California Tech v. 118:21, April 6, 2015

The California Tech VOLUME CXVIII NUMBER 21 PASADENA, CALIFORNIA TECH@CALTECH.EDU APRIL 6, 2015 California water crisis induces cutbacks and paradigm shifts LORI DAJOSE Contributing Writer California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an unprecedented executive order last week mandating the reduction of water usage across 400 local water supply agencies. Each agency must come up with and enforce restrictions on consumers and businesses to reduce water usage by 25%. California is now in its fourth consecutive year of drought, with this past winter yielding record low snowfall. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is one of the major sources of water for Southern California, but this year it is only 6% of its normal volume. Climate models suggest that in the coming years precipitation will fall more as rain and less as snow. The current system of dams and reservoirs may not be able to handle this - a gradual snowmelt over time is much easier to control than sudden deluges. Ironically, the warmer climate and the drought could thus cause large floods. Geologists and engineers are brainstorming new systems to manage storage and prevent "California is no longer simply experiencing a severe period of drought. It is undergoing a permanent change in climate." widespread damages in this event. Brown's actions last week signal the beginning of an overhaul in the control and consumption of water. They also mark an important paradigm shift: California is no longer simply experiencing asevere period of drought. It is undergoing a permanent change in climate. Water is a decisive factor in California's status as a giant of agriculture, and technology industry. Will food prices skyrocket due to cutbacks in farm water usage? Will businesses still flock to Silicon Valley and Los Angeles if water bills are prohibitively expensive? The state is renowned for rapid growth and innovation as the world's seventh largest economy - but all of that could soon come to a grinding halt without water. Students join Caltech Y to volunteer in Make-A-Difference Day (Top) Students went to Hillsides Home for at-risk children, and built and raced rocket cars with a group of teenage boys. (Bottom) At Lifeline for Pets, volunteers cleaned rooms where abandoned cats stay, washed linen, swept floors, organized the shelter, and played with some of the cats in the shelter. Other MAD Day volunteer opportunites included visiting the Boys and Girls Club in Del Mar, Del Mark Park, Habitat for Humanity, the Humane Society, and the LA Arboretum. Photos Courtesy of Hillsides Home (top) and Aleena Patel (bottom) Project Scientist, Caltech bring STEM education to Pasadena girls NEHALY SHAH Editor-in-Chief stereotypes that much of society Project Scientist served nearly 500 "[Michalakis'] enthusiasm has around girls in STEM. Girls girls. Most recently, in the fall of for the program inspired me to (like boys) love science, especially 2014, "we piloted our afterschool figure out a way to help bring this Project Scientist Academy, a five-week summer camp, offers science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning opportunities for girls of ages four to 14. The program, originally established in North Carolina, will come to Southern California this summer from June 8 to July 24 at the Caltech and Longfellow Elementary School campuses. Founder Sandy Marshall was inspired to start Project Scientist by her own daughter. "She was a curious four-year-old that loved science; my husband and I worked fulltime and needed a summer option that fit her interests and academic needs as well as our schedules. At the same time, as executive director and founder of The NASCAR Foundation, I was funding many STEM initiatives and I became increasingly aware and concerned of the lack of females in STEM majors and careers. "Having a 'STEM girl' and having been a 'STEM girl' myself, understand how girls may feel different or not always feel aligned with the perceptions and at young age. Since founding Project and teacher workday program, so program to our local K-12 students Scientist my hypothesis that we could have touch points Broadening the STEM pipeline to is continually confirmed that kids with the girls we serve year-round, include more girls is a key goal for as young as four are capable of while inspiring other girls to reach understanding science concepts for their STEM dreams," said us in Caltech's Center for Teaching, Learning, & Outreach," said Aiken and that girls' interests go beyond Marshall. "As we explored working with the stereotypical female STEM Last year Marshall reached out Project Scientist, I felt that teaming majors and careers," said Marshall. to Spiros Michalakis, who is the up with a local elementary school As a part of The STEM Funders manager of outreach activities would be a great way to strengthen Network while at The NASCAR for the Institute for Quantum the community connection." Thus Foundation, "I had access to the Information and Matter (IQIM) at Project Scientist will be on Caltech latest ... research around girls in Caltech. As such, he is also the club and Longfellow Elementary School STEM and experts at the table to vet adviser for InnoWorks Academy, campuses in Pasadena as well my ideas around Project Scientist," another Caltech summer program as three university campuses in said Marshall. By 2012, Marshall that will be on campus from June Charlotte this summer. Project launched the first session of Project 15 to 19, the week in June that Scientistalsoruns ayear-roundclub Scientist out of her guesthouse Project Scientist will be in hiatus so at public and private elementary as an LLC with two teachers, six that girls who want to participate schools in both markets. students (of ages four to six), and in both programs can do so. This summer Project Scientist six female STEM professionals. "I After Michalakis and Marshall will have concept goals for each age built every second around what met, Michalakis was invited to group. "This will be a joint effort of research has proven to drive and North Carolina to observe Project the entire Project Scientist staff maintain girls' interests in STEM," Scientist in action for one week. "I and parents to ensure their girls said Marshall. was so impressed by the quality of grasp these concepts that align Project Scientist has since the program that I decided to talk to with Common Core and Next Gen grown: in 2013, it became a public Mitch Aiken to bring the program Science Standards," said Marshall. 501(c)(3) nonprofit and landed on campus the next summer," said Each week of the summer session its first university contract in Michalakis. Aiken is the associate has a theme, chosen through a Charlotte, North Carolina, where director for educational outreach variety of ways. "For example, we it served 95 girls in a six-week in the provost's academic program program. In the summer of 2014, at Caltech. Continued on page 2 IN THIS ISSUE OPINION | PAGE 3 INDIANA PASSES NEW LAW CONCERNING DISCRIMINATION OPINION | PAGE 3 INTERIM ASCIT PRESIDENT DISCUSSES TEACHING FEATURE | PAGE 4 KSHITIJ OFFERS PERSPECTIVE ON MANAGING EMAIL SPORTS | PAGE 5 WOMEN'S TENNIS SEES WINS IN SINGLES MATCHES NEWS 2 APRIL 6.2015 THE CALIFORNIA TECH Caltech Y Column: News & Events | Project Scientist reaches out CALTECH Y The Caltech Y is turning 100 caltechy.org/programs_services/ to girls interested in STEM and would like to commemorate areas/Studenski/index.php. The Caltech Y Column serves to this momentous occasion with a Continued from page 1 and assistants to our teachers," inform students ofupcoming events centennial t-shirt. We are looking 4. Caltech Y ACT Award said Marshall. and volunteer opportunities. The for a creative and original design Applications are due by Friday, list is compiled by Neera Shah from and invite all undergraduate and April 17th at noon information given by the Caltech Y graduate students to participate. Your World Awaits. Caltech Y Submit your design for a chance to ACT Award! How will you spend want girls to find STEM relevant to their community, so last summer in Charlotte we had energy week. We approached Duke Energy to the Y was organized to provide extracurricular activities planned and implemented by students as an opportunity to learn leadership skills and discover themselves. The mission of today's Y remains the citizens of the world. The Y seeks to broaden students' worldviews, raise social, ethical, and cultural community engagement, activism, and leadership. More information programs can be found at https:// caltechy.org. The office is located at are Wednesday, April 8th at noon. Email your design to caltechy@ period for all students to select the Y and Caltech Store will pick the winning design from the top 3 to be on the official centennial t-shirt will receive a $25 gift card to the printed, and t-shirts will be sold at Tackle homelessness, immigration, poverty, or other challenge you choose - it's your opportunity to ACT! The Caltech Y ACT Award, made possible through the generous support of the Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union, offers students an opportunity to purse an interest in community during the week and serve as STEM Superstars. Our Wednesday headquarters where girls got to see behind the scenes of the company and witness those females in their workplace," said Marshall. Project Scientist organizers also determine themes through their curriculum partner SciGirls (a PBS founded and National Science Foundation expanded from the east coast to the west coast since its inception, and Marshall has further growth in mind. "Our short term goals are to continue to tweak and build on the model to create efficiencies yet sustain our outcomes and impacts for the girls we serve. We also hope to continue to grow in the Los Angeles market and others as the need and partners are identified," said Marshall. "Our long-term goals are to create more female scientists and ultimately change the culture for girls and women in STEM. We plan to achieve this through our pipeline approach with the girls we serve, university and corporate engagement, and public relations area of t-shirt. Designs can have up 3. The Studenski Award Series with Professor David next step in your life? Have you reached a crossroad where you would benefit from an opportunity reproducibility will conclude with a lunch discussion about scientific fraud. Professor David Goodstein is a Professor of Physics and Applied Physics here at Caltech and served an organization, or a chance to try a new skill or interest this summer help you gain clarity? If you answered yes to any of these that is changing the world. Explore real world issues in our local or around the globe - and make a difference in the world. $4500 Caltech Y ACT Award offers students an opportunity to explore an issue, engage in a cause, and lead a campaign to educate and engage others at Caltech. Caltech determine the cause they will address, the organization with whom they will partner, and the type of campaign they will lead on campus. The Caltech Y ACT expand their understanding of the world unleashing them to change the world for the better as active Applications are due by Friday, Caltech Y during our office hours to learn more about this exciting opportunity, contact us to ask questions or set up a separate time partnership with Caltech brought new connections and opportunities for coding week we are working with Caltech on a visit to Google, we Mars rovers and then Auto Club Speedway /NASCAR to learn about the engineering around racing." The program also has a new coding summer: codeSpark, a Pasadena startup that "is filling a void of coding curriculum for young kids (and the main character is a girl!)," application can be found at http:// www.caltechy.org/programs_ services/commservice/ACT/ Madison and Jackson Elementary learning offers "a balance between what I call 'shock and awe' science [and] a deeper dive in curriculum to master specific STEM concepts ... [which] is unique to Project Scientist compared to most other summer camps and [is] something Marshall. The summer program also includes one hour of arts integration per day not only "to reinforce the STEM concepts from earlier in the day, but also to drive innovation and creativity. Typically we engage with local artists and groups to partner on the execution development plans in mind for Project Scientist. "I want to see Project Scientist take strong roots at Caltech before expanding to places like UCSD, UCSF, MIT, Harvard, Stanford and other top tier universities. The first step is to establish strong corporate partners locally so that we can increase the number of full-ride scholarships for girls on the PUSD and LAUSD free/reduced lunch program. The second step is to involve Caltech faculty and students as mentors during the summer program, [and] even more importantly, as leaders in the community who go on to create year-round Project Scientist Clubs in schools like Longfellow Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Washington STEAM Academy and Project Scientist is "looking for individuals and companies who are interested in inspiring STEM girls in your city," said Marshall. "We are especially interested in those who would like to fund scholarships for girls with an aptitude, talent, and passion for STEM, yet may not be able to afford camp. We believe there are STEM Superstars in every neighborhood that deserve to geek out all summer with us on science!" are partnered with the Pasadena LEARNs program and work with their Science Olympiad team or do regular tutoring along with For more information and to RSVP, contact vkkumar@ Project Scientist, compared to other summer camps, is that professional teachers from the local area are hired, which "provides them with a summer of hands-on training techniques that they take back to their classroom in the fall, making our impact exponential. We also college and high school girls who serve as "near peers" to our girls off through April 12 for each week a student signs up for; Caltech and JPL employees will receive additional $50 off through April 12 (qualifying applicants must write Caltech or JPL in the referral box). Questions may be sent to Sandy Marshall at sandy@ Join us as we Submissions due Wednesday, April 8th at Noon More information and the application can be found at http:// 5:30-8:00pm Highland Park at Hathaway- Sycamores, a group that supports local underprivileged but motivated high school students. There are a variety of ages and subjects being tutored. The service trip includes about an hour of travel time and 1.5 hours of tutoring. Transportation is included. For more info and to RSVP email Sherwood Richers at srichers@tapir.caltech.edu. Eligible for Federal Work Study. Photo Courtesy of Sandy Marshall OPINION THE CALIFORNIA TECH Corn grows plenty fast in Indiana, but discrimination grows faster SEAN MCKENNA Contributing Writer possibility that Indiana's law could government can combat backlash justify refusal of service to gays and against legal advances. lesbians. States and cities imposed Progressives applaud the The most thrilling situation I couldimagine myselfin: Skydiving? No. Winning the Stanley Cup? Nah. Calling a presidential election for a national news network? Well that certainly gets me all atwitter, and the obvious first step on the path to becoming a nationally beloved political reporter is to write about politics for The Tech. So here I am. As a Tech writer, I'd like to offer two forms of political commentary: and argumentation. Summary because we need sources of facts in a world where complex legal ideas are boiled down to hashtags, and argumentation because I'm full of opinions. travel bans to Indiana, causing recent series of court rulings concern among businesses and organizations such as Angie's List legitimizing same-sex marriage, starting with Windsor v. US in and the NCAA, both headquartered the Supreme Court in 2013 and Indianapolis. This led the continuing through lower level Indiana business lobby to join courts in 2014. In what was clearly human rights activists in pressing a reaction to the 2014 court ruling the Indiana legislature to fix the legalizing gay marriage in Indiana, law. Christian groups such as Advance On April 2 both states passed America and the American Family "fixes" to their laws. Arkansas Association of Indiana expected passed a new version of its law that the Religious Freedom Restoration more closely mirrors the federal Act to exempt Christians from Religious Freedom Restoration providing services for same-sex Act of 1993, signed by Bill Clinton. weddings. To me, newly earned Indiana added specific wording to same-sex explicitly prohibit denial of service marriage rights seem incredibly fragile if they can be under the law on the basis of"sexual halted or reversed by legislative orientation or gender identity." action influenced by special This week, I'm focusing the developments regarding the Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, which unfolded this week and last in Indiana and Arkansas. The Arkansas fix was a safe interests. move meant to avoid controversy. To ensure the proper legal Indiana's fix, however, is a small defenses are available to members gay rights victory, as it marks the of the LGBT community, I firmly first explicit protections in state law believe states need to protect sexual from discrimination against LGBT orientation and gender identity On March 26 Indiana's governor passed law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which legitimized using "a 'substantial burden' on one's religious beliefs" as a legal defense. Twenty other states and the federal government have passed Religious Freedom Restoration Acts protecting from burdens imposed by government, but the Indiana law also allowed one to claim that the "substantial burden" was imposed by another private party. On March 31 the Arkansas legislature also passed a similar bill, but the governor of Arkansas did not sign or veto it and told legislators to try again. By then, the nation was in uproar over the residents. The overall impact of under state civil rights legislation. the Religious Freedom Restoration Without such protections, recent Act is thus unclear, as there is legal gains can be tarnished by the some evidence that special interest whim of lawmakers and the pen of groups originally expected the law an executive. to provide a legal defense for not participating in gay weddings. The controversy of these laws thus appears pacified, but I believe it exposes the ongoing hazards to the civil rights of LGBT Americans. Gays and lesbians in Indiana and Arkansas were at the mercy of the legislature and the governor's decision of whether to "fix" the law. Civil rights laws exist specifically to prevent this situation, for they are a commitment by government to prioritize protection of a vulnerable I do not claim to be an expert on politics, current events, or the law; I merely enjoy making myself heard. encourage readersto make themselves heard after reading my articles. It is in your interest and mine to react and respond to my writing, since intellectual growth is best furthered by refuting and defending one another's opinions. Find my email address on Donut if you'd like to send me your thoughts. group of people. In doing so, The Powers That B: A fresh take on old habits for Death Grips NAILEN MATSCHKE Contributing Writer Few artists can claim to have generated anywhere near the level of controversy that Death Grips has during the group's short career, and even fewer have continued to make worthwhile contributions to their catalog while doing so. Yet in four years the Sacramento-based trio has managed to put out a mixtape, four studio albums, and an instrumental soundtrack all packed front-to-back with some of the most violent, dark and groundbreaking hip-hop ever released. More an act of performance art than just a music project, the group takes everything they possibly can to the next level and members have gained notoriety for the twisted games they play with their fans, like announcing their break-up only to go on a tour and say that they "might make some more." Perhaps the most famous instance of their mayhem, however, is The Powers That B itself, a double album: the second CD is titled Jenny Death, root of the "Jenny Death when?" meme resulting from rabid fans having to wait nine months between the two releases. Now that the latter has finally been released, we no longer have to be concerned about whether The Powers That B is a disappointing final album for Death Grips, but is it still a satisfying entry to their discography? It's tough to argue that the answer should be anything less than a firm "yes," but fans should be thankful that Jenny Death is good enough to be an album on its own. On the surface, the album's second disc is the least a Death Grips studio album has even sounded like Death Grips. Instead of the thick, distorted electronic sound that powered the destructive energy of No Love Deep Web, in many places these tracks are dominated by blaring blown-out guitars and an even stronger focus on Zach Hill's drums, with a large number of the beats being driven by an acousc kit and incorporating hardcore influences. The group is no stranger to being likened to a punk act, and it's a fair comparison to make considering the aggressive and gritty aesthetic, anti-establishment messages and general embodiment of the same sort of ideals. On Jenny Death, though, it really feels as though the band decided to embrace this component of its sound, and the result is a refreshing, somehow even more unique brand of hip-hop with just as much raw energy as before. There are a few times when it feels unnecessary underutilized, usually when the guitar is stuck with too simple a melody (e.g., during MC Ride's verses on "Centuries of Da--"); as it ends up caught between the versatility of purely electronic APRIL 6, 2015 W From the (Interim) President's Desk: A simple proposal for improving teaching CONNOR ROSEN Interim ASCIT President Several years ago, a column ran in The Tech titled "From the President's Desk," where the ASCIT President wrote about issues facing the undergraduate student body or their thoughts on particular aspects of the Caltech student experience. In the next few weeks, I'll revive that column. will be a mixture of my opinions, policies or changes at Caltech that students should know about, and things that ASCIT or other interested students may want to work on changing in the future. This first article will focus on a small suggestion for students that takes an active effort to make it easy for professors and TAs to improve their course organization and teaching. Undergraduates spend a lot of time working on sets, and a lot of time complaining about sets — sometimes justifiable complaints, and sometimes not. I think it is time for us to do something proactive to help professors improve course organization and teaching, and potentially help ourselves as well. I have one very simple suggestion to try to get this started - every student should write, on every problem of every set, how long they spent on that problem. This takes practically no time and effort on our part — we already complain about difficult problems anyways. The first thing it does for us, though, is it forces us to reflect for 30 seconds on how we worked through a set, and allows us to compare between sets even after our memory of old sets has faded. Maybe I notice that all the problems I worked through with friends took longer than problems I did alone — this might indicate that I'm less focused when working with other people. That's fine if I choose to accept that, but at least it's a conscious decision. Or I notice that all the non-collaboration problems take me five hours longer - this might be a sign that I'm relying too heavily on my study group, and not really getting the material as well as I should be - maybe it's time for me to buy the textbook, get a tutor, and focus more heavily on this class. A little bit of reflection on multiple sets could go a long way. I also think this could go a long way towards helping professors and TAs improve their classes. It gives real-time feedback to instructors on what works and what doesn't work on sets - and whether they are accurately gauging the amount of work students need to do to understand the material. It works instrumentation and the anthemic ability of rock guitar and falls short in either direction. On the whole, however, I think the choice to add these elements to the Death Grips mix pays off in the moments it better than grade distributions for telling instructor. about differences in background between groups in the class, because seeing two populations working for very different amounts of time to get the same grade says something about the class that wouldn't be clear from the grade distribution. Each week, TAs who notice trends in problem difficulty could alter their recitations to focus on the areas that most students are finding most difficult. If you feel ambitious, encourage you to write a full sentence about each problem once you're done. Write "I spent 10 hours on this problem, because the formula in the notes is wrong and I couldn't get the algebra to work out until I checked the textbook; this was the biggest waste of time I've ever had," or "I spent 10 hours on this problem because it was really interesting and I wanted to find the best possible proof; I didn't mind spending that much time at all!" Give the instructors real-time feedback, instead of waiting for TQFRs. Ihave a glorious pipe dream of professors seeing a bimodal distribution in their class of effort put into the sets, asking the ARC to investigate, finding out that it's due to differences in prior coursework, and working with the Center for Teaching, Learning, & Outreach (CTLO) to have one of the TAs do a special recitation for people missing a course that wasn't listed as a prerequisite but is actually assumed for some problems in the class (classes that secretly require ACM 095, I'm looking at you). Cue laughter from the students - but let's give it a try, because it's easy for us and the payoff if it works is enormous. In the best case scenario, if every student did this, professors would be able to quickly respond • issues of understanding anc difficulty in the class, adjusting it to the level they felt was necessary to understand the material. They could realize that students who use a particular optional resource are having fewer issues than people using the textbook, and recommend that resource to other students. They could focus on subgroups of the class that have issues with certain types of problems (e.g. proofs versus derivations), or even use the information to inform questions to the CTLO or the ARC, to improve the class overall In the worst case scenario, we all waste two minutes on every set, but at least when we complain about how professors don't care about improving the class, we have evidence to support it. creates that take advantage of the best parts of hip-hop and hardcore. Yet while Death experiments with these Grips new sounds, the reason the group is Continued on page 7 FEATURE 4 APRIL 6, 2015 THE CALIFORNIA TECH Techers enjoy food and dancing at annual ASCIT Formal Photos Courtesy of Katherine Guo Kshitij talks college students and convenient email etiquette KSHITIJ GROVER of stuff you could be handling well, through irrelevant messages Thanks for considering Contributing Writer or you're straight up wasting time. to find what you want. Most my Hope you're well. Set 4 is request. Let me know if you need attached; let me know if I need to The email experience boils down email apps have incredibly good anything else from me. Have a revise anything People love to make the case to two basic things: consumption search algorithms. Offload all your nice evening, and see you in class Have a good weekend! that email is dying. I've heard again and composition. efforts. That's your main goal with lomorrow Best, and again that it's a poor form of every aspect of email. Best Regards, communication, makes no sense Consumption Combined, not It's not trite to the point of in a connected world-even that First and foremost, you're going separate. I've seen this way too it's an epidemic. to suck at replying to messages if many times-students still use a Look, things like Slack are you can't effectively parse your separate portal for their college great. Just don't expect me, as a inbox. Personally, I use Inbox on email. Import the account. There college student, to stop using email mobile and Mailbox on Mac (Inbox is no excuse for having to load two anytime soon: It's about midday does have a web app, but it's websites. and I've opened, read, and replied bloated and certainly doesn't feel to 30 emails today. native). Either way, you need to: At a glance, that may not seem Use Archive well. like much. But remember-that As soon as a conversation gets doesn't count all the notifications resolved, swipe right (no-not that I need (but immediately that kind of swipe). Archive the archive). That doesn't count purely thread, and clear it from your informational newsletters (like inbox. Having 10,000 read things Medium Top Stories) or email- in your inbox doesn't do you any based alerts that no one replies to. good. Don't worry-just because It's only email that I've read and it's not in your inbox doesn't mean replied to. The total number of it's gone. Keep your attention to conversations exceeds 120. active conversations. I rarely have more than 20 threads in my Lots of Email. Lots of Time. inbox at a time-the fewer you As someone 1n college, your see when you open your app, the time is worth a whole lot more better. than it has ever been in the past. That's why you should care. Either you're being efficient with your email, you're ignoring a whole lot Search efficiently. This one's really easy, and it ties into the last one. It's not in your inbox, but you should never scroll Composition I compose about 45% of my emails on mobile, and I'm able to do that because of my general philosophy regarding emails- whether it's another student, a professor, someone in industry, or anyone else. It's nothing special, but it is important. Let's look at a type of email I would hate to receive: Hello Professor, Hope you're having a cordial day. I thoroughly enjoyed your class this morning, and I've been arduously working on the homework assignment. I have enclosed a rough draft of Set 4, and I would be grateful if you could review it. Ok, so it's a bit artificial. But this really is something people do. There are a few things to keep in mind to avoid this: Cut the [fluff]. Don't fluff your email like you fluff your essays. Honestly, there's no better way to say that. Formality doesn't help anyone-you take more time, and people have more to parse (and they even could feel the obligation to return it). Keep it short-tell the recipient what you want. Pretty much all the email you're going to be sending is a request. They're doing you a favor, and you should value their time-trust me, being "nice' has nothing to do with being formal. Keep it to the point, and show that you care about the other things they have to do. That's nice. Emails aren't to impress. Don't use random big words-clarity is first and foremost. Rephrased: Hello Professor, rudeness. That's the key-keeping it short without making it sound standoffish. Don't be afraid of short emails: Cool, makes sense-thanks! Slightly longer: Hey Alex, Are you free for coffee? Let's catch up next week. Been working on my thesis, and I've made some progress on research. How does Monday look for you? Best, Bob Note that if you're making a specific request, you need to suggest a specific action item (e.g., when you want to meet). Whether you think email sucks or not, it's important enough that you can't afford to suck at it, especially if you're in college. SPORTS THE CALIFORNIA TECH APRIL 6, 2015 Enlow scores goal because she's so cool Singles perform well GOCALTECH.COM Actual Sports Content Editor in the second quarter to post a 14-3 season to pull the margin back to GOCALTECH.COM victory. Redlands improves to 3-21 two at 4-2. Redlands would net Actual Sports Content Editor overall and 1-2 in the SCIAC while four more late in the quarter to PASADENA, Calif. (Mar. 28, 2015) - Junior Soumya Kannan (Palo Alto, Calif. / Henry M Gunn) netted her seventh brace of the season as the Caltech women's water polo team hosted the University of Redlands in a SCIAC matchup on Saturday morning. The Bulldogs got out to an early lead and distanced themselves late Caltech is now 0-12 (0-2). lead 8-2 at halftime and increased Redlands scored the first it to 10-2 before Kannan completed three goals of the contest before her brace with just 37 seconds Kannan struck at the 1:09 mark in remaining in the third quarter. The the first quarter on an extraman Bulldogs struck for four more in a opportunity. The Bulldogs shutout fourth quarter to put the netted the opener in the second game out of reach. quarter but senior Monica Enlow (Suwanee, Ga. / North Gwinnett) answered with her fourth of the CLAREMONT, Calif. (Apr. 3, 2015) - Sophomore Sophia Chen (Newport Beach, Calif. / Corona Del Mar) and freshman Rachel Morton (Oxford, Ohio / Talawanda) won at #2 and #5 singles, respectively, as the Caltech women's tennis team battled the No. 26 University of La Verne at the Claremont Club on Friday afternoon. The Leopards posted a 7-2 victory to improve to 9-4 overall and 3-1 in the SCIAC, while the Beavers are now 5-8 (0-5). La Verne swept doubles, including a pair of 8-0 wins at courts #1 and #3 while freshmen Vinci Chen (Austin, Texas Westwood) and Grace Yao (La Palma, Calif. / Oxford Acad.) notched a pair of games for Caltech at #2. The Leopards clinched the match shortly after singles play commenced as the No. 11-ranked player in the West region, Laina Matsuda, did not drop a game at #1 and Areli Martinez closed out #6 quickl, 6-1, 6-0 The Leopards also won #3 and #4 singles in straight sets, but the Beavers left on a high note with victories in the final two matches. Both Chen and Morton won their first set by identical 6-4 scores, and Morton dominated the second, 6-1, to earn the Beavers' first point. Chen had some more work to do after dropping her second set, 6-3, but responded emphatically with a 10-3 superbreaker. Sometimes I wish I could remember the moments when these pictures could have been taken, but sadly all of my memories of Soumya Kannan beasting it up in the pool are fleeting ….. mostly because I'm drowning the whole time. -http://gocaltech.com Everybody get up; it's time for Sophia Chen to slam now. -http://gocaltech.com Garrett Levine stands unyielding at the plate despite harsh stares from the opposing team. Photo Courtesy of Nhi Casey via http://gocaltech.com tech AEAVERS Harrison Jacobs does his best to keep a straight face sliding home. I'm doing my best with these captions, but man, I'm losino mu toucn... Photo Courtesy of Nhi Casey via http://gocaltech.com When in doubt, just creep on the men's tennis page to find really cool pictures of Morgan Lebby giving gravity-defying performances on the court. -http://gocaltech.com 6 APRIL 6. 2015 ANNOUNCEMENTS THE CALIFORNIA TECH ASCIT Minutes ASCIT Board of Directors Meeting Minutes for 31 March 2015. Taken by Sean McKenna. Celebrate EARTH DAY Officers Present: Catherine Jamshidi, Connor Rosen, Patrick Nikong, Annie Chen, Sean McKenna Guests: Chris Dosen, Elliott Simon, Nikita Sirohi, Anne Dorsey, Bianca Lepe, Margaret Lee Call to Order: 12:05 pm President's Report (Connor): • Working to finalize rewording of BOC amendment which didn't pass. We will be hosting a town hall to talk about reason for the change. Goal is make sure people know what's going on and have the opportunity to ask questions. • 12 term tuition policy survey will be sent out. Especially be sure to respond to it if you have been affected by the mandate to pay for 12 terms of tuition. • UASH has been receiving more ineligibilities. We will make an effort to communicate the requirements more clearly. Leadership series is being hosted by Tom Mannion this spring. Officer's Reports: • V.P. of Academic Affairs (ARC Chair: Nima): CUE/Vice Provost/Nima met and took over the homework due times issue. Goal is to make freshman core problem sets due between midnight and 2am for the next academic year. Looking into what ARC can do to get professors to submit grades on time in order to prevent them from turning in late grades which can make students ineligible. Working on teaching scheduling times. Sending out a library survey about closed times. • V.P. of Non-Academic Affairs (IHC Chair: Cat): Preparing for prefrosh weekend and meeting with the President. Goals for the year: improving diversity on campus, improving interhouse relations. Holding interviews for Secretary this weekend. Meeting with the SURF office to talk about summer ambassadors. New Presidents and House Picks Officers are meeting with Housing to discuss the timeline for fall room picks. • Interim Director of Operations (Sean): ASCIT Food for Prefrosh Weekend is happening Thursday night at midnight. • Treasurer (Patrick): Caltech Paddling Club applied for event funding. • Social Director (Annie): ASCIT Formal will happen this weekend. People who are 21 or over get 3 free drink tickets. ASCIT movie night is Avengers on May 1st. • Secretary (Sean): BOD meet and greet on Saturday 11 April to meet current position holders in advance of upcoming elections. questions. The next meeting will take place on April 7th at Noon in the Winnett Common Space. Meeting Adjourned: 12:42 pm Wednesday, April 8 Winnett Lounge 12pm-1pm Friday, April 10 S-L328 4pm-5pm Tuesday, April 14 Watson 104 12pm-1pm Thursday, April 16 Winnett Loung 1zom-1om Friday, April 17 san Pasqual Walk 11:30am-1:30om Friday, April 17 SFL 328 rom-yom Saturday, April 18 Catalina Apis. community Garder com-40n Monday, April 20 SFL 328 5pm-6pm Wednesday, April 22 vinnel Lounge 12pm-1pm Wednesday, April 22 Beckman Mall & Ramo Auditorium 5pm-9pm Friday, April 24 SFL 328 5pm-6pm all month April 2015 Charting Irreversible Climate Change with Jason-3 Josh Willis, JPL ocean and climate scientist Lunch provided Workshop: Embedded Water & Energy Find out how to make a difference in your water/energy consumptior Climate Change Adaptation Robert Lempert, Director, Pardee RAND Graduate School Lunch provided Remote Sensing of Global Carbon and Water Cycles Narendra Jas. Jr. waler and caroon cvcle scientis Lunch provided Carh Day community rair Come check out a variety of local environmental organizations ano learn how you can get involved Movie Night: Growing Cities This documentary examines the role of urban farmina in America how it can revitalize our cities and change how we eat Food provided Workshop: Gardening 101 Come exercise your green thumb at this workshop lead by Jeri Huston, UC Master Gardener Workshop: Citizen Engagement Learn more effective ways to take productive action to implement chane Food provided The Energy/Water Nexus Steve Frei, Principal, Affiliated Engineers Lunch provided Ask a Scientist & TACIT Performance of Two Degrees Open Q&A with climate scientists followed by a special performance or Iwo Dedrees wrien ov a ramaust rood provide Workshop: How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Calculate your carbon footprint! You might be surprised at what steps you can take to reduce it rood provided Caltech sustainability Caltech Graduate Student Council Flyer Courtesy of John Onderdonk/Director of Sustainability at Caltech Caltech Public Event The California Tech Editors-in-Chief Neera shan Nehaly Shah Page Editors Monica Enlow Katherine Guo Ching-Yun (Chloe) Hsu Liz Lawler Hiring Ushers Contributing Writers brad chauerzoon Lori Dajose Kshitij Grover nal en Marschke Sean McKenna Flexible hours. No experience needed. Outgoing Personality. Pay Rate: $15 per hour Circulation Manager Kit Chinetti Advisor Richard Kipling Caltech 40-58, Pasadena, CA 91125 contact tech@caltech.edu Caltech Students only!! Contact: Adam Jacobo 626.395.5901 ajacobo@caltech.edu The Tech is published weekly except during vacation and examination periods by the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology, Inc. The opinions expressed herem are sulcuy those or th authors and aqvertiserc Letters and submissions are welcome; e-mail submissions to tech@caltech.edu as olan-tex arachments. Incruaine une au thor's name. hy Hridav of the weer netore publication. The Tech does accept anonymous contributions under special circum- stances. Ine earlors reserve me Ment to edit and abridge all submissions for any reason. All written work remains propert of its author The advertising deadline is 5 PM Friday; al advertising should be submitted elec tronically or as camera-ready art, but The Tech can also do simple typesetting anc aaverusine Inourie should be directed to the business man ager at tech@caltech.edu. For subscriptio nformation, please send mall to su scrolons. FEATURE THE CALIFORNIA TECH Brad/Chad Business Tutorial: Not just theory BRAD CHATTERGOON found out that Pao was involved in Contributing Writer a sexual relationship with another junior partner at the firm that Hey, Caltech. I hope that the eventually ended, and even started, first week wasn't too rough. Also on bad terms; at least according to welcome to campus to any prefrosh Pao. Pao alleges that the subsequent who might be reading this. One end of that relationship and piece of senior sage wisdom, do Bi eventual promotion of the other 001 before senior year. junior partner to senior partner led This week I want to talk about to several complications for Pao in something that will most likely the form of being left out of email not show up in any business chains and omitted from access literature that you have read: to other sources of information. I soft skills. We all know about imagine that engaging in a sexual the "hard skills" associated with relationship at work did not help business like marketing, finance, Pao's case in the eyes of the jury. strategy, etc., but we very seldom Further, however, the promoted mention the "soft skills." These junior partner was removed from include interacting with others, our the firm at the outset of the case. To perspectives on social boundaries be sure, this ended poorly for both at the office, networking, working parties. on a team, etc. These soft skills are also controversial in a lot of ways because their execution can sometimes vary based on gender, sex, sexual orientation, and race. As I am writing this I am realizing that this article itself is going to be controversial as well. It is important here to provide some motivation for this article. Some of you, although I expect very few, may have heard about the recent case of Ellen Pao v. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. For a bit more of the "why should we care" part of this article, Kleiner Perkins is one of the oldest and most influential venture capital firms in the world. They have been early stage investors in hot startups like Facebook, Google and Amazon, even before they were hot. Pao was a junior partner at the firm for several years and recently brought a law suit against Kleiner Perkins for sexual discrimination after her employment there was terminated. I will leave collection of the case details to the reader and will instead choose to focus on the issues raised in the case that It's important to be loud and clear about any perceived injustices when they happen instead of waiting for several of these perceptions to accumulate before choosing to address them. Further, in being loud and clear, ensure that the course of action leaves a paper trail that can be readily referenced if these injustices are to be addressed by a larger body, say, for instance, a court of law. At the same time, however, it is important to know which battles to fight and which to let go of. For example, suppose some of the members of the firm decide to go out for drinks after work but they don't invite you. Filling a complaint about them is sure to not only be frivolous but also leave a bad taste in your coworkers' mouths. Instead it might be more fruitful to take an interest in your coworkers, and if they choose not to return that interest it would behoove you to find some coworkers that do. If such coworkers do not exist, chances are it may just be you and what you do with that realization is at your discretion. relate to the soft skills I have been referring to. To be continued.. Workplace relationships are a bad idea. Hopefully you will -Brad/Chad have looked up the case details and 91 5 Sudoku 4 APRIL 6, 2015 7 5 9 1 2 4 8 5 Maintaining good relationships between coworkers is an important soft skill in ousiness. -http://pixabay.com/ 3 6 3 5 2 8 8 1 7 6 2 4 5 8 7 -http://puzzlechoice.com Death Grips releases new, dynamic album Continued from page 3 still able to produce entertaining music is that compositionally this is almost a return to its pre-Government Plates style. Ride's verses have never been particularly easy to understand, but on Government Plates and the first half of The Powers That B they became downright obfuscated, and I feel as though the extra effort required to even begin to interpret it detracts from what is otherwise such a visceral experience. Jenny Death's lyrics, on the other hand don't lay out everything they're trying to say with a sort of sickening simplicity, from Break Mirrors With My Face In The United States" and the manic chanting of its title to the disconcerting "Pss Pss" and its flagrant disrespect for other humans with lines like "I'm the only thing ever on my mind / You're one of those things I never rewind." There is hardly a moment on this part of the album in which MC Ride doesn't express hatred toward someone else or himself, the latter of which is particularly prevalent thanks to numerous mentions of suicide. This feels like the death throes of Death Grips, letting out a torrent of their most animalistic creative products that, like anything disturbing, is impossible not to bask in vicariously. So what's wrong with the album's first disc? Put simply, it's not that it does anything incorrectly so much as that it doesn't have much to make it as special as its counterpart. Stylistically, -http://thirdworlds.net the album it most resembles is Government Plates, which itself was somewhat of a departure from its predecessor No Love Deep Web in its esoteric explorations of strange sounds and convoluted lyrics. The first half of The Powers That is similarly abstract, preferring instead to experiment with textures frequently involving vocal samples of Björk. What's interesting about this is the way in which the samples are used; they re often so short and mechanically looped that they stick out like a malfunctioning robot, and this creates a huge amount of tension within the music as Björk's and MC Ride's voices try unsuccessfully to coexist in the same sonic space. It's a surprisingly abrasive effect, but without much substance behind it the disc becomes more of a novelty art piece than a memorable collection of tracks. Listeners have endlessly discussed Death Grips since the band first came on the scene, and there's far more to be said about its most recent release, The Powers That B. Unsurprisingly, Death Grips has once again managed to create a sprawling work of dynamic thought-provoking art. Though the album has its flaws, it manages to draw from across Death Grips discography and move into new territory at the same time. Opinions on the album's first half will likely depend on which Death Grips album is your favorite, but I think Jenny Death (miraculously) beat the hype, and will be remembered as one of the group's best works. Together, the two form an album which is a poor introduction for first-time listeners, but by all means deserves to be considered among its peers. APRIL 6, 2015 HOUSETALIA Hey, Ruddock, how do you do #3, with the vectors? It's simple. According to Theorem P.F in Bullsh*ticum, we infer that the curl is 0. From there- "They grow up so fast" HUMOR Pif-Wait... Guys, we can't use the pass/fail theorem anymore remember? Georgio Kraggman George Congratulations, graduates! THE CALIFORNIA TECH Amulya Mohan 8N00000 Smile to hide the pain ... This will be a long term. Answers to previous crossword SWA P A H S E K R A IN CI GRA R E E E D A R Y G U E R M E R E E F E E P T R N E E E R R S C M S N E B E N TI E T U N N D S T A F T F A F E E E F V E U L E X E R T S A C F E T Y F E E L -http://puzzlechoice.com Answers to previous Sudoku Dr. Z Acquired Taste e. g on a basketball court; Seni for, I want to I've learned next generation comic writers (maybe even you!) Put me in Coach! Content is everything! The Same words can mean different things if you up the night even be funny (probably not though) On an airplane; Put me in Coach. 6 4 1 7 2 9 5 8 3 8 3 2 5 6 4 1 7 9 9 7 8 4 2 7 1 4 3 2 5 3 1 7 8 5 7 2 1 5 8 7 8 2 4 2 6 9 7 -nttp://puzziecnoice.com The California Tech Caltech 40-58 Pasadena, CA 91125