From seminal research on smog in the 1940s to today’s work on reliable electricity grids, renewable energy, water conservation, and measuring Earth’s climate from space and on land, Caltech researchers unite across fields and institutions to translate discoveries into new technologies and inform policy decisions. Your support can help tip the scale toward a cleaner and more sustainable future for society.
Like many who come to Caltech to learn and explore, undergraduate Damien Bérubé dreams of changing the world with science and engineering. But his personal vision—the force that drives him in the classroom, the lab, and beyond—is an uncommon one.
Since its public launch in April 2016, Break Through: The Caltech Campaign has broken Institute fundraising records. While Break Through looks to secure Caltech’s future as a source of discovery for the world, the campaign already is making an imprint on campus and beyond by supporting Caltech people who are pursuing big questions and bold ideas.
Collaborating with students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty members at Caltech is as rewarding for professor of geophysics Victor Tsai as it was when he was an undergrad.
When Adam Wierman joined Caltech’s faculty in 2007, he set out to find a new challenge. “I wanted to do something about a problem of fundamental importance,” he says. “Climate is the problem.”
The drought is over. Or at least that’s the word on the street in California after a rain-soaked winter that restored surface water and snowpack in 2017. The picture is far more complicated, though. Groundwater takes years to recover after a prolonged shortage. In the meantime, many parts of the state still lack cohesive plans to meet the needs of people and businesses while protecting water resources. That’s where Hao Zhao comes in.
Water and engineering have always been central to life for Richard “Dick” Cox (BS ’42, MS ’46).
