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Ken Pickar's class, "Product Design for the Developing World," challenges Caltech students to solve some basic problems of the world's poor. The catch: in ten weeks, they must turn rough concepts into workable designs, including financial and market assessments. On December 7, this year's students presented their results. Their visual aids included a typically Caltech-like hodgepodge of pipes, motors, and fans—but as Pickar reminded the audience, "Prototypes aren't supposed to be elegant. They're supposed to be crude and quick."

Caltech basketball won its first game of the season on Saturday, when the men’s team defeated American Sports University 74-67 in the Fulmer Tournament at the University of Redlands. The victory snaps a 44-game losing streak dating back to January 5, 2009.

Caltech freshman Erika DeBenedictis was invited to the first-ever White House Science Fair after winning the top prize in the Intel Science Talent Search as a high-school senior, thanks to her work on a software system to help spacecraft navigate the solar system. Here, DeBenedictis—daughter of Caltech alumnus Erik DeBenedictis, BS '78, PhD '83—tells the story of the presidential meeting that almost wasn't.

It was a posting that offered a chance to "see how research is done and understand the lifetime enthusiasm that can be generated" that brought Zach Wickens to Caltech. The announcement was posted by pioneering organic chemist John (Jack) Roberts, Caltech's Institute Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus.

The Caltech men's basketball team opened its season in Milwaukee last weekend at the 2010 All-Engineers Classic. The tournament was Caltech's first out-of-state trip since 2004, when it played in the inaugural Classic, hosted by the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). This year, Carnegie Mellon and Merchant Marine Academy rounded out the rest of the field. "All the teams that are in it are very good and have had good programs in the last several years," said head coach Oliver Eslinger. "It presents good competition for us."

Caltech junior Jordan Theriot returned home to Louisiana last summer for her Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship project. Besides catching up with friends, family, and the region's famous foods, Theriot took on a difficult problem in chemistry, helping a Caltech alum advance his research.  

During the week of September 19, more than 200 young men and women are converging on the Caltech campus to start a fresh chapter in both their lives and the Institute's. They were selected from among nearly 5,000 candidates for admission—the largest and one of the most competitive applicant pools in Caltech's history. 

Every summer, campers head for California's fabled sequoia forest in the western Sierra Nevada, and some of them encounter a living monument to Caltech along the way. Hikers who follow what's known as the "Shadows of the Giants" trail and then brave a tough climb up a steep hill will find themselves in Caltech sequoia country, otherwise known as "Caltech Centennial Grove."  

Caltech undergrads all take the same core curriculum—which includes five courses each of physics and math, among other daunting requirements—no matter what field they'll later specialize in. Thanks to the Innovation in Education Fund, lively new alternatives to traditional introductory classes are being added to the course offerings, and advanced courses with up-to-the-moment topics are being designed as well.

This summer, junior chemistry student Jordan Theriot is SURFing far from Caltech, but on familiar ground, in her home state of Louisiana. Jordan's return to her roots was made possible by an unusual unrestricted Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship funded through a grassroots effort by the members of Caltech's Office of Development and Institute Relations.