the process for our first product.”
Ted Jenkins (BS ’65, MS ’66)
Caltech trustee and former vice president at Intel
Above, a 1969 photo showing Jenkins in an Intel lab where he worked on LEDs in collaboration with Mead and others
“Carver’s curiosity is immense. He has a tremendous ability to see things, explain things, and just explore. When I was at Intel, Carver would visit and come in with 50 new ideas—more than we knew what to do with. Once he figures something out, he moves on to the next fundamental question and leaves the rest of us kind of wondering, ‘Okay, I don’t know what just happened.’”
Gerry Parker (BS ’65, MS ’66, PhD ’70)
Caltech Distinguished Alumnus Award honoree and former senior vice president at Intel
Above, photo from the 1965 Big T
1970s–early 1980s: Designing the future
Mead did more than invent a new model for automated computer chip design—he co-wrote the book on it and helped teach a generation of creators how to use it. Mead and his collaborators unlocked a new level of intricacy in semiconductor design and untethered it from manufacturing. Computer chips became increasingly small and fast, complicated and customized, reliable and inexpensive. Technology moved to the center of culture. Today, Mead’s breakthrough is baked into everything from the workings of the Internet itself to the unseen computers that make your laundry machine more efficient and your car safer.
Above, a 1972 image of Mead and students from his microelectronics course working on integrated-circuit design
“If there’s one person who exemplifies Caltech, it’s Carver Mead: curiosity, integrity, intensity, the focus on what’s most fundamental. Invention and reinvention. Carver would say, ‘I don’t want to compete with my students.’ So he went off and did something else again and again. We wanted to keep that tradition of giving Caltech faculty and students the opportunity to explore and see if there’s something there.”
Phil Neches (BS ’73, MS ’77, PhD ’83)
Caltech trustee and founder of Teradata
“Carver taught us that in the beginning of any breakthrough, you never know when you’re going to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You’re stuck in a rut. That’s when he says you have to stick to your own conviction. That opened my mind, and it’s served me well all through life.”
Marina Chen (MS ’80, PhD ’83)
Former professor and chair of computer science at Boston University
Above, Chen (right) on commencement day with her then-housemate, geophysics graduate Hsui-Lin Winkler (née Liu, PhD ’83), who is now a member of the computer science faculty at Pace University
“I feel fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time at Caltech with Carver, the visionary leader and mentor for the whole industry. Our work laid out the foundation to unleash the creativity of every individual. It’s been very significant for my own career designing PCs, smartphones, and consumer devices.”
Tzumu Lin (MS ’81, PhD ’85)
Senior vice president at VIA Technologies Inc.
Above, Lin (far right) on commencement day with Mead (center) and fellow Mead protégé Telle Whitney (MS ’81, PhD ’85), now CEO and president of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
1980s–1990s: Making computers more human
Mead marveled at the brain—its adaptability, its resilience to injury, and its ability to process information in parallel. He used the brain and our senses as models in search of a leap in electronics design. Joining forces with a new Caltech professor, John Hopfield, and a longtime friend and source of inspiration, Richard Feynman, Mead helped start a new Computation and Neural Systems program at Caltech, where computer science intermingled with neuroscience and physics. Mead’s collaboration with Hopfield foreshadowed the neural networks that kick in every time you use Google. From Mead’s work simulating the senses grew companies that have produced powerful digital hearing aids, sensitive digital camera technology, and the tech behind the touch screen that you might be using right now on your phone or your tablet.
Above, an image of a silicon cochlea chip designed to simulate the sense of hearing
“Joining Carver’s research group was life changing. He taught me how to think—how to understand the core of the problem first, rather than ‘following the lemmings’ in the field who focused on incremental improvements on prior research paths. This approach to problem solving—in both technical and non-technical areas—has enabled me to have a very rewarding career and allowed me to pursue interests in multiple industries and across widely varying roles.”
Lounette Dyer (MS ’87, PhD ’91)
Caltech trustee, entrepreneur, and renewable energy consultant
2000s: Rethinking physics
Setting out to find a better way to teach fundamental physics, Mead arrived at a whole new way to understand physics. His theories connect electromagnetism directly to the underlying quantum behavior of matter—which may lead to a refinement of Einstein’s theory of general relativity that simplifies explanations and unifies various fields of study. Looking ahead, do not be surprised if Mead’s approach ends up influencing how your children, and their children, learn science.
Above, a 2002 photo of Mead by Norman Seeff
Training Ground
Abigail “Abby” Crites
Abby Crites credits her undergraduate success to her Caltech mentor, the late physicist Andrew Lange, who urged her to persevere when she initially found Caltech challenging. With Lange’s encouragement, she not only persevered but thrived, joining him and his research group to investigate the cosmic microwave background—radiation left over from the Big Bang.
After graduating from Caltech, Crites completed her doctoral studies at the University of Chicago. Her research entailed three trips to Antarctica, where she worked on a new polarization-sensitive camera at the South Pole Telescope, an instrument designed to investigate the nature of the Big Bang. The appeal of building and enhancing instruments brought her back to Caltech. First as a W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies Postdoctoral Fellow and later as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Scholar in Physics, Crites is continuing to probe the origins of the universe.
Crites is just as passionate about mentoring as she is about her research and taps into her experiences as a student to help others. Today, she guides physics students in the lab and undergrads in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program. An advocate for bringing people from diverse backgrounds into science, Crites also lends support for female scientists at Caltech.
Inspired by Lange and her Caltech experience, Crites offers her mentees her knowledge as well as her empathy.
“It just feels natural for me to help those who are just a few steps behind me in their science careers,” she says.
Jessica Hinojosa
Jessica Hinojosa and Siwen Wang both search for clues in nature to understand climate conditions of the past as scholars in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. Hinojosa, a GPS Chair’s Postdoctoral Scholar who studies sedimentary leaf waxes from lakes in New Zealand, was eager to take on more responsibility when Alex Sessions, professor of geobiology, encouraged her to mentor Wang. At the time, Wang was a first-year graduate student at Caltech who was focused on environmental science and engineering.
Teaching is second nature for Hinojosa, who grew up in a family of educators. During her undergraduate studies at Stanford University, her graduate work at the University of Otago in New Zealand, and her time as a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech, Hinojosa has volunteered as a mentor and tutor to students of all ages. For Wang, Hinojosa supplied lab samples and, along with Sessions’s lab manager, helped Wang use laboratory equipment and interpret her results.
Impressed with Wang’s research, Hinojosa invited her to be a collaborator on a project that explores how climate changed in the Southern Hemisphere near the close of the Ice Age. Along with two New Zealand researchers, the pair hope to publish their findings.
“The opportunity to help Siwen, further my research, and work on my leadership skills—while still having Alex there to guide me—was invaluable for me as a postdoc,” says Hinojosa, who is also a fellow of the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. “It was like having training wheels on.”
A Head for Math, a Heart for Caltech
We’ve heard that the early days of SBB Research Group began in your room at Lloyd House. Tell us more.
During my sophomore year, I started doing independent research with Jaksa Cvitanic [Caltech’s Richard N. Merkin Professor of Mathematical Finance] and Peter Bossaerts [visiting associate in finance]. They always made time to discuss papers and ideas with me. This work led me to develop an algorithm for predicting patterns in the stock market.
I didn’t set out to invest other people’s money or start a company, but Jaksa suggested that I approach it as an experiment—and that resonated with me. I enjoy taking the theoretical and putting it into practice.
Jaksa introduced me to my first investor, and the summer after my sophomore year I began managing $2 million. I discovered that I loved the experiment. I launched SBB Research Group the following year and started looking for my first employee.
Today, I have a team of 18 of some of the most talented and dedicated people that I know, and we’re trusted with over $200 million. I’m always looking for ways to replicate Caltech’s environment within my team. When we hire people we emphasize finding people with strong curiosity and a passion to learn more than the skills they have. A lot of times that means we attract people from different disciplines who have never been in finance.
What gave you the confidence to embark on this venture at such young age?
The research done at Caltech borders on the impossible. When you’re in an environment where professors are working toward solving the global energy crisis and curing cancer, it doesn’t seem so crazy to start a business as an undergrad. I also was having a lot of fun, and I kept approaching it as an experiment that I was scaling step by step.
You’ve already used your early success to support the Institute by donating to the Caltech Robotics Team. Why do you choose to give back to Caltech in this way?
The opportunity to help other people work on an interesting project and to remain part of Caltech’s culture of discovery was very rewarding to me. In many ways, I was just like the members of the Robotics Team when I was at Caltech. We share a curiosity to learn and try new things. Whereas I could do most of my research on a computer and collect data from the Internet, the Robotics Team needed physical supplies that required significant investment. It was an easy check to write, and I am proud to support them every year.
Let’s talk more about your Caltech mentors. How have they played a role in your academic and professional pursuits?
Caltech is a place filled with mentors. I think the way the faculty look at it, they’re training their future colleagues, not teaching recent high school graduates. Jaksa was extremely encouraging and supportive of the idea that I could be both a student and a hedge fund manager. My applied math adviser, Niles Pierce [professor of applied and computational mathematics and bioengineering], sets an amazing example for any researcher who wants to apply mathematics to other fields—he applies computation to cancer.
After graduating from Caltech, I pursued a PhD in neuroscience at Northwestern University. My thesis adviser, Moran Cerf (PhD ’09), got his doctorate at Caltech and you can tell he is a Techer because of how supportive he is of my interdisciplinary training. He is also extremely creative, and he is always challenging me to do the seemingly impossible. Since I’m interested in applying theoretical concepts in the real world, a lot of my neuroscience experiments are in the field—at movie theaters, football stadiums, political debates—which lets us capture natural brain responses from people. Moran encourages me to try these different types of experiments and is very excited about our work together.
And, in many ways, Caltech students are mentors to each other. My roommate, Riley Patterson, is a very gifted computer scientist, and he inspired me to take my first programming class at Caltech. Then, once I was writing lots of code, he encouraged me to make my code more efficient. And many other classmates suggested different classes to take or papers to read. The entire environment at Caltech is one of continuous learning and improvement.
The mentors you’ve mentioned appear to share a common trait: high expectations.
Yes. I think having mentors expect a lot from you is a really good thing. I always felt it was a vote of confidence rather than added pressure.
I keep in touch with my Caltech mentors even years after being a student there. They’re kind enough to read drafts of my research papers, and I try to visit them whenever I’m in town. They really want the best for me and I continue to feel their support.
Now that you’re a graduate student who is teaching courses and working with students, do you have a different understanding of the role of a mentor?
First of all, these relationships are individually defined. But I’m always learning from my students just as much as they’re learning from me. I have taught a lot at Northwestern—from finance to neuroscience—and people have different ways of understanding information. I am challenged to explore new ways to explain concepts.
And the more I pursue research and work with my mentees, the more I value how much my Caltech mentors made the journey of research and learning fun. Trying to find new ways to interpret data is challenging, and often you’ll end up with more questions than answers. Even the most serious Caltech professors had a sense of humor and encouraged us to embrace the mysteries of science and math. If I can be half as good a mentor as the ones I had from Caltech, then my students and employees will be very lucky.