Gift Supports a New Generation of Environmental Scientists at Caltech
Gordon and Carol Treweek have established an early-career professorship at Caltech that will help deepen our knowledge of Earth's environment, especially how it is affected by climate change.
Gordon Treweek (MS ʼ71, PhD ʼ75) helped tackle some of the most pressing environmental issues of his generation. As an engineer and executive with James Montgomery Engineers and Tetra Tech, he spearheaded efforts to clean up hazardous waste sites and remove lead from drinking water.
Today, environmental scientists and engineers are investigating the planet's past, present, and future in more depth than ever before, and offering insights on how to confront and adapt to climate change. Treweek believes Caltech can be a powerful force for progress in the global race to solve this crisis.
"Nations have set ambitious goals to curb climate change by 2030," he says. "But how do we get there? Caltech uses science to make informed predictions and create new solutions, regardless of politics or popular opinion."
To spur research in this area, Treweek and his wife, Carol, have donated $2.5 million to endow a professorship for early-career environmental scientists at Caltech. More than an honor, the named professorship includes flexible funds that the Institute's newest faculty members can use to fast-track their most promising ideas.
Although Gordon Treweek worked in private industry, he is familiar with the challenges of obtaining funding to advance leading-edge research, especially for scientists and engineers who are just launching their careers. He learned from his daughter Jennifer Treweek (BS '04), a biomedical engineering professor at USC, that the "new kids on the block," often have a difficult time catching funders' attention.
"My Caltech mentors were instrumental in helping me find a profession that was productive and rewarding, and made people's lives safer," Treweek says. "I'm absolutely happy to give back and help young faculty members who are just getting started."
The Smallest Organisms Can Have the Biggest Impacts
Smruthi Karthikeyan, who joined the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering (ESE) in January as an assistant professor, is the inaugural Treweek Scholar. Karthikeyan studies "microbial dark matter," the 99 percent of microbes that cannot be cultured in the lab and largely remain a mystery to the scientific community. By using computational methods and conducting in situ experiments, Karthikeyan aims to learn more about these microbes, their genetic material, and their interactions and effects on both the environment and the human biome. As a graduate student at Georgia Tech, she studied the ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 and made an important discovery. She identified a microbial genus that takes nitrogen from the atmosphere and converts it into a form that can help break down crude oil. Her findings could offer an alternative to fertilizer, which is currently used in oil cleanup efforts but causes harmful algal blooms.
At Caltech, Karthikeyan endeavors to gain a baseline knowledge of uncultured microbes and their interactions with their environment. Her work has the potential not only to create new bioremediation applications and improve the management of ecosystems affected by natural and human-caused disasters, but also to combat the worst effects of climate change.
"A lot of climate models fail to take microbial activity into consideration, but microbes have the power to reduce or mitigate the effects of carbon dioxide, methane, and other environmental perturbations," Karthikeyan says.
Karthikeyan has used her Treweek Scholar funds to purchase portable genetic sequencers, which she will use for on-site analysis and teaching.
"Federal funders tend to back established scientists who can present preliminary data in their grant applications," Karthikeyan says. "I'm still trying to get my lab up and running. I'm grateful that Gordon and Carol believe in the important contributions newer scientists can make."
Generosity Inspires Generosity
Treweek considers his gift an investment in a better future as well as an expression of gratitude. He remembers how, when the military tacked on another year to his service during the Vietnam War, the Institute extended its offer of admission to accommodate the circumstances. And when he struggled in Caltech's applied mathematics program, professors Jim Morgan and Jack McKee facilitated Treweek's transfer into ESE. Later, when his daughter discovered an interest in chemistry while attending Bryn Mawr College, Morgan introduced the Treweek family to the Institute's 3/2 program, which enables students at select liberal arts colleges to study at Caltech for two years and earn dual degrees.
Morgan helped two generations of Treweeks fulfill their professional passions, and Gordon Treweek is confident there are many more similar but untold stories.
"Caltech is known for its discoveries and creativity, and I am glad our gift is furthering important research," he says. "What is not discussed as much is how faculty make time for students and how deeply they care about their students' futures. This generosity is also what makes Caltech so special."