On October 13th, JPL announced that it will lay off roughly 550 employees—about 11 percent of its workforce—in what Lab Director Dave Gallagher described as a “reorganization” effort to “secure JPL’s future” through leaner operations and refocused priorities.
As Caltech researchers, there is perhaps nothing so guarded as data. We scrutinize with excessive detail our data collection methods, data analysis methods, false-positive and false negative rates, and possible sources of bias to ensure that our interpretation of said data is trustworthy. But even before that…we make sure the data is there.
We are thrilled to have our new and returning students on campus. We are also excited to announce this year’s Student Life and Experience Conference (SLEC).
A small layout hiccup in our last issue left Joseph Greenwell captioned incorrectly, featuring Betsy Mitchell’s instead of his own. This coupled with Greenwell’s iconically bowtied image made for a curious moment that, in its way, captured something of the Caltech spirit. Now, with a proper introduction, meet the Institute’s new Associate Vice President for Student Life and Chief Student Affairs Officer.
The second floor of Kerckhoff had an unusual stillness that evening. People trickled into the small library room for the Science and Faith Examined (SAFE) talk, uncertain yet curious. I sat near the back, notebook open, listening to Tara—a physics PhD student and president of GCF—unfold her reflections on quantum field theory and the Bible.
