The CGPU-UAW Bargaining Team is a group of eleven Graduate Student Workers and five Postdocs democratically elected to represent their peers in collective bargaining with the Caltech administration.
I have gathered union petition signatures, organized vote parties for union authorization, sent mass emails in support of the union, and spoken in person to most grad students and postdocs in Schlinger, Church, and Crellin for Caltech Grad Researchers and Postdocs United (CGPU). I’m about as pro-union as they come. But right now, CGPU is at best misleading and at worst outright lying about compensation gains in the recent tentative agreement (TA).
If you’ve recently heard students humming show tunes, hyping up hockey games, or debating the best rides at Knott’s Berry Farm, you’ve probably stumbled upon the buzz surrounding Caltech’s Off-Campus Programming Series… I recently had the chance to chat with Steven Metzmaker, Assistant Director of Residential & Student Experience, who has been orchestrating these off-campus escapades.
Last month, the Norton Simon Museum in Old Pas received this portrait: Diego Velázquez’s “Queen Mariana of Austria” (1652–53). On special loan from the Museo del Prado, the famed Spanish national art museum in Madrid, this painting is being displayed on the West Coast for the first time.
During my time at Caltech, I’ve noticed that I often use the term “BUBBLE,” as in phrases like “I’m in my bubble of things to do,” “Caltech Bubble,” or “problem sets bubble.” Essentially, it’s a closed, limiting space, even though deep down, I know it’s not.
Most visitors to Caltech’s newest residence were probably surprised when they first found out that the 212-room building has just one entrance, an issue which, as a resident of Bechtel myself, has been more inconvenient than I originally anticipated…
$130,000. That is my estimate of waste at Bechtel.
In the midst of procrastinating yet another set, I am seized by my obsession with the godforsaken company Nintendo. Ever since the official announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2 (yes that is actually its name), I have not known a day of peace. I seem to be physically incapable of lasting 24 hours without thinking about this new console. With a supposed price of around $400-449, it is important to see if it will match up to the high price point.
We must confess that artificial intelligence has changed the planet. Once upon a time, the man was surprised by the discovery of fire, then metal, cultivation techniques. Then we arrived at more scientific realities such as during the Middle Ages when extraordinary cathedrals were built using heavy tools, pulleys, a form of engineering, right? With the Enlightenment, the greatest scientific discoveries were made such as light with Edison or more specific analyses at an anatomical level.
I just finished reading the new book Star Bound by Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III (shoutout to my friend Paige Kaufman who released a podcast interview with the authors yesterday – Space Spiels, wherever you get your podcasts). In the book, the authors discuss – among other things – how we have successfully grown plants in lunar regolith brought back from the Apollo missions. This is especially relevant now, as Artemis is aimed at establishing a permanent base on the surface of the Moon.
When I sent out my university applications it was as if my entire country was against me, no one wanted me to leave the traditional circle of the native student, and yet, here I am. I believe I owe this story to many people, but especially to that little girl with dark curls who, as soon as she set foot in the United States for the first time, felt a calling, felt totally a daughter of the American dream.
