Letter to the Community

Why The Little T Matters More Than You Think I stayed awake at 2 a.m. during my first week at Caltech, sitting on my bed surrounded by half-unpacked boxes. On one side was a physics problem set that I didn’t understand, and on the other was this small book everyone whispered about—the little t. I initially thought it was some campus oddity, like an inside-jokes dictionary I hadn’t learned yet. But curiosity eventually got the better of me. I opened it. The first word I encountered was "Frosh

The proposed 47% single-year cut to NASA’s science budget eviscerates our nation’s leadership in space science: ending missions already in space, halting those in build, and defunding telescopes and instruments of the future. President Trump’s first administration was strong on space exploration, so this incomprehensible, loser strategy from the Office of Management and Budget doesn’t even seem to match the President’s stated aims. It burns down in months U.S. capabilities that have taken decad

Cultures reflect how persons in communities interact to form special bonds and experiences. Caltech has always had a distinctive culture, much of it lodged in its undergraduate experience and carried forward by its alumni. The distinctive features of this culture go far to make Caltech special and to distinguish Caltech from other top science institutions like MIT. Yet, there are strong signs that much of the best of Caltech’s culture has not survived the pandemic. Significant cultural losses s