The Big T, v. 96, 2016-2017

BEYOND THE BIG T YEARBOOK 2017 VOLUME 96 CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PASADENA, CA BRITTANY PERCIN MACARTHUR FELLOWS COMMENCEMENT FOOD MUSIC PLANET NINE JD FEIST FIELD TRIPS TENNIS TECHSTOCK NASSER AL-RAYES SUMMER PREFROSH WEEKEND STUDY ABROAD PIONEER DISCOVERY 014 032 VOLLEYBALL HOUSES THEATER DIVISIONS INTERHOUSES CLUBS SCHOOL SPIRIT MEMES TEACHING PRIZES ATHLETICS BASEBALL PORTRAITS DITCH DAY YEARBOOK COURAGE MEMORY 046. 062 AAAال 但 1. FIRE AT WILL Glittering over the Gene Pool, fireworks light up the night after Caltech's annual carnival at the beginning of fall term. 2. DRIVE Freshman Alec Andrews [201 dribbles down the court, pursued closely by players from visiting Chapman University. Andrews went on to make a career high nine assists in this game that the Beavers won 64-52. 3. BELT IT OUT Undergrad Jake Mattinson [19], grad Giuliana Viglione, alumnus Casey Handmer, and researcher David Hodge rehearse for the Spring production of Steven Sondheim's Company. The theater program brings together people from all corners of the Caltech community onstage. 3 A yearbook isn't just a book. It's memory. It's fireworks on the first day of the first term. It's records broken on the court and in the lab. It's a fossil of who we are today to be discovered by who we will be decades from now. And who we are is extraordinary. 14 2 CALTECH ATHLETICS PALTECH MaLETICS 1. TRUE GRIT Sophie Walton [20] broke the Caltech record for the 5k in her freshman season on the Beavers cross country team. 2. THE GREAT WALL Diving head first, John David "JD" Feist [17] broke personal and NCAA records in saves to cap his senior season with the Beavers. See page 24.) 3. POWER FANS Clad in matching orange-out shirts, Caltech fans stand for the National Anthem before a basketball game in Braun Gym. 4. SPLASHING AT SUNSET Connor Lee [17] leaves a wake as he dribbles the ball in a Beavers water polo game. 5• CATCH ME IF YOU CAN With defense hot on her trail, freshman Grace Peng [201 drives towards the hoop in a preseason game against Illinois Tech. 6. SWEET VICTORY Literally jumping for joy, Sakthi Vetrival [19] can't contain her excitement after a win with her volleyball teammates. CALTECT reusen BEAVERS SCIAG Division Ill SENDS 10 CALTECH Caltech students Pioneer. We break records, challenge preconceptions, and blaze new trails through uncharted territory. GEOLOGIST BY DAY, MUSICIAN BY NIGHT Professor Paul Asimow's hands are a blur as he conducts the Caltech Occidental Concert Band at a performance in Ramo Auditorium in November 2016. We are explorers of the mind, pushing the limits of YOUR TURN TO SHINE Music roars and lights flare in the Ricketts courtyard at the first Open Mic Night of the school year. Every term, students showcase their musical skills (or sometimes, for comedic effect, intentional lack thereof) in an event that always promises a good time. what is possible and seeking new horizons of Discovery. ART IS ALIVE! Graduate student Alistair Hayden stands in front of the art installation in Chandler during the Art Gallery Opening Night Gala on November 29, 2016. Hayden founded the GSC Arts Committee this year and organized a campus-wide competition hoping to bring attention to arts on campus. FOLLOWING TRADITION A standing tradition at Caltech, the Lloyd Christmas Tree appears on Millikan Library every year to mark the beginning of the holiday season. Equally traditional is Blacker House's annual prank on the Lloyd tree—in 2016, a Santa hat emblazoned with the House's signature "ß." But while we might have big brains and big achieve-ments, we are also defined by our Courage. We stand up for each other, our traditions, and ourselves. 1. A STORM'S A BREWIN' The last light of sunset washes over Beckman Auditorium, affectionately known as the "Wedding Cake" among students. Beginning with commencement, the iconic building hosted many of Caltech's most important events and a number of dynamic speakers throughout the year. 2. ROCK SCIENTIST Professor Konstantin Batygin took up astrophysics as a backup in case his band, The Seventh Season, didn't make it. Batygin is still waiting for his big break. 3. ACE IN THE HOLE Known for having a good time just as much as it is for excellent research, Caltech's Geology and Planetary Science division hires magician Johnny Ace Palmer every year for their annual start-of-fall picnic. Pioneer. Discovery. Courage. This book is a tribute to these words, this trilogy of 3 ideas that define us as Caltech students and took this year Beyond. PIONEER -SPLISH SPLASM RIGHT BEFORE BRITTANY PERCIN [19] jumps into the water, she huddles and smack talks with her fellow teammates. Instead of thinking about winning, Percin tries to relax herself before the race. "I don't really get super focused on needing to win the race, because it stresses me out." It's almost her event. The referee calls everyone to take their mark. There is a beep, and everyone dives into the water. The moment she touches the water, Percin shoots off like a rocket. She is best known for her free style, having broken several records. That is not the only stroke she is good at; she also has several butterfly records, too. It is the now the final lap. Percin speeds towards the end, cheered on by her friends and teammates. With a final kick, she reaches for the touchpad. The crowd goes wild. It's a brand-new record for Caltech. In her freshman year, Percin set seven individual program records— something extraordinary for Caltech sports. She also became the first woman from Caltech to claim a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title for winning the 200-yard free style at the SCIAC Swimming and Diving Championships. Percin broke records again this year as a sophomore; she shattered her own record of the 100-yard freestyle with a staggering 53.29 seconds. "I'm happy I broke my own record, and hope to JUST KEEP SWIMMING Percin makes waves with her powerful butterfly stroke in a swim meet hosed at Caltech this winter. She made her top time on the 100 fly against Occidental with a time of 1:00.50. ETHAN PROVONOST 4 TURNING THE TIDE ALTHOUGH SHE'S WIDELY KNOWN in water polo for her offensive prowess, scoring a team-high 46 goals in 2017, Brittany Percin is also a defensive salwart, leading the Lady Beavers with 57 steals. The next most prolific player only had 18 goals and 19 steals. Percin recorded a season-high eight steals in a 21-6 home loss against La Verne on April 5, while simultaneously contributing five goals, her season-high against a conference opponent. The bar chart to the left shows Percin's goals and steals over the 10 conference games of 2017. • GOALS STEALS keep dropping the mark over the next couple years, or even getting some faster swimmers in to Caltech to race for a new record." Other than setting records for Caltech's Swimming and Diving team, Percin is also on Caltech's water polo team, and in May of 2016, Percin was also named a Division III All-America Honorable Mention by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. Percin started swimming before she could walk. She loves being in the water and grew up in the alpine lakes of Tahoe. Even during off-season, she still goes into the water every few days. In fact, in the study intensive environment of Caltech, practice for her is relaxing. "It's so nice to forget about all my work for two hours and just mentally relax in the water." She believes that it is extremely important to have fun while practicing; she loves cheering on teammates and putting in the work. Her highlight of the day, however, comes after practice. It's always fun to run across the pool on kickboards and to play other games. For next year, she hopes to win a meet as a team and to lower their relay records. Of course, Percin is also excited to see new faces on the team and to improve together with them. When asked about how she felt about this year, she said, "This year was awesome to have some new faces on the team. I feel like we're really coming together as a team and getting along very well." 017 BRITNEY PERCIN BRACE FOR IMPACT Winding up for a shot, Percin angles towards the cage looking to score. Percin's viciously strong shots earned her 46 goals this season, an all-team high. MICHAEL WONG SMOOTH MOVES Gliding, or moving while holding the ball without swimming, is an important skill for water polo players that allows them to reposition themselves quickly and still remain poised for a shot. Here, Percin glides towards the goal, poised to pop up and shoot. THINGS ARE LOOKING UP Percin looks to catch a ball thrown from a team-mate. Quick, accurate passes are essential for scoring in water polo games, as they allow the offensive team to get the defending goalie out of position to block shots. MICHAEL WONG MICHAEL WONG MELTING UNDER LONG, BLACK robes on a sweltering 95 °F day couldn't dour the mood on Friday, June 16, 2017, as Caltech's latest batch of graduates prepared to embark on the next chapters of their lives. They had poured their blood and tears—and now one last morning of sweat—into their prestigious degrees, which was consummated in a handshake and a shining diploma given to them by President Thomas Rosenbaum. The President urged the Class of 2017 to go forth and change the world not just with the knowledge they gained at Caltech, but also with a fearlessness to tackle any problem, big The Commencement speaker, Dr. Mae Jemison, outlined a number of important problems that the graduates will face once they disperse beyond the Caltech bubble. Jemison, who is a NASA astronaut and medical doctor, also serves as the leader of the 100 Year Starship organization, a program working to develop interstellar capabilities within the next century. Her speech made it evident that she was not only acquainted with the technical challenges of space travel but the social challenges of life on Earth. Jemison was the first woman of color to go to space, and though she is immensely suc-cessful, her journey has been one of overcoming obstacles. She reminded the graduates that they, too, have powerful stories to tell, and that there is still a long way to go: "You all overcame so much to get here today-learning to speak, learning to walk, surviving in a society that values the right to have guns more than the right to food, water, and healthcare." How will we continue to break barriers and make progress as a society? It starts at the individual level. Jemison's parting advice to the graduates was to "live deeply and look up"—a simple message that encouraged everyone in the audience to stay grounded in their work while relentlessly pursing a better future. There is never a time as important as now, and never a time as motivational as tomorrow. This sentiment struck the perfect resonance. It was graduation, after all—a moment of reflection and celebration, defined by ascent. 1. THIS ONE'S FOR FACEBOOK Family members proudly photograph their graduates as they pose with their houses on Millikan Bridge. 2. PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE Kevin Chen [17] waits in line to begin the procession. 3. PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL President Rosenbaum flashes his signature grin as he hands diplomas to each member of the Class of 2017. 4. YOU DID IT! Anjali Prem-kumar [17] whoops and cheers for her friend. 5• WELCOME TO THE FUTURE Lindsey Whitesides [17]—as a newly minted Caltech graduate-steps off the stage and back into the crowd. 6. LIVE LONG AND PROSPER Peter Gao [G6] flashes the Vulcan salute upon his hooding. 7. LIKE ANTS Graduates march two-by-two to the sound of the Caltech band. 8. GETTING LEI'D Edgar Martinez [17] receives a congratulatory lei. LIVE DEEPLY & LOOK UP NASA astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison delivers the 2017 Caltech Commencement speech, encouraging students to find their passions and never lose sight of their dreams. 2 3 6 기 REPORTING FOR DUTY BEFORE PROF. GROTZINGER left the podium where he had proudly announced 2017's PhDs in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, he had to get one last word in. "Also, a shoutout to Jessica Watkins, a Caltech postdoc, who was selected to the latest Prior to Caltech, Watkins went to Stanford for undergrad and earned a PhD from UCLA. But she was no stranger to Pasadena, having participated in several NASA internships at JPL during her PhD program. Watkins came to Caltech in 2015 as a specialist in Mars geology. During her postdoc in the GPS Division, she collaborated on the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, participating in daily planning of rover activities and investigating the geologic history of While at Caltech, Watkins served as the assistant coach for the women's basketball team. She is an extraordinary athlete herself, having played rugby for Stanford and the U.S. national team. Prof. Grotzinger recalled Watkins approaching him about coming to Caltech. "Wouldn't you rather play in the Olympics?" he asked. "No," replied Watkins, "I want to be an astronaut." "Sure," Grotzinger thought, "that's what 019 COMMENCEMENT WORDS MICHAEL WONG PHOTOS MICHAEL WONG DESIGN MICHAEL WONG BLAST BLAST OFE LOOKING SAXY Biophysics graduate student Muir Morrison solos on the tenor sax during the Jazz Band's guest artist concert. NOT LIKE ON TV In contrast to what the TV show Glee might have you believing, glee club at Caltech is more like a choir than a theater troupe. FEARLESS LEADER Dr. Glenn Price, conductor of the Caltech-Occidental Concert Band introduces tonight's set to the crowd. This ensemble is a collaboration between Caltech and Occidental students, and plays three concerts throughout the year. 3 小糖。 -3 RUNWAY READY Alistair Hayden, a graduate student in geology, plays the violin during a performance at Techstock. His unique outfit included half-fastened overalls, a flannel shirt, sunglasses, and a galaxy print snapback. &MUSIC THEORY takes Ph2a or Ph12a has no doubt stayed genres; Out of Context tends to perform the more technical, scientific side of up until some ungodly hour of the night pop and modern favorites, while Fluid music as well. Dozens of chamber music working out problem sets on waves Dynamics will sing just about anything, groups allow students with backgrounds and sound. Maybe all that calculating including memes (they once performed in a classical instrument to continue frequencies and interference patterns an arrangement of "Shia Labeouf" by to play at school, and the Caltech-Oc- payed off, or maybe Caltech is just full of Rob Cantor). At concerts throughout cidental concert band draws crowds to musically gifted students. Whichever is the year, these groups are joined by two every performance. Many students also the case, the music scene on campus is more: the Pipettes, a women-only group, take music theory, studying the ins and certainly much more compelling than a and the Keytones, which is just men. outs of music from a logical perspective. problem set out of Kittel and Kramer. Many students who sing in an acapella The jazz band, glee club, and chamber On one end of the musical spectrum group can be found elsewhere in the choir also cater to people interested in at Caltech there are the acapella groups, campus music scene. AMY ZHAI [19], a music experience more formal than student bands, and lone wolf perform- of Lloyd house, performed at Techstock that found in the acapella groups and ers rocking solo at Ricketts Open Mic this year and at open mic nights. Per- student bands. Whichever kind of music Night. By now, Caltech's original aca- haps her best musical moment this year students prefer, most would agree, it's a pella group has grown and split into came when she aced the difficult solo shame that Ph2 doesn't give extra credit four, each with its own distinct style. in "Bang Bang," which Fluid Dynamics for putting all that wave physics to work. The two co-ed groups, Fluid Dynamics performed at a concert in 2016. and Out of Context, share a friendly Of course, this wouldn't be Caltech Bates, a graduate student in chemistry and the Page House R.A., holds down the solo line of "Nearer My God to Thee," an epic choral piece adapted for acapella and performed at Caltech by Fluid Dynamics. 021 MUSIC JD SO FLY Senior goalkeeper JD Feist lays out to stop a shot against Claremont-M-S. Although he was unable to help Caltech earn a victory in this match, JD added six saves to his eventual total of 179 on the year. "IT HAS BEEN great to be a part of this team, and I'll miss it greatly. I look forward to the success the team will see in the coming years, as the younger guys are the heart of this team. I expect great things out of them." SCHAEFFER REED '17 "ALTHOUGH we were not able to get any wins, we clearly showed that we can outplay teams in the midfield and compete to win games. I believe we will be one of the better SCIAC teams within a few years." KEVIN YU '20 "NEVER give up, never surrender." CALTECH 5 KEVIN GAO '17 "THE UPPERCLASSMEN have been really supportive of all the new guys on the team. Because preseason started earlier than orientation and rota-tion, the upperclassmen were the first to help us get to know Caltech, not only athletically, but also socially and academically." CANTECH THEO YANG '20 "MY FAVORITE quote from JD: 'Let's kick some ass.'" GOLDEN BOOT Sophomore Tristan Nee gracefully slips past a Claremont-M-S defender. Nee lead the team with three goals in 2016. TRISTAN NEE '19 CALTEC USING YOUR NOGGIN Headers don't scare Schaeffer Reed, a veteran of the soccer team. At 6' 4" Reed was the tallest member of the 2016 squad, and as a senior who could play both attacking and defending positions, younger players looked up to him in more ways than one. FIREWORL WORDS ELISE CUTTS PHOTOS MICHAEL WONG DESIGN JOSEPH MIN IT'S FOUR O'CLOCK on a Wednesday. The sun simmers in the hazy Pasadena sky, casting a glare on the computer screens in Annenberg where professors specializing in cryptography imagine the digital security methods of the future. Across campus, in the orange afternoon light bathing the South Field, an entirely different kind of firewall is booting up. JOHN DAVID FEIST [17], better known as "JD," is a senior chemistry major who conducts research at Sandia National Lab. When he isn't working towards his de-gree, he is vice president of Fleming house, and quite possibly the best goalkeeper Caltech soccer has ever seen. As the team warms up, it's easy to spot the First Team All-SCIAC goalie among his teammates—while the rest of the Beavers sport orange and white uniforms, JD's position in the goal finds him clad in neon yellow. Goalies often find themselves set apart from the team— they work on different skills, wear a different uniform, have different rules, and can sometimes even feel like they're playing an entirely different game than their teammates on the field. But with the 176 saves he made against SCIAC teams this season, JD stands apart even from other goalies. He holds the record for the second-most saves in conference history and ranks 20th out of all goalkeepers from all divisions in NCAA history. "It's hard not to be proud of it," JD confesses, "It's the culmination of a lot of hard work. It goes back a long time for me—I've been playing soccer for oh, for something like 17 years now. So for all that work to culminate in something like this is really rewarding." Being a goalie for Caltech hasn't always been easy, though. Standing as the last line of defense is a special kind of pressure, one that JD has faced many times throughout his career. "As a goalkeeper you can't just go out with a head full of steam...Part of it is just realizing, you know what? Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. And I'm certainly no different, so when you make a mistake you have to realize that it's not the end of the world and you still have a job to do, so better get up and do it." Beyond his incredible performance on the field, JD stands out as a leader among his teammates. His role, notes defender KEVIN GAO [17], is trifold: "JD is a good friend, a great goalkeeper, and a better teammate." However JD is a graduating senior— while his achievements this year shattered records and his leadership energized his teammates, the future of Caltech soccer ultimately won't rest on his shoulders. Compound this with the loss of seniors SCHAEFFER REED [17] and Gao and prospects for next season might appear uncertain. "Those are two starting defend-ers," JD notes, "and it's always hard to replace defenders." He remains hopeful, however, despite losing the core of their defensive line, that the Beavers' prospects for the coming years are good. "Looking at the freshman and sophomore classes I'm really optimistic about the future...I think the team will continue to move in a positive direction." Across the field, a referee blows his whistle and the Beavers pull together out of their warmup into a huddle. Freshmen look hopefully to the future, seniors look hopefully to the freshmen, and everyone looks to JD. It's time to boot up Caltech soccer's firewall and get to work. 023 m口 CATTECH CANTECH 23 CALTER eusch JOSEPH MIN TIME TO PLAY The tennis team celebrates Kana Moriyama's [19] introduction to the match with a series of high-fives. CALTECH CATECH 1. ONE OF THE TWINS Ramsathwic Pathireddy [17] prepares to return a shot. 2. GAME FACE Derik Nguyen [19] strikes a brilliant backhand. 3. HAVE YOU BEEN SERVED? Erin Wang [18] fires off a serve. IN SOVIET RUSSIA... "IN RUSSIA we don't really have high school tennis, so you play individually. You can play in a club, and sometimes you can write you represent this club, but it's more or less, like, nah. And here...I think my favorite part of playing here is being supported and being in a team." —SASHA BODROVA [20] KNIS TENNIS TENNIS CAITOR 2 3 EIGHT WOMEN STOOD HUDDLED (SCIAC) Championships. They also in the middle of a tennis court, clad achieved their first-ever win over a in their bright orange uniforms and nationally ranked opponent in a 7-2 sporting bright orange ribbons in their victory over No. 40 California Lutheran hair. Coming off of last season, in which University, leading to their first national both the men's and women's tennis teams ranking in program history. had their best finish in over a decade, the In other words, the women's Beavers knew that the pressure was on, season of "firsts" echoed what the men especially for the new recruits. achieved last season, when they earned And they didn't disappoint. This year, their first national ranking. Although Caltech's tennis recruits made history, injuries prevented the men's team from as the two freshmen, ALEXANDRA having their best season, they managed (SASHA) BODROVA [20] and to have a positive season and secure ANGELICA ZHOU |20], made up the several important wins against ranked first women's recruiting class to receive opponents. They, too, brought in strong votes in the annual tennisrecruiting.net talent, landing the first nationally ranked rankings. With fresh talent, the rookies recruiting class in program history. were able to introduce a new angle to the Together, they worked hard to put team. Caltech on the map. "I think that alongside my doubles "We've been able to get stronger partner and the other freshman on the as a team so that we're not like an team, Angelica, we just brought some afterthought, you know? We can actually diversity into the team because our style compete for SCIAC and do well," said of play is a bit different from most players rookie CONNOR SOOHOO [20]. on the team," said Bodrova. "We're like "Other schools are like, 'Oh, Caltech, lame more on power and we attack more; other athletics," right? I think recruiting has people are more, I don't know, like, their been doing really positively and breaking technique is better or they run more that stereotype." and get everything in, so it brings a nice But regardless of competitive diversity to the team." performance or program status, it's clear The diversity proved successful for that the Beavers love their sport. As the women's team, as they had their Soohoo says, "You will make time out best season ever, finishing fourth in of your day for the things you want to conference and at the Southern California do the most, right? And tennis is one of Intercollegiate Athletic Conference those things for me." LOVE TO WIN WORDS SHARON CHEN | PHOTOS MICHAEL WONG | DESIGN MICHAEL WONG 025 TENNIS WORDS SHARON CHEN | PHOTOS + DESIGN MICHAEL WONG + ELISE CUTTS CENTER OF ATTENTION WITH TWO MINUTES LEFT on the [17] agrees, "I really feel like it's that clock, men's basketball superstar and cen- mental confidence, that self-confidence ter NASSER AL-RAYES [17] comes that you get when you win, that just barreling down the court, beautifully makes the experience a lot better, that just executing a dunk that makes the crowd go propels you to more victories." wild. The sea of orange erupts in applause This season, seniors Al-Rayes, Galliani, and hollers, as the Beavers take a 95-83 and DAVID LEBARON [17] guided lead against Whittier at the SCIAC season the men's basketball team to a fifth-place opener. finish in the SCIAC, the highest since the Through those two points, Al-Rayes 1970-71 season, when there were only not only helped assure Caltech's victory, six teams in the conference. Gone are the but he also set a career-high scoring mark days when Caltech basketball was known of 24 points, a record which he would for its losing streak, as the team's seven break in the next game, and then again freshman have started their careers with with an impressive 37 points against La six SCIAC wins and a number of non-con- Verne. Al-Rayes' leadership in scoring, ference wins. rebounding, and blocking earned him the "So," says Al-Rayes, "although the honor of First Team All-SCIAC, making team might be losing players like me and him Caltech's first player to be named a Ricky and David, as seniors, the whole First Team selection since 1960. winning mentality and competitive cul- In light of his recent successes, Al- ture has been instilled over the years." Rayes reflects on his experiences as a While the Beavers lose a star player, frosh, when things weren't going as well. another team may gain one. Al-Rayes "We just didn't know how to win," he says, intends to pursue basketball profession- "which sounds kinda weird, but when ally in Europe for a few years after he you've been losing for so long, a lot of our graduates. As he puts it, "You've got your upperclassmen just didn't know how to whole life to sit down and do work either finish out games we were winning, be- behind a desk or behind a screen or behind cause they weren't used to being in that a microscope, but I mean I don't have my situation." whole life to have a basketball in my hand Fellow teammate RICKY GALLIANI and play a game that I really enjoy." 3 2 10 3 CANTECT SNIPER TOO STRONG CHICH RAINING THREES 1,2,3. BY THE NUMBERS Standing at a full 6' 10," Nasser Al-Rayes [17] couldn't help but stand out even among the great talent playing for the Beavers. During the 2017-2018 campaign, Al-Rayes lead SCIAC in rebounds (9.5) and blocks per game (1.8), and in double-doubles (8), and lead the Beavers in points per game (13), defensive rebounds per game (6.9), free throw percentage (69%), field goal attempts per game (10.76), and minutes per game (32.3). 4. HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD Ricky Galliani [17] crouches, preparing to spring up for a 3-point shot. Galliani lead the Beavers in three-point field goal attempts per game (5.8), three-pointers per game (1.9), and offensive rebounds per game (1.8). 5• KUMBAYA The Beavers group up for a team meeting, many players standing with their arms around each other in supportive camaraderie. A great team dynamic was mentioned by every men's basketball player interviewed by The Big T this year. CAH 027 NASSER AL-RAYES CALTECH CALTECH 25 4% CALTECH 20 당 10 42 15 22 SLAM DUNK Nasser Al-Rayes [17] soars to the rim, delivering a dunk to score for the Beavers as a shocked defender looks on in disbelief. 5 CATT SPLASHVISION CHICH EAT, BIG FELLA THE CHEERLEADER CALVIN HUH [20] might not have seen much playing time this season, but he didn't see much downtime either. He was notorious for his energetic cheering and imaginative, often downright wild poses, dances, and hand signals which he kept up relentlessly throughout games. The Big T made a point of catching some of Calvin's best cheer routines from this season and asked the master rabble-rouser himself to caption our photos. Needless to say, we weren't disappointed. Keep on cheering, Calvin! MUSIC TO OUR EARS Cheers and shouts of excitement echo throughout Blacker House courtyard, joining the cacophony of bangs, thuds, bams, and cracks that can only mean the violent death of a piano. Armed with crowbars and sledgehammers, prefrosh compete with the Moles to "deconstruct" their piano the fastest. ON THE MORNING of April 20, 2017 campus is buzzing with people carrying orange and black colored drawstring bags. Over 200 prefrosh step foot onto the Caltech campus. From the get-go, they have their schedules packed with interesting activities such as the world's biggest game of "the floor is lava," where prefrosh jump from foam tile to foam tile, to different panels and socials, where they learn more about Caltech's culture. Since many panels and events can be happening at the same time, the prefrosh were very busy running from event to event, and even with a tiny campus, it's easy to get lost sometimes. They sit in on classes too; Gel is packed full, and people even have to sit on the steps. After two days of the packed schedule, there is the Caltech club fair on the Olive walk. During the club fair, the prefrosh get to see all the clubs that Caltech has to offer, eat Caltech Crunch ice cream, and play with the cute puppies. Of course, who can forget the house dinners and house events? After a busy day of sitting in on various classes and attending panel sessions, the prefrosh can de-stress with Caltech's unique house din-ners. Huddling closely at the family styled dinners waited on by student waiters, the prefrosh get to experience the unique tradition that is Caltech's house dinners. In the pandemonium of food and paper throwing in some of the houses, prefrosh either sit there wide-eyed guarding their food closely, or they join in on the chaos. In the other houses, prefrosh get to ask various upperclassmen about their experiences at Caltech. After dinner, the most exciting part of the day begins: the house events. From breaking pianos during Blacker's deconstruction to creating art at Dabney's color carnival, the prefrosh have a taste of all of the houses' culture. All this could not have happened without the help from the prefrosh yield committee and the plethora of volunteers. To ensure the prefrosh got an accurate view of Caltech and had entertaining activities, the prefrosh yield committee started meeting since early January. Three people from each house were chosen to be on prefrosh yield committee, many of them are frosh who experienced prefrosh weekend last year and wanted to improve it. JONATHAN CHAN [20] said "It was really exciting to witness and be part of the the behind-the-scenes work of trying to present Caltech in the best (but honest) light to prefrosh. During PFW, it was also very rewarding to see prefrosh wearing the shirts that we helped design and enjoying the activities that we helped (in part) make happen." 1. ROCK ON Music at Caltech isn't just band and chamber groups— there's no lack of talented guitarists at Open Mic Night who perform in bands and as solo acts. 2. TOO COOL Brian Lee [18] pours dry ice over honey and chocolate to make delicious cold treats for prefrosh during Blacker's deconstruction event. 3. SHAMELESS PLUG Joseph Min [20] shows off a yearbook at The Big T's booth on the Olive Walk for the prefrosh weekend club fair. MICHAEL WONG 4 5 4. SAFETY FIRST Anne Dorsey [181, clad in a reflective safety vest, goggles, and hard hat, calls out instructions to her housemates operating a makeshift rig for hoisting their piano two stories off of the ground. 5. PIANO MAN Students showed their stuff on the gui-tar, vocals, drums, piano, and plenty of other instruments during Open Mic Night. 029 PREFROSH WEEKEND WORDS ZIYAN MO PHOTOS JOSEPH MIN STRANGE REWWORLD TAKE ME AS I AM Ricketts House's prefrosh weekend event is a chance for musicians of every kind to show their stuff. A few prefrosh even got up on stage for impromptu shows of talent on the Ricketts courtyard bricks. MICHAEL WONG DISCOVERY WONDER WOMEN DR. DIANNE NEWMAN METABOLISM lies at the core of Professor Newman's research inter-ests, specifically the way that electron-transfer reactions tie into the ancient metabolisms predating oxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic respiration. She is especially interested in the co-evolution of metabolism with the microenvironments in which bacteria live. Recently, her work has focused on colorful, redox-active pigments which are produced by microbes living in aggregate communities and how they enable microbial mats to grow. THOUGH THEY AREN'T DASHING through "No Man's Land," wielding magic gauntlets, or saving the world from a dark god, Professors DIANNE NEWMAN and VICTORIA ORPHAN are certainly wonder women. This year, the MacArthur Foundation honored these two professors as MacArthur Fellows—individuals who are selected for their "exceptional creativi-ty, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant ac-complishment, and a potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work." Both scientists work on the exotic metabolisms used by microbes to live in harsh and strange environments like the Earth's subsurface, the bottom of the ocean, and the anoxic centers of microbial mounds. However, they approach these problems from vastly different perspec-tives. "I made the decision in the beginning of my career to work with organisms that were relatively tractable to grow in the laboratory for genetic approaches," Professor Newman explains. "There's a lot you can gain from that approach because it's possible to get to a mechanistic level of understanding." Professor Orphan, in contrast, studies organisms that are important geologically but aren't so easy to grow. Her success came from being okay with that, from developing ways of assessing their activity by capturing their physiology as best possible given that limitation," says Professor Newman. The significance of their award goes beyond personal achievement. It is rare for an institution to have even one faculty member honored with the fellow-ship-this year, Caltech had two. Both women are geobiologists, researchers in a field which has never been recognized before. "The community has finally been recognized — we are the lucky figureheads, but it's a question of years of work by everybody in our lab. It was a collectively joyful thing," Professor Newman laughs, continuing, "the community feels a sense of validation— this field, geobiology, it's always been kind of a backwater field where people go because they're passionate but not because they're going to get a Nobel Prize." The work recognized by the MacArthur foundation reflects not only the genius and hard work of Professors Newman and Orphan, but years of contribution by collaborators, graduate students, and even undergraduates. Professor Newman commented that throughout her career, she's worked with many talented undergraduates at Caltech, some of whom worked on the projects specifically cited by the MacArthur Foundation as rationale for her award. Of course, there's another reason this achievement is important as well. Profes sor Newman explains, "truthfully, the fact that we are both women, I think that is not trivial. Especially for young women in the field, it's a cool thing. We're not blind to that!" Wonder Woman may have made history in the box office this sum-mer, but Caltech's own wonder women are probing into the ancient past, discovering how invisible organisms shape the world, and paving the way for others to follow in their footsteps. THE EXTREMES of habitability are Professor Orphan's domain, especially places where microbes subsist without the nutrients and oxygen necessary for many other organisms to live. She has developed molecular and isotopic techniques for learning about geologically important microbial communities which are difficult to grow in the laboratory setting. She studies bacteria which grow in the deep subsurface of the earth, marine sediments, oil, gas seeps, and environments like those which may have existed on the early Earth. DR. VICTORIA ORPHAN 033 MACARTHUR FELLOWS #BOBALIFE Factory Tea Bar, with its warm, cozy atmosphere and unique aesthetic, is a highly popular establishment frequented by connoisseurs of quality boba. ELISE CUTTS MICHAEL WONG 4 MICHAEL 1. PIECE OF CAKE Carly Robison [18] expertly whips up some batter during the cooking competition that serves as a final for Tom's class. 2. CHOUSE Hard-working students staff the Student Coffee House and dish up ramen, milk-shakes, and other favorites all through the night. 3. NOM NOM Deep-fried gyoza is the perfect complement to a sweet pearl milk tea. 4. NAME THAT FRUIT Tom's cooking class is highly experimental, as evidenced by these exotic options. 5. FLAVORS ABOUND Taste tests are essential in any cooking class, and Soren Schmidt [EXCHANGE] proves that Tom's is no exception 3 MICHAEL WONG ELISE CUTTS COUNTING CALORIES HALF AND HALF 18.5 THE BEST BOBA NEAR CALTECH SOMEWHERE ELSE 10.9 TEA SPOTS 9.2 AU 795.0 FACTORY TEA BAR 31.1 T PUMPS 25•3 DO YOU REMEMBER TO EAT CONSISTENTLY? IS FREE FOOD BETTER THAN GOOD FOOD? HAVE YOU EATEN AT ERNIE'S ? IS THE DINNER FOOD BETTER THIS YEAR? IS SOYLENT A FOOD? I NO 24.8 YES 75.2 I NO 55.7 YES 44.3 NO 63.1 YES 36.9 NO 57.8 YES 42.2 NO 56.5 YES 15.2 IT'S DEAD PEOPLE 28.3 FOOD FOR THOUGHT WORDS SHARON CHEN DESIGN ELISE CUTTS IT'S A BRISK, WINTER EVENING, and a lucky couple dozen students sit at large round tables, under the cover of a white canopy and bright string lights. As they munch on the snacks in front of them, TOM MANNION stands at the front, lecturing his class on seeds, grains, legumes, and nuts. "Does anyone know how the Japanese dealt with bacteria in the exposed rice of sushi?" he poses to the attentive listeners. The answer? "Vinegar." Fast-forward twenty minutes and Tom's backyard is crowded with bustling student chefs. A Taylor Swift tune and calls of "How much sugar do we need?" fill the air. Students expertly mince garlic, sauté chicken, and compete to see who can grate a block of cheese faster. As they race to make the best shrimp fried NINE&NINE RUSSELL'S/ 岳 岳 PANDA CHIPOTLE PIEOLOGY, BENGEES rice before time runs out, students offer each other taste tests of the plethora of other dishes, experimenting to determine the ideal Sriracha-to-chicken ratio for a chicken lettuce wrap. In addition to exploring new tastes and techniques for Mannion's wildly popular cooking class, Caltech students are always trying new things when it comes to food, whether it's venturing out into mysterious off-campus lands to find that perfect KBBQ joint, prodding carefully at CDS's famous "mystery meat," or embarking on an exhaustive tour of all the best boba places around While new discoveries are made food-wise, unique traditions continue to reign supreme. Students enjoy pelting each other with bread during daily student-waited house dinners, crowding the Olive Walk to snag a couple of ASCIT donuts, satisfying those midnight crav- TEA SPOTS ZANKOU CHICKEN AFTERS ings through way-too-frequent visits to Chouse, staving off finals sleep-depriva-tion with CDS's "snake kits," and indulging in late-night breakfast food during Midnight Madness. Despite the fact that one-quarter of the surveyed student body reported that they failed to remember to eat consis-tently, there's no doubt that we here at Caltech take our food seriously. As one student says, "The Big Bang Blueberry Espresso Smoothie at Red Door is one of my favorite things about this school." ELISE CU CHICK FIL A LTOM'S HOUSE 1l PIE IN BURGERY 035 FOOD T PUMPS INGERSOLL'S HOUSE HALF AND HALF BHANU'S BEYOND TOM'S It's no secret that Tom Man-nion provides a not-so-insignificant amount of sustenance for Caltech students. But, when we surveyed students about their favorite off-campus restaurants, we found that students were more than willing to travel beyond Tom's for good food. At the top of the list were Bhanu's and Chipotle, followed by Abricott, Chick-fil-A, and Which Wich. The preferred cuisines represented a wide diversity, with the most popular being Chinese and Indian, followed closely by Italian, Mexican, and Thai. GOLDEN DELI FACTORY TEA BAR SAIGON EDEN 3 SPACE JAM When he isn't hunting planets, Prof. Batygin can be found in seedy bars throughout LA playing gigs with his band, the Seventh Season. ORBITAL WEIRDNESS Professor Brown demonstrates the unusual orbits of outer solar system objects using marital arts sticks Prof. Batygin brought to their yearbook interview. MIKE BROWN PROFESSOR OF PLANETARY ASTRONOMY FEW SCIENTISTS are better known by their twitter handle than their last name, but Mike Brown aka @plutokiller might be an exception. Despite rising to fame (or infamy, depending on who you ask) through his involvement in the Pluto's demotion, Prof. Brown, with the discovery of Planet Nine, might bring his career planet count from -1 back to 0. EXPLAINS THE ORBITAL ALIGNMENT OF DISTANT SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES! PLANET 9 FROM OUTER SPACE KONSTANTIN BATYGIN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PLANETARY ASTRONOMY ASTRONOMY WAS A FALLBACK for Konstantin Batygin-he only pursued his degree in astrophysics in case his band didn't make it big, and even then, he only chose astrophysics at the urging of an apparently prophetic homeless man. One of Caltech's youngest professors, Prof. Batygin continues to work with his former graduate school mentor, Mike Brown. IT LURKS BEYOND NEPTUNE, WAITING... TO BE FOUND PLANET NINE FROM OUTER SPACE THE IDEA OF A NINTH PLANET haS haunted people's minds since the discovery of the Neptune in 1846, the furthest planet from the sun that has been seen in telescopes. From 1930 to 2006, Pluto took the spot as the ninth planet. In 2006, thanks to discoveries made by Caltech professor MIKE BROWN, Pluto was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet, and the solar system was back to eight planets. People once again questioned: is there a mysterious planet lurking at the edge of the solar system, observing from afar? In 2016, in a ground-breaking an-nouncement, two Caltech researchers, Brown and KONSTANTIN BATYGIN provided strong mathematical proof, confirmed with computer simulations, for the existence of a new planet: Planet Nine. Brown knocked on Batygin's office in July of 2014 to ask for collaboration to study a strange observation found at the edge of the solar system. Over the next several months, they tried many different models, and the unknown force being a planet came up as a joke fairly early. "We never suspected that there was a Planet Nine. We suspected that there wasn't a Planet Nine," said Batygin. When all the other models failed, the two researchers were still unwilling to believe that they found a new planet. Even though many pieces of data fit in with the idea of a ninth planet, one key factor was missing. There should have been clustering of orbits around the planet due to gravitational effects. The two researchers were ready to throw out the Planet Nine model altogether when they had an earth-shattering insight. Usually, when researchers plot the Kuiper Belt, they disregard objects that veered into interplanetary space. They were not looking at the complete data set. Batygin and Brown lifted that restriction. "That was the moment when it from this is a really cool idea to holy crap there is a planet out there," said Brown. Scary was the word that Brown chose to describe when they realized that there really was a ninth planet. The model fit and the math matched up. The only thing left is to observe Planet Nine through the telescopes. Since the announcement, many researchers all over the world are scanning the skies for the elusive ninth planet. "Someone is going to find it; we don't have the monopoly on finding this guy," Brown said. Their current focus is on refining their prediction of the location and interactions of planet nine and other objects. It is impossible to know how Planet Nine ever got to its current position, but the two researchers are confident that its location will be found soon. NINE PLANET EARTH URANUS NEPTUNE PLANET 9 Temp. (°C) Mass 1 14.5 17 10 Radius 1 4 3.9 3.7 One Year 1 84 164.8 10k-20k 15 216 218 -226 BUSINESS CASUAL Prof. Batygin is known for his laid-back attitude-true to form, he came to his Big T interview straight from martial arts practice and didn't change out of his uniform! SPACE GULAG In Russia, some people want Planet Nine to be named the Brown-Batygin-Stalin planet. Prof. Batygin says the name would be appropriate, since Planet Nine forces smaller bodies into strange orbits far from the Sun's warmth. WORDS ELISE CUTTS| PHOTOS VARIOUS | DESIGN ELISE CUTTS FEAR OR FUN ACCORDING TO GPS DIVISION CHAIR JOHN GROTZINGER, people fund the GPS Division for one of two reasons: fear or fun. Donors in the fear camp hope their contributions will improve our understanding of earthquakes, volcanoes, global warming, and other geological hazards. Important as this work is, fun is where GPS really shines. Studying Mars, dinosaurs, and icy moons might not be as practical as devoting research funding to seismology, but who doesn't secretly want Jurassic Park to happen for real? Students fortunate (or perhaps wise) enough to be pursuing a major in the department enjoy weekly social hours, whimsically named department softball, soccer, and dodgeball teams, the chance to go to the Galapagos for class cred-it, the annual GPS division party "Zilchbrau" and, most importantly, field trips. Somehow both educational and enjoyable, field trips continue to be a highlight experience for many undergrads at Caltech-both in and out of the GPS division. For many students, field trips might be the first time they've left campus in weeks ox, depending on dbal stretching skills, months. Luckily for them, Southern California is a geologic wonderland—its mountains and deserts are perfect for seeing features that are usually covered up by pesky foliage, and the region's geologic history is varied and dynamic. The San Andreas Fault cutting from the Saltan Sea to San Francisco is a popular stop on field trips, as is the "Pleistocene Zoo," an extinct lakebed in the Mojave Desert where the ten thousand year old footprints of extinct North American megafauna are preserved in stone. And, of course, after a long day of fun, there's nothing better than soaking in a natural hot spring under those weird twinkly lights in the sky which we never seem to see back home in Pasadena. 1. ARE YOU LICHEN THIS PICTURE? Colorful mosses and lichens stand out in vivid contrast against rhe black surface of basalts near Fossil Falls. Recognizable due to their dark color and small the small size of their mineral grains, basalts are one of the most common rocks on Earth and are formed when certain kinds of lavas cool rapidly at the Earth's surface. 2. CRAM SESSION Why cram for a test when you can cram youself inside a tiny cave? Teaching assistant Hayden Miller shows off his caving skills during the Gella field trip stop at Fossil Falls. BIG SUR FALL JOSHUA TREE WINTER GRAND CANYON SPRING PHOTO BY PETER MARTIN Ge136, a 3-unit class offered every term, is quite literally just a field trip. This year, 136 kicked off with a visit to the rocky shores of Big Sur. PHOTO BY BRIGITTE ROONEY Beloved by undergraduates as the perfect spot for a desert retreat and by professors for the geology, Joshua Tree was the perfect site for a winter trip. PHOTO BY CIARA ORDER Caltech's final Ge136 field trip of the year hit desert highlights from the Mojave Desert to the Grand Canyon and the Valley of Fire. JUST CALL ME JJ Even a JJ Abrams-style lens flare isn't more dramatic than these stunning wind-blasted cliffs. The red color comes from iron oxides in the rocks making up the cliff SESOF B A NEW HISTORY OF Ge136 "Ge136 is a historic class here," Profes- sciences are sort of unique in that you Sor JOE KIRSCHVINK says, leaning need to study the objects-to get out and back in his office chair. "You know the beat on a rock, there's no replacement Bob Sharp lecture hall? Well [Bob] taught for it." Non-geologists often tag along the class for around 50 years, right up on 136 trips, too, and when asked how to when he was running it as a part time he felt about it, Kirschvink was adamant emeritus professor." Once a student that it's important for them too. "Even if enrolled in the same class he teaches you're a computer scientist, seeing that... today, Kirschvink continues the tradition it's not all fake science: the people who of Ge136, a class that is quite literally study the deep time climate record actu- three units of field trip. "For the geolo- ally have data... Particularly when we live gists, it's extremely important as a part in a century when we're going to have of their general education to be exposed climate change whether you like it or not, to a variety of topics. Earth and planetary whether you deny it or not." LOOKING UP Students perch atop the unusual basalt formations at Fossil Falls while listening to their professor explain the site. The winding, smooth walled canyons were carved by water long ago. A_ NEW. HISTORY OF LIFE 039 FIELD TRIPS SCIENCE BY FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME Groups competing in Techstock's battle of the bands had 15 minutes to show their stuff and, hopefully, impress the judges. The winners took home a hefty chunk of prize money and had the chance to play a longer, 45-minute set to close out the Caltech group performances. 1. FOLKING UP Techstock wasn't just rock-and-roll and covers of "All Star." Elle Chimiak, a grad student studying geochem-isty, teamed up with some of her colleagues to play folk-inspired tunes during the battle of the bands. 2. SATURN'S RINGO Chris Spalding studies planetary disks and ring structures as a graduate student in the GPS division and also rocks on the drums—both with his friends during Techstock, and with Professor Konstantin Batygin's band, The Seventh Season. DAY SONG BY NIGHT "WE'VE GOT TO GO, but there's time for just one more." The announcement is drowned in cheers. The performance so far has been great, but there's one song which has been conspicuously omitted from the set—one which most people in the audience have been waiting for. Techstock, a tradition only three years old as of Spring 2017, began as a Fleming event but has grown into a campus-wide music festival attended by the whole com- During the day, Caltech-affiliated bands battle it out for cash prizes and the right to more stage time. Legions of volunteers in grey T-shirts man Tom Mannion's fleet of rolling grills, serving free burgers and hot dogs to festival-goers while students lounge on picnic blankets in front of the stage at Winnett Student Center. At night, however, the grills roll off and the blankets are replaced by an impromptu mosh pit as the main event begins. The Mowgli's, the headline band, takes the stage. With the kickoff of their last song-"San Francisco" —the crowd erupts in cheers. A Go-Pro somehow makes its way from the crowd into the lead singer's hand and makes a round around the stage before it is returned to the audience. The night ends with applause as the Mowgli's disappear back-stage, leaving the aftershocks of blasting speakers buzzing in the audience's ears. 041 TECHSTOCK 3 1. MOSH PIT? The Mowgli's might not be known for producing rave-worthy party anthems so much as folksy indie hits, but that didn't stop Caltech students from clumping together and dancing the night away. 2. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME Professional crews were brought in to assemble the stage in front of Winnett Student Center. Caltech students might be good enough at construction and lighting to pull off a good interhouse party, but when pros like the Mowglis are singing, it's best to make sure the stage matches the talent. 3. SHAKE IT Tambourines might be popular among 1st grade music teachers, but that doesn't mean they're not cool. Katie Jayne Earl, one of the lead vocalists for the Mowgli's, shakes a tambourine during her performance at Techstock. 4 5 GSC SOFTBALL FEASTING ON THE SKY Students enjoy a picnic on Millikan bridge under a gorgeous summer sunset. 1 3 2 ELISE CUTTS WORDS MICHAEL WONG DESIGN MICHAEL WONG MICHAEL WONG SURF'S 1. EPICENTER Professor Victor Tsai, who studies seismology, is about to make some tremors of his own. 2. THOM DA BHOMB Thom Chaffee [18] sprints towards first base. 3. PROJECTILE MOTION Lee Saper [G2] launches a pitch against El Jefe, the Ismagilov Lab team. 4. TARGET ACQUIRED Caroline Atyeo [18] pitches for the Melonheads, the undergraduate team. UP 043 SUM "SUMMER SUCKS," says JOSEPH MIN [20] before turning back to his computer and his work. Buckling down and diving into research for the first time can be a grueling and eye-opening experience. Min, who is participating in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) with Professor PAUL STERNBERG on fully automated RNA-seq., will spend from late June to late August on campus, turning in long hours of coding. "At least I have time for art," says ZIYAN MO [20], an avid digital paint- er, who can finally spend her evenings at her iPad with Procreate open instead of a math set. After two days of hard work, she produced a beautiful image of paper airplanes flying over the atmosphere of a planet—a visual representation of what summer means to her: freedom. Other students pick up passions that they'd never tried before. "Summer's great because I don't have classes, so I actually have time to cook," says SHA-RON CHEN [20]. "I hadn't boiled water until this summer, but now I stir fry everything." While Chen focuses on perfecting fried broccoli, rising junior ELISE CUTTS [19] is studying fried rocks that came from Mars with Professor BETHANY EHLMANN this summer through the SURF program. "It's about as close to being an astronaut as I'll ever get," she says, her excitement conta-gious. "I even convinced my mom to go to some seminars about asteroids." Across campus, Min is pounding away at his keyboard. At least one project is going as planned for him. The yearbook is getting submitted on time. WORDS SHARON CHEN | PHOTOS VARIOUS | DESIGN MICHAEL WONG TRAILBLAZERS "I'D BEEN TO LONDON BEFORE, full advantage of the extracurricular but was surprisingly not prepared for opportunities afforded by studying at a Edinburgh," recounts THOMAS (THOM) large university. In the words of KISHA CHAFFEE [18]. "The accent is what THAYAPRAN [18], "It is literally got me the most—ask a random local for impossible to not find something to directions, and you may find yourself more do!" The gigantic fall Freshers' Fair in confused than when you started." Cambridge, for example, showcased Getting used to unfamiliar accents countless societies and clubs, and Caltech was just the beginning of new experiences students chose to join a variety of these, Techers encountered in their worldly including Rowing Club, Massage Society, explorations this year. During the fall and and Chess Club. Likewise, TYLER PEREZ winter terms, dozens of students took advantage of the opportunity to study abroad, generalizing Caltech's spirit of academic discovery to global cultures. Students participated in term-long programs at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, École Polytechnique in France, and Cambridge University and University College London in England Participants in the Ecole Polytechnique program, in particular, were entirely entrenched in a vastly different culture. All classes, discussions, assignments, and exams were in French. "The chance to learn science in a different language has opened my eyes to the global world of STEM," says ANUSHA NATHAN [18]. Other student highlights included the opportunity to take a class with one of the creators of the Haskell programming language. Besides offering a new perspective on science and math, the chance to study at much larger universities provided a chance to explore the humanities in a more engaging environment. At UCL, WON JUN NOH [17] was able to take an introductory course on London Architecture. "The classes meet at museums or historical sites within London, and the instructor talks about the history and architecture associated with these places." Used to the rigorous and time-consuming weekly problem sets at Caltech, students found a new approach to academics in their time abroad. Grades were based mostly on exams and homework was typically optional, providing greater freedom as well as self-responsibility. For LUCY CHEN [17], "Study abroad has been a pleasant break from the nonstop work schedule of Caltech. There is time to cook, pursue hobbies, go out with friends, and in general, feel human again." With more free time, Techers took [18] says about his time at Edinburgh, "I have made it a goal to try and do things that I couldn't do at Caltech so I am involved in Kickboxing, African Drumming, Dance Music Society, Christian Union and beatboxing." It's clear that study abroad students will look back fondly at their memories exploring the rolling hills of the Scottish countryside, enjoying student-run comedy sketch nights at Cambridge, lining up at crêpe stations in the streets of Paris, or wandering through London's famous museums and historical sites. As JULIE KEW [17] puts it, studying abroad is "a break from the usual, an exciting adventure, a reminder that there is life beyond Caltech." 1. LAUNCHING POINT One of the reasons to love studying abroad in Europe is how easy it is to travel from their host university. Lucy Chen [17], an Edinburgh study abroad student, snapped this selfie with Sonia Kim [17] and Sean Mckenna [17] in Oslo, Norway. 2. TABOO Selfie sticks are never okay. Well, almost never. Standing on top of a pristine hillside in Scotland with your friends is one of those special times where a selfie stick is definitely called for. 3. QUEEN OF THE HILL Senior Zofii Kaczmarek stands triumphantly at the top of a hill overlooking a Scottish town. 4. OLD SCHOOL Nand Kishore [17] stands in front of a stunning building on Cambridge campus, where he studied abroad for a term. Cambridge was founded in 1209, 682 years before Caltech! 5. CAPTURE THE FLAG Zofi Kazmarek [17] snapped this photo of her friends Lucy Chen [17] and Julie Kew [17] waving a Scottish flag atop a beautiful green hill. #FOLLOWMETO There are bros, and then there are EDINBROS. Juniors Thom Chaffee and Tyler Perez recreated the #followmeto Instagram photo series while they were on their study abroad term Edinburgh. They went on to win Blacker House's cutest couple award in a landslide, much to the chagrin of their girlfriends. Sorry ladies -sometimes bromance trumps romance. BONNY BANKS Zofii Kazmarek and Julie Kew [17] sit perched atop a cliff near Glencoe, Scotland which overlooks Loch Lamond, the subject of a popular Scottish song. CLASSIC LOOK These pillars might look Greek or Roman, but they're not! Alice Michel [16] sits under the impressive columns of Scotland's National Monument, which was built in 1828 to honor Scottish soldiers who died in the Napoleonic wars. 045 STUDY ABROAD 4 COURAGE ROAD #WEWON After winning their Orange Out match, the Caltech women's volleyball team join in an ecstatic group hug to ELISE CUTTS SUZANNAH OSEKOWSKY We went into the game with a can't lose attitude. Even if we had lost, we would have still spent a couple of hours playing a great team and having a lot of fun. [171 MEI-LING LAURES Philosophy: Playing hard —if I play hard, I have a lot more fun. I enjoy compeition and playing with others and with my own team. When we play hard and well, that is when I have the most fun. [20] CALIFORNIA TI CATECHNO MICHAEL WONG 1. SPIKE Lauren Li |20] attacks in the Orange Out with Mills College. 2. I CAME HERE TO SLAY Sakthi Vetrivel [19] attempts a spike in a game against Whittier College. 3• DIGGIN' IT Alexa Lauinger [201 goes for a dig with Sakthi Vetrivel behind her and Lauren Li on the side. EOT ATTER 10 30 13 MICHAEL WONG NERVOUS CHATTERING DRAWS to a close as the bus approaches the University of Antelope. Today is the second day in a two-day competition against the Pioneers. Away games are always difficult. First, there is the drudgerous ride to the game: everyone stays awake to keep the team energized, whether laughing over inside jokes with their teammates or trying to finish Mala sets without a TA. Once they arrive, the Beavers face an unfamiliar court and an unfriendly crowd. As many of the women on the team commented, the best part about a home game is the crowd. In an opponent's gym, however, the crowd cheers for their mistakes. "It gets to your head when the crowd cheers when you are doing poorly," said CLAU-DIA CAÑAMAS-DONNELLY [20]. Although it is difficult to keep the [20] MICHAEL energy up during the tedious journey to Antelope, the girls are determined. Their "we can win" attitude is what will carry them to their first away game in years. Tired but resolute, they get off the bus, and head into the gym. Four intense sets pass. The scores are neck-and-neck and everyone's energy reserves are wearing thin. However, no one is willing to give up. The scores are close and there is still a chance! The Pioneers start the last set with a 3-0 lead and hold it until the match point when they slip up, committing an error. Now, the ball is on the Beaver's court. The girls seize the opportunity. ALEXA LAUINGER [20] scores a pair of kills, and another error by the Pioneers puts the Beavers in the lead. Riding a wave of adrenaline, ELLIE WALKER [20] seals the match ALEXA LAUINGER Lead by example, and during a game you re expected to hustle and have a good attitude, and sometimes that's hard. You really have to bring the energy out when everyone is really tired from a hard week. I'm just really happy to be able to fill this spot. KER LEE YAP For the first time, we started beliving that we can win. Hashtag #weanwin! [17] with a spectacular ace. The scores are an-nounced, and the Beavers are all smiles as they come together into a team hug This is their first away win in 13 years. The Beavers go on to wrap up their season with a win on senior night and a decade-high total of three wins out of 13. This is, perhaps, the start of a new chapter for the women's volleyball team at Caltech. With a six-pack of talented freshman filling out the roster, the team's statistics are miles beyond last year's: digs, kills, and assists are the second highest in Caltech history. Looking to next year, the team intends to build on their success. According to Lauinger, the freshman co-captain, "This year was great for building the team. We are a lot better, but next year we're wanting to show with more wins." 049 VOLLEYBALL WHEN A PERSON'S PERSONALITY IS PERSONABLE Annie Marinan (JPL) and Steve Markham [G1] share a scene in Company, Caltech's 2017 musical. Mari-nan portrayed Kathy, one of the three eccentric girlfriends that Markham's character, Bobby, dates in the show. INCOMES IN COMES COMPANY WORDS ELISE CUTTS | PHOTOS MICHAEL WONG | DESIGN JOSEPH MIN STAGE LIGHTS FLARE to striding and twirling across the without a doubt, stands alone as life and music erupts from floor in a carefully practiced dance the crown jewel of Caltech's the- the pit, filling the air in number. After months of dance ater program. Ramo Auditorium. Clad rehearsals, drilling lines, improvi- Throughout the night, the in brightly colored sation warmups, and long hours cast of Company sings and dances dresses and fitted on the stage, it's finally time: it's through the story of Bobby, suits, actors finally opening night for Company. portrayed by first year graduate pour onto Theater Arts at Caltech student STEVE MARKHAM the matte- (TACIT brings together under- [G1]. While Bobby's struggles black graduates, graduate students, to understand his position as the stage, postdocs, faculty, staff, JPLers, lone bachelor among his married and their family members to friends might not resonate with create art onstage for members the average undergraduate, the of the community to enjoy. This cast's vibrant performances makes year, TACIT opened their season the story accessible to all who THIS ONB'S FOR THE ROAD Holly Bender (JPL) sings in A Wasted Evening with Tom Lehrer during one of the performances at Caltech's Athenaeum. The show also traveled to Lineage Performing Arts Center in Pasadena and Grove Theater Center in Burbank. with A Wasted Evening with come. LYDIA KIVRAK'S [19] Tom Lehrer, a cabaret-style portrayal of bride-to-be Amy in performance of satiri- the frantically-paced number cal songs by Lehrer, "Not Getting Married Today" is a which was held at highlight thanks to her exuberant the Athenaeum. personality and superhuman mas- However, it is tery of vocal tongue twisters. At the end of the night as the cast comes together for their curtain call, the band plays an upbeat medley of songs from all of Company's numbers as the audience cheers on their favorite per-formers. Finally, the cast steps into a line together. Hearts pounding and spirits soar-ing, they link hands and together, knowing that tomorrow all again ETHAN PRONOVOST TEMBA, HIS ARMS WIDE From left to right: Ashley Stroupe (JPL), Chandru Dahandapani [G], Peter Basch (JPL), and Holly Bender (JPL) spread their arms wide in A Wasted Evening with Tom Lehrer. SWEET AS SUSAN Putting on her most charming Southern accent for Company, Olivia Hindera [18] plays Susan, who goes through the happiest divorce imaginable. WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT YOU? Giuliana Viglione [G4], Elizabeth Freeman (Community), and Steve Markham [G1] sing and dance in "Side by Side by Side," the opening number to Act II of Company. SOMEONE TO HURT YOU TOO DEEP Lydia Kivrak [19] and lan Garcia [191 portray a tragic wedding day in Company, where Kivrak's character, Amy, breaks her fiancée's heart. YOU COULD DRIVE A PERSON CRAZY Annie Mirinan (JPL), Kelvin Bates [G5], and Alison Koontz [G1] dance the three girlfriends' number in Company. TO BOBBY, WITH LOVE Steve Markham's [G1] character, Bobby, is surrounded by his married friends at his surprise birthday party, a recurring scene throughout Company. 051 THEATER JAPAN THROUGH TIME was the theme of Blacker's interhouse party this year. Moles put their building skills to work, constructing water features, an artificial koi pond, DJ booth, a huge mural of godzilla, and a pagoda dance floor lit with paper lamps and covered by a magnificent sloping green roof. WE LAVA TO PARTY Fleming interhouse's theme might chain of volcanic islands, and a lofted have been "Big Fleming Paradise" but DJ booth emblazoned with a magma it was lava, not tropical sunsets and "F" and dripping lava flows. "All of the sandy beaches, that took center stage lava was fingerpainted. I'd take globs in the build this year. The party boast-of paint - red, orange, yellow- and just ed two huge paper mache volcanoes let it flow over the boards. It made for rigged with carbon-dioxide cannons a more natural, gooey look," explained that could errupt at the DJ's command, painter ELISE CUTTS [19], who, per- a massive 8 panel mural featuring a haps predictably, is a geology major. AVERY FANTASTIC BEASTS LLOYD ALICE IN WONDERLAND CENSORED RICKETTS APACHE DABNEY SUBTERRANEAN CAPITALISM PAGE KANYE RUDDOCK KINGDOM HEARTS "SO, WHAT'S THE PARTY SCENE Page threw a Kanye West themed like?" It's a question that inevitably interhouse, while Dabney opted for a comes up during prefrosh weekend din- much less mainstream Subterranean ner conversations. Some prefrosh ask Capitalism theme for their party, which, tentatively, like they're afriad of what thrown on the last day of term students the answer will be. Others, thinking that can drop classes, is called "Drop Day." the answer will most certainly be "there Ruddock, Lloyd, and Avery all chose is none," ask with a condescending laugh themes from popular media franchises, or shake of the head. and Ricketts stuck with Apache, which Parties do, contrary to popular they throw every year. Blacker and Flem- belief, happen at Caltech. Eight nights ing chose more general themes: Japan throughout the year, at least, students Through Time and Big Fleming Paradise, put aside homework sets and projects respectively. and head to one of the eight house The definition of a perfect party is, courtyards to dance, eat, and, of course, of course, just as varied as the houses 053 size up the building. Interhouse parties themselves. Some think that flashing are a chance for a house to show off its lights and loud music make for the best personality-and, for some houses, a se- night, while others prefer to focus on art m rious point of pride. Pressure to produce and provide a more low-key atmosphere. a good build or a good night for guests Sets range from towering three-story INTERHOUSE can be huge on the house responsible for monstrosities with elevated DJ plat- a weekend's event, and it's not unusal forms and roofs to ramshackle dance for students to spend months preparing floors held together by duct tape, a few for interhouse parties. screws, and a lot of luck. No wonder it's As far as themes go, this year was a so hard to explain Caltech parties to mixed bag of pop culture references and prefrosh! ideas drawn seemingly out of nowhere. IF YOU WORDS ELISE CUTTS PHOTOS VARIOUS DESIGN ELISE CUTTS BUILD IT. THEY WILL COME 2 YY YYY YYEE EEEEE EEEEEE EEEEAAA AAAAAAA AAHHHHHH HHHBEAVERS! 1. POINTING FINGERS Eli Pinkus [201, after noticing a yearbook photographer was on the scene, makes a cheesy move for the camera. His ploy apparently worked, since the photo is featued as the primary image in a spread about a Facebook group he and his friend, Alec Andrews [20] made together. 2. HAVING A BIG HEAD is usually a bad thing, especially here at Caltech where egos can sometimes grow dangerously out of proportion. But giant cardboard cutouts of senior Nasser Al-Rayes and sophomore Brent Cahill brought to games by their friends are anything but bad for spirit. During a conference game against Whittier, Chris Bradley 20] holds high a cardboard effigy of his friend and OCA roommate Nasser, yelling encouragement (or perhaps digs at the other team) from the stands. WORDS ELISE CUTTS PHOTOS ELISE CUTTS DESIGN ELISE CUTTS A WHITE SPECK AGAINST a sea of orange, a referee tries in vain to quiet the uproar coming from the crowd packed into the poolside stands outside Braun Gym. Caltech water polo has never seen fans like these: rowdy, numerous, and literally painted orange. "Well, Al had this great idea, and you know, he's always coming up with great ideas," ELI PINKUS [20] explains, recalling the game. "He told me— get a bunch of guys, paint your bodies and you know, get wild for the event. And you know I was skeptical at first but when we got down to the pool and there were four or five guys all in paint and hats and stuff, we got pretty stoked, you know." Pinkus laughs as his friend, ALEC ANDREWS [20] shakes his head, a bit embarrassed. "We pissed off a ref or two—it was a Andrews and Pinkus, both freshmen, orchestrated the paint stunt through their Facebook group, The Beaver's Dam, which they started in the fall hoping to encourage school spirit. The Beaver's Dam, Andrews explains, started like most things do at Caltech: late at night as a way to ALTE THLE procrastinate on a problem set. "So, basically we were in my room one night, and I was like 'Eli, I wonder how many people will be at the game. And he was like 'think about all the other games: baseball, water polo... we should start a Facebook group so people know when the games are!' And then we started it that night." The group has been incredibly effective in mobilizing sports fans to get out and support athletics throughout the year. Fans came out in record numbers, sporting orange shirts, hats, and face paint. There even appeared a handful of giant cardboard cutout "Fatheads" of basketball players. CHRIS BRADLEY [17] commented "[Spirit was] certainly more consistent throughout the year. In years past we'd get up for maybe a basketball game. This year we saw it at water polo games, at baseball games... we're winning now!" Despite the referee's calls for quiet, the fans scream on. This year, Caltech answers the call to support its athletes at the field, on the pool deck, and in the stands—all because of a Facebook group started by two freshmen who should have been studying. ATIS CALTECH ATHLETICS Caltech 3. MAKE SOME NOISE More fans at games means more noise: yelling, taunting, cheering, and, apparently, air-guitaring Sophomore Mark Burleson, pictured here showing his support with an orange shirt and two, count them, two pairs of Caltech shades, describes himself as a "part time student, full time professional air guitarist and volleyball superfan." 4. COLOR ME SURPRISED At a men's water polo game, Pinkus riles up the crowd, including fellow orange-painted freshmen Marcel Griffioen, David Adams, and Courtland Perry. Attendance at Orange Outs remained strong throughout the year, and for most Caltech sports. Yeah, Beavers! 055 SPIRIT SCHOOL ATONAL ATH gocals: 4 TEACHINARDS DR. BRIAN STOLTZ Ch41c: Organic Chemistry "What is the pKa of you passing this class?" —not Brian Stoltz DR. ROB PHILLIPS Bil: Introduction to Biology "Street Fighting." DR. PAUL ASIMOW Ge1: Introduction to Earth and Environment "Trust me kiddos, licking rocks is actually a legitimate way to do geology." —not Paul Asimow DR. EVAN KIRBY Ay101: Physics of Stars "My wife is a photographer. I think her photos are beautiful! But don't take my word for it. See her website http://www.bambooshootsphoto.com/." AN ANIMATED CHATTER took over the lecture hall as a hundred freshman threw ideas around with their friends, trying to tackle the question posed on the blackboard: "How long can a frog survive in salt water?" It was just one piece of the puzzle investigating the potential evolutionary relationship between frogs from the African mainland and island species from São Tomé. Professor ROB PHILLIPS, one of four professors to win the ASCIT Teaching Award, chose to structure his introductory biology course as a series of puzzles, giving students the opportunity to explore biological concepts such as evolution and genetics through case studies involving rigorous math and phys-ics. Professor Phillips's bold, revolutionary approach to biology was inspired by his own curiosity. "I don't use books to teach," he said. "I really enjoy trying to figure out if I were to do this subject by myself, how would I describe it? You could say, forget how everyone else did, I'm going to invent a new way. The question is what would it look like. That is what I find fun." Likewise, Assistant Professor EVAN KIRBY put his own spin on WORDS SHARON CHEN PHOTOS VARIOUS DESIGN ELISE CUTTS teaching, with unique and engaging activities, which earned him an ASCIT Teaching Award for Ay101, his first ever undergraduate class. For instance, Professor Kirby explained, "We were learning about dipole radiation, so I took pictures of myself holding my TV antenna at home, and I made the students work out, what is the best orientation to actually get your TV recep-tion. So it was a real-world example, but also learning the information." The third recipient of the ASCIT Teaching Award and former recipient of the Feynman Teaching Prize, Professor PAUL ASIMOW WaS perhaps best-known for his super-popular menu course Ge1. Professor Asimow's philosophy behind teaching was to "teach students that want to be learning what they are However, recognizing that not everyone would be a geology ma-jor, Professor Asimow diversified his class, presenting daily equa-tions, specimens, and landscapes to convey his wonder and passion for earth science. His goal, he says, was "to get across an appreciation of the fact that we live on the Earth, we have to live on the Earth for the FRESH SKETCH A completely new class logo accompanied Professor Phillips' total revamp of Bil's curriculum. 2017 HAVE YOU READ MY BLOG TODAY? Professor Wierman maintains an academic blog, titled "Rigor + Relevance," where he writes thoughts about research issues, conferences, academic life, and teaching. foreseeable future, and it behooves everybody to understand something about the natural hazards that the Earth presents as well as the artificial hazards that we are imposing on ourselves." The fourth recipient of the 2017 ASCIT Teaching Prize was Professor ADAM WIERMAN, the Executive Officer of the Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences. This year's Feynman Teaching Prize, Caltech's most prestigious teaching award, went to Professor of Chemistry BRIAN STOLTZ. Professor Stoltz was praised by colleagues and students alike for his devotion to education and his care for students. Each lecture, he brought in a renewed excitement and appreciation for his students. As he explained, "Maybe a student will ask a question that will make me think about something a different way. There is sort of a moment where you think, 'Wow, I hadn't looked at it that way before. You never know when it can hit. You've taught sophomore organic chemistry ten times before, and the eleventh time, something new comes out that you haven't really appreciated before." 057 TEACHING AWARDS GO TEAM The Beavers congratulate each other after their win, flashing smiles and high-fiving everyone on the team. C CAL TEN AT LAST! ON WHAT IS ALL ACCOUNTS an ordinary sunny Pasadena spring day, something extraordinary is happening. With the score tied 3-3 and KAI KIRK [18] on second base, ALEX CORADO [20] steps up to bat. The dugout is unusually silent, typical heckling and raucous calls of encouragement choked out by 29 years of anticipation thickening the air. WORDS ELISE CUTTS| PHOTOS ELISE CUTTS| DESIGN JOSEPH MIN After two successful years of re-cruiting, the Beavers believed that this year, they might have a shot at a conference game. One Saturday night during preseason, a few members of the baseball team wrote a computer program to estimate their odds of winning this year as a joke. After running the numbers on their gut-feeling probability estimates, the program predicted exactly one win. "It seemed accurate," MARK BURLE-SON [19] comments, remembering that night. The catcher for the Beavers, Burleson came to Caltech with infielder CONNOR MOFFAT [19] and pitcher JONAH KROP |19] in one of the most successful recruiting classes in years. After another strong year of recruiting, the Beavers added six freshmen to their roster and for the first time in decades looked forward to the season with real hopes for winning a conference game. March 31st's game starts with an early game lead for the Beavers. In what is possibly the best game of his college career, Krop throws strike after strike, hitting the spots Burleson calls from the plate with impressive accuracy. It isn't until the fifth inning that Pomona-Pitzer pulls ahead, scoring three runs in one inning. By the time DAVID WATSON (17] takes to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, the score is still 3-2. Watson makes a base hit and runs to first where he's replaced by SCHAEFFER REED [17] who comes in as a pinch runner. Reed, a soccer player who boasts the fastest sprint on the team, has one job: run home. Kirk hits and Reed runs three bases home on Kirk's double. The game is tied. For the first time in almost three decades, the Beavers are in position to win the game with one run. The Sagehens switch pitchers, finally realizing that they're in real danger of losing Corado warms up and settles into his batting stance over the plate. Without a single out, he hits a line drive beyond third for a double, Kirk slides home, and, the spell of silence broken, the air erupts in cheers as the Beavers rush the field. Caltech wins its first conference game in 29 years and, a week later on Whittier's home field, they do it again. 25 CINHHCH ALL IN Between innings, the Beavers group up for a team cheer, hoping to maintain their momentum and carry the game through to a victory. 3 1. CAPTAIN KIRK Pitcher Kai Kirk [17]'s two year mission on the baseball team culminated in the Beavers winning where no Caltech baseball team had won before. 2. COVERT OPS During a game, it's not unusual for a team to take some time to get together and discuss their plan for the next plays-even right in the middle of an inning! 3. IT'S ALL SKILL Catcher Mark Burleson [19] directs his teammates, giving them instructions for the next play. The catcher is responsible for calling spots for the pitcher to hit — deciding what pitch to call is a skill that takes a long time to develop. 4. A NEW HOPE Freshman like David Adams [20], pictured here talking to one of his coaches during a game, was one of six freshmen to join the roster this year. An uptick in recruiting means that the Beavers can look forwards to a bright future in the years to come. 2 059 BASEBALL ON A QUEST Students seek the answer to a riddle to get across Millikan bridge. The drought that had plagued California having been recently mitigated by a wet winter and spring, and the pond was refilled with water, inviting strange, magical demons to migrate back to this territory. THAT'S IT! A group of green-clad undergrads grin as they work through a puzzle. ALIEN STASH PLS NO STI IR RATCRON P00-3-002- IN SPACE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SNORE An alien takes a well-deserved nap on the grass. Is Always humy in Pasadna It's Always Sunny in Pasadena Sunny in ena Tt's Always Sunny in Pasadena It's Always Sunny in Pasadena SUNNY SMILES A group of Pageboys clad in "It's Always Sunny in Pasadena" T-shirts brings out sun with their smiles on a cloudy Ditch Day. TOMORROW IT APPEARS TO BE just another casions, they had heard upperclassmen Thursday night as six clueless frosh rave about the day spent running around trudge into an Sherman-Fairchild Library solving theme-based puzzles designed by (SFL) study room. They proceed to make the seniors, while classes and sets were fools of themselves, contorting their arms in all sorts of unnatural ways that make the right-hand rule seem less like a useful mnemonic and more like a sure-fire way to sprain your wrist. A couple hours later, they are still far from done with the Phic problem set due the next day when they all get an email. The subject line reads "Go to bed, Preparing to run to get their pick of unique "stacks," underclassmen will set their alarms for well before the seniors come to bang on their doors at 8 a.m. Some will spend the day in the universe of fairy tales or Star Wars, while others will partake in activities themed around Drake. They might even get to be in an frosh." They've gotten similar emails many times throughout the year, but this time, they somehow knew it wasn't just another "fake." Perhaps that was why they were barely making any progress on physics-subconsciously, they knew it wouldn't actually be due the next day. The next day, they'll experience one of Caltech's most famed and anticipated traditions, Ditch Day. On multiple oc- Puzzles, escape rooms, and scavenger hunts are Ditch Day staples that under-classmen surely enjoy. But, they'll also get the chance to go paintballing in the hills, lounge around on a boat, embarrass themselves singing karaoke, or even rappel down a building. A lucky few will feast on a twelve-course dinner provided by Tom Mannion, which the seniors had WORDS SHARON CHEN PHOTOS ELISE CUTTS DESIGN JOSEPH MIN to reserve spots for when they themselves were frosh. All of this requires meticulous planning by the seniors, who started planning the day months, and in some cases, years, ahead. Even alums come back to help make the Ditch Day escapades as fun and memorable as possible. At the same time, they are intensely secret about anything Ditch Day-related. House rooms get transformed into seniors-only zones, black tape hides unready stacks from underclassmen eyes, and the night before, a curfew with elaborate rules is delivered to every underclassman's inbox. In fact, upon receiving this email, our studious frosh pack up, leave SFL, and go to bed. After all, Ditch Day is tomorrow. 061 DITCH DAY MEMORY SERL ER 유재석 CREA INTE 11 FF E 田出出 丑 田 OADING Fea m GEP 排 FROSH TOP ROW, FROM LEFT: RICKY HAMEL • AIDAN SWOPE • SARA ADAMS • KENNY DURAN • CAMILLA ORA • SARAH OWENS • BEN CASSESE • JAYCE MILLER MIDDLE ROW: STEPHANIE DING •SAM BLAZES NIKITA KOSOLOBOV • MAX DEBBAS • HARRY PUTTERMAN • LEWIS JONES • ALEXANDRA STUTT • CRAIG WORLEY • ALDEN ROGERS FRONT ROW: JIM ZHANG • MEGAN DURNEY • MEI-LING LAURES • SARAH CRUCILLA • JACK CALDWELL • ANANT KALE • BETHANY SUTER • TYE LAMKIN • ALEX CUI • SIQIAO MU JUNIORS TOP ROW, FROM LEFT: BRIAN LEE • TYLER MIDdLETON • NATHAN BARTON • NICK MEYER • RUOQI SHEN • KEVIN SHU • JAKE KETCHUM • STEPHANIE KWAN • MAYRA MELENDEZ MIDDLE ROW: DAVID WU • MARK GILLESPIE • ERICH HERZIG • LUCILLE WELLS • ANUSHA NATHAN • PAIGE GANNON FRONT ROW: THOM CHAFFEE • TYLER PEREZ • CAROLINE HOWARD • ANNIE CHANG • ALISON DUGAS • ALEX MEIBURG • CHEN CHANG • ROBERT ENG • ANNE DORSEY NOT PICTURED: AVINASH AGRAWAL • WILLIAM LAKE FRANCESCO MACAGNO • CARLY ROBISON INSTITUT SMORES BACK ROW, FROM LEFT: AMY ZHOU • SOPHUS SHACKFORD • MADELYN STRODER • ALEXANDER REEVES • LUKE FINNERTY • DIANDRA ALMASCO • MICHELLE ANTHONY • DILLON AZZAM • EVAN HAUGH • JULIA DEACON • LEO BALESTRI • EVAN GUNTER FRONT ROW: TOM GORODO CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTONE ALLISON TANG • ZACHARY DOMANICO • HANNAH CHEN • PATRICIA BEEKMAN • KALLIOPI SOMIS NOT PICTURED: ENRICO BORBA • BENJAMIN CALVIN • SARAH DERETIC • ALEXANDER DENKO. GREGORZ FLORES • CLAIRE GOECKNER-WALD TIFFANY JAGER • LUKE LIAO • SOPHIE WHITMEYER SENIORS CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER: JULIE KEW • FABIAN BOEMER • KUSHAL AGARWAL • ALEXANDER PLACE • EMILY MEANY • EVAN DAVIS • MILICA KOLUNDZIJA • WILL YU • VICTOR HAN • HARRISON KROWAS • MICHAEL BAUER • MARY DO • TALIA MINEAR • BELLA GUO • KATE EVANS • CONNIE ROBINSON • KIT CHINETTI • SANJI DEWAN • MICHAEL FELDMAN • JEFFREY GU • ANGELA GUI • JESSICA LI • DANIL LUKIN • ALLISON PENN • JEFFREY ROSENBERG • CHARLES WANG • SHIMMY XU • CHENCHAO YOU BLackeRHovse DABNEY 2017 2018 FIDELIS ET GRATUS IME O CLOSER 2019 69 DABNEY 2020 FLEMINGS SENIOR CITIZENS DAHN, NOT AGAIN... THE DEE HEY GUYS, GREAT IDEA, LET'S BUILD BFP AGAIN... BUT BIGGER! BOON! CHASING THE DREAM AT ROSE BOWL 2017 BIG RED FLEMING 2016-17 SAVES THE YEAR EMING ING BIG RED LOOKS SMALL FROM UP HERE HEY, MY HOUSE MATCHES MY SHIRT! JAVID ADAMS ALEL ANDREWS JESSE ANA HE AUREN PARK Ross CARTER BRET JOHNSON GRANT MESSNER CORTLAND PERRY HELENA HELP, HE'S FALLEN AND HE CAN'T GET UP! MARLE ELI PINKUS ARIEL SrI8ER FLEXCOMM 2016 MOJO SONOLA - PRESIDENT JOHN DAVID FEIST - VICE PRESIDENT LILLY LUO - SECRETARY HARRISON JACOBS - TREASURER VINCI CHEN + ROBIN BROWN - SOC 1 + 2 HENRY BAER + CAROLINE ATYEO - ATH 1 + 2 DESIGN AND PHOTOS BY ELISE CUTTS 아 ĐAOT L 980K3 904 I live and, die... Sophomores Seniors ...fan thase I Comes 073 LLOYD HOUSE ATHENAEVN PAGE HOUSE 2016-2017 Cabor wis GRILLE pe Vinum Gravis EXCOMM Treasurer: Patrick Hsu Vice President: Sarah Cai President: Nishant Desai Sexcretary: David Lebaron Ath Man: Jack Lloyd (left to right) Freshmen Sophomores Juniors Seniors Soc Team: Nishad Maskara Tiffany Zhang Maria Newport Sarah Cai Suzanne Oliver Nicholas Redd Madelyn Wang Ath Team: Gemma Takahashi Nicholas Redd Jack Lloyd Aaron Sartin Spe Cabor Ceois St Spe Vinum c PAGE PAGE PAGE CLASS OF 2019 Caltes CLASS OF 2020 Palarou CLASS OF 2018 ROTATION CLASS OF 201 Renr ICKET FROSH WASH FORMAL DINNER OREN MIC NIGHT NARRIORS RUDDOCK HOUSE TECHSEL frosh juniors RET COME FIELD OF FIRE smores seniors EXCOMM Ath Man: Jimmy Hamilton 8'more Rep: Tucker Reese President: Henry Swanson Oft-Campus Rep: Tim Liu Vice President: Vasant yer Treasurer: William Schmidt Librarian: Ruchi Pandya Soc Man: Karim Lakhani Secretary: Sandra Liu BIOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY & CHEMICAL ENGINEERING ENGINEERING & APPLIED SCIENCE DIVISIONS GEOLOGICAL & PLANETARY SCIENCES HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES PHYSICS, MATH & ASTRONOMY 081 DIVISIONS CLUBS AARYA Shilpa Joy [G], Shreya Ramach-andran [19], Uma Dingankar [18], Suchita Nety [17], Anusha Nathan [18], Anise Rau [19], Surya Sundararajan [17] 田田 醒 田 田 May Hui BLACK STUDENTS OF THE CALIFORNIA INSTI-TUTE OF TECHNOLOGY [BSCIT) Danny Howard, Weslee Glenn [PD], K'yal Bannister [18], Sarah Sam [G], Stephanie Threatt [G], Kate McAnulty, Karina Ed-monds, Chantal D'Apuzzo CALTECH ALPINE CLUB CNG JU YONEX ASMASH J YONEX ET JUMP SMAS CALTECH BADMINTON CLUB Di Wu [G], Sophia Dai [PD], Remy Mevel [PD], Chujun Lin [G], Min-Feng Tu [G], Juliette Xiong [19], Chen Chang [18] CALTECH BALLROOM DANCE CLUB (BALLROOM) CALTECH BALLROOM DANCE CLUB (SWING) * WALNUT CALTECH BIOINFORMATICS CLUB Peng He [G], Xinyan Liu [G], Xiaozhe Ding [G], Yandong Zhang [G], Yapeng Su [G] 083 PHOT CALTECH CHESS CLUB CALTECH DHAMAKA FRONT: Surya Mathialagan [20], Mohar Chatterjee [19], Anjali Premkumar [17], Reeti Gulati [19], Tanvi Gupta [20], Sophia Coplin [20], Ruchi Pandya [19], Celia Zhang [18], Preethi Periyakoil [18], Maitreyi Nair [20], Ramya Deshpande [20], Namita Ravi [18], Hazel Dilmore [201 BACK: Anshul Ramachandran [18], Sunash Sharma [19], Ab-hishek Lingineni [19], Harsh Bhundiya [20], Kshitij Grover [18], Anirudh Mathukumilli [19], Chandru Dhandapani [G], Sid-dharth Kurella [20], Jimmy Hamilton [18], Dennis Yatunin [20] CALTECH GOLF CLUB Ricky Galliani [17], Harrison Jacobs [17], Chris Bradley [17], JD Feist [17] TECH CALTECH JUGGLING CLUB STANDING: Bella Guo, Ian Garcia [20], Matthew Weidner [18], Aaron Shih [19], Kevin Shu [18] SITTING: Oriel Humes [18], Mark Gillespie [18], Shari Kuroyama [17], Connie Robinson [18] CALTECH ROBOTICS TEAM Qifan Wang [19], David Elliott [201, Julia Deacon [19], James Deacon [19], Artsroun Darbinian [18], Alden Rogers [20], Henry Sun [20], Jeffrey Orenstein [18], Daniel Mark [20], Nikhil Poole [20], Cormac O'Neill [19], Kushal Agarwal [17], An-ant Kale [201, Tyler Okamoto [17], Frank Zhou [17], Lewis Jones [20], Madison Brady [20], Evan Yu [20] AFTERMAL CALTECH ULTIMATE FRISBEE CLUB (AFTERMATH] TOP: Paul Kempler (Coach), Michael Miller [19], Michael Lichterman [G], Dominic Yurk [17], Evan Yeh [20], Zachary Sternberger [G], Somasundara Pandian [19], Vatsal Jhalani [G], Jennifer Norris (Trainer). MIDDLE: Helena Wu [201, Peishi Cheng [G], Sarang Mittal (Captain) [18], Daryl Yee (Captain) [G], Bryce Edwards (Captain) [G], Jonathan Cotler [19], Tommy Alford [201, Alex Cui [20]. BOTTOM: Erika Ye [G], Linus Kim [20], Charlie Dorn [G] CHRISTIANS ON CAMPUS AT CALTECH Max Murialdo [G], Yang Li [PD], Brent Belland [G], Min-Feng Tu [G], Yisha Zhao, Yudan Pi, Coco Liang 085 CLUB PHOTOS GRADUATE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP HACKTECH MAGIC: THE GATHERING CLUB Bella Guo, Amulya Mohan [18], Rita Sonka [18], Jeremy Brouil-let [G] MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATION OASIS SENATOR Dianne Feinstein Calitornia SH331 SCIENCE & ENGINEERING POLICY AT CALTECH (SEPAC) Zach Erickson [G], Anna Ho [G], Elle Chimiak [G], Alistair Hayden [G] 087 PHOTOS CLUB SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS STUDENT INVESTMENT FUND Paul Nunez [G], Brian Deng [19], Dillon Azzam [19], Bianca Yang [19] STE TECH NAACH TECHERS FOR A SUS-TAINABLE FUTURE (TSF) THE. WESTR TENNIS CLUB BACK: Kelvin Cheung, Harsh Bhundiya [20], Jonathan Nguy-en, Stefania Moroianu, Christian Lee FRONT: Alison Ren [19], Mia Austria [19] Bravers SSHSS CALTECH tile THE FEMINIST CLUB Coby Abrahmson, Alyssa Poletti [20], Jake Mattinson [191, Emily Mazo [17], Julia Reisler [19], Jane Panangaden [G] THE PIPETTES TOP: Jenny He [17], Audrey Wang [18], Amanda Lin [18], Sumana Mahata [17] MIDDLE: Anne Zhou [19], Rachel Ng [18], Cherish Nie [20], Juliette Hu [20], Gloria Ha [18] BOTTOM: Alison Ren [19], Stephanie Huard [18], Preethi Periyakoil [18], Victoria Liu [20], Surya Sundararajan [17] WOMEN IN PHYSICS, MATH, AND ASTRONOMY Cora Went [G], Allison Strom [G], Nai-Cheng Yeh [PROF], Fiona Harrison [PROF], Ivanna Escala [G], Roohi Dalal [18], Gina Duggan [G], Alicia Lanz [G], Sophie Leon, Anna Ho [G], Anneila Sargent [PROF], Nikita Klimovich [G] 089 CLUB PHOTOS CLUBSMEMES THERE'S THIS FUNNY THING with yearbook publishers - you can only submit books with specific numbers of pages. Our publisher requires multiples of 8. Because we got more response to our requests for club, sports team, and department photos than we expected, we had to tack on a few pages to make sure to include all of your lovely faces. This left us with dead space, however. If the internet taught us anything, it is that there is only one thing to do with dead space: fill it with memes. Enjoy this shameless, self-serving meme page full of in-jokes you won't understand since you're not on yearbook (that's your bad, maybe think about joining us next year). we didnt sell ads® ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY but FREE AD! The Original Hot Honey Bobo and Iced Milk Drinks® QUIT YEARBOOK imgflip.com me.jpg guys im really white like vampire white no im serious i need spf 100 im not joking i sparkle DID I JUST SMELL COMIC SANS on this page? This is the most horrendous of design sins, and you will certainly go to yearbook hell for this, Elise. this whitespace was intentionally kept blank for design reasons .$ $ eustress Manage Mc $ Moneybags DEAL WITH IT $ $ $ Design Heaven 091 CLUS MEMES "You gotta get orange chicken for us basic bitches" ATHLETICS 32: BASEBALL Roster: David Adams [201, Mark Burleson [191, Alex Corado [201, Matthew Edwards (171, J.D. Feist [17], John Galden [17], Marcel Griffoen [20], Harrison Jacobs [17], Minjae Kim [201, Kai Kirk [17], Jonah Krop [19], Garrett Levine [18], Chris McCarren (18], Tim Menninger (17), Grant Messner [20], Connor Moffatt [191, Cortland Perry [20], Schaeffer Reed [17], Tucker Reese [19], David Watson [18], Will Werst [19], Alex Wuschner [20] 00000G CANTECH 3 MEN'S BASKETBALL Front Row: Michael Li [20], David Kawashima [18], Alec Andrews [20], Andrew Wang |191, Bret Johnson |20 Second Row: Roshan Bal [20J, Brent Cahill [19J, Ricky Galliani [171, Aaron Ayres [201, Steven Brotz [19] Back Row: Matthew Edwards (17], Calvin Huh [201, Nasser Al-Rayes [17], Ross Carter |201, David LeBaron [171 CALTECH CALTECH 44 CALTECH 10 ALTECH 24 CALTECH 20 CALTECH 21 12 ALTECH 30 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Left to Right: Coach Dennis Ko, Nika Haleftiras [19], Jieni Li [20], Madelyn Stroder [191, Madeline Schemel (191, Kate Lewis [17], Coach Sandra Marbut, Elizabeth Eiden [19], Alexa Lauinger [201, Grace Peng |201, Samantha D'Costa |201, Coach Jessica Watkins 093 ATHLETICS PHOTOS MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Roster: Tommy Alford [20], Sam Blazes [20], Bhairav Chidambaram [20], Rohan Choudhury [191, Rohan Doshi [19], David Fager [20], Greg Gephart [20], Nick Haliday [17], Mi- chael Hashe [19], Joey Hong [19], Tiger Lu [20], Mason MacDougall [18], Tanner Moore [201, Rishabh Pipada [17], Nikhil Poole [20], Simon Ricci [20], Gianmarco Terrones [20], Gene Vaughan (18] WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Roster: Robin Brown [18], Maria De Angelis [20], Nicole Feng [20], Melissa Gutierrez [19], Cherie Jia [19], Lilly Luo [17), Michelle Marasigan [19], Emily Mazo [17], Skye Reese [201, Gauri Shastri [17), Jena Srikanth [201, Sophie Walton [201, Michelle Zhao [20] MECH PER USA MEN'S FENCING Roster: Cole Allen [17], Kai Chang [17], Matthew Jin [17], Nikita Kosolobov [20], David Lin [19], Abhishek Lingineni [19], Ethan Lo [18], Keegan Mendonca [17], AJ Nielsen [20], Julius Oppenheim [19], Aaron Shih [19], Kyung Min Shin [19], Jonathan Stauffer [17], Spencer Strumwasser [181, Qifan Wang [19J, Alex White [191, Evan Yu [201, Will Yu [171 WOMEN'S FENCING Roster: Dessie DiMino [20], Mei-Ling Laures [20], Christina Meyer [17], Stephanie Moon (17), Ariel Stiber [20], Maia Stiber [19], Betty Wang [20] 095 ATHLETICS PHOTOS CALTEER 23 CALTECH 13 CALTECH CALTECN 20 * CRESCE 17 18 19 MEN'S SOCCER Front Row: Neil McBlane [17], Federico Presutti [18], Ashwin Hari [18], Soren Schmidt [18], Kevin Yu [20], Tristan Née [19], Arjun Zutshi [20] Back Row: Arnav Sharma [20], Sammy Piascik [20], Max Shen-Molesky [20], Schaeffer Reed [17], J. D. Feist [17], Nikhil Gupta [19], Richard Shim [20], Alex Lettenberger [20], Fabian Boemer [17], Theo Yang [20], Kevin Gao [17], Amine Boubezari [19] MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING Roster: David Berger Ma-neiro [19], Alexander Bourzutschky [18], Adam Dai [19], Leon Ding Sr, Thomas Gallup [20], Hanzhi Lin [18], Dylan Lu [19], Alex Moraru [20], Avikar Periwal (18], Kyle Seipp [17], Henry Steiner [19], Jonathan Willett [19] WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING Roster: Alix Espino [19], Elisabeth Gallmeier [20], Zofii Kaczmarek (17], Angelina Pan [20], Brittany Percin [19J, Tzarina Shippee [201, Gemma Takahashi [19] CALTECH ALTECH CALTECH CAMTECH MEN'S TENNIS Left to Right: Ruthwick Pathireddy (17], Ramsathwick Pathireddy [17], Morgan Lebby (17), Derik Nguyen [191, Zixiao Li [191, Miha Valencic |201, Andre Liu [19,, Connor Soohoo |20J, Tine Va-lencic [20], Praful Vasireddy [19] WOMEN'S TENNIS Left to Right: Kana Moriyama [19], Sarah Cai [18], Sophia Chen [17], Vinci Chen [18], Alexandra Bodrova [20], Angelica Zhou [20], Julia Reisler [19], Erin Wang [18] 097 ATHLETICS PHOTOS TRACK & FIELD Roster: Tommy Alford [20], Damien Bérubé [20], Sam Blazes [20], Alex Bourzutschky [18], Jesse Cai [20], Ben Calvin [19], Lucy Chen [17], Bhairav Chidambaram [20], Rohan Choudhury [19], Rohan Doshi [19], David Fager [20], Nicole Feng [20], Greg Gephart [20], Muskaan Goyal [19], Melissa Gutierrez [19], Chris Haack (18], Michael Hashe [191, Joey Hong (19], Tim Krasnoperov |201, Alexa Lauinger [201, Alex Lettenberger [20], Tiger Lu [201, Alison Lui [17], Michelle Marasigan [191, Tanner Moore [201, Zane Murphy (18], Nikhil Poole [20], Skye Reese [20], Simon Ricci [20], Jena Srikanth [20], Gianmarco Terrones [20], Gene Vaughan [18] 27 12 CALTEC» VOLLEYRAT 15 3 22 7 WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL Front Row: Claudia Canamas [19], Ellie Walker [20], Sakthi Vetrivel [19], Suzannah Osekowsky [17], Alexa Lauinger [20], Lauren Li [20] Back Row: Mayra Melendez [18], Mei-Ling Laures [201, Helena Shield [201, Julia Fay [20], Rachel Ng (18], Ker Lee Yap [17] CAM OFT MEN'S WATER POLO Roster: Jordan Bonilla [17], Chris Bradley [17], Anuj Chadha [20], Shaurya Gilani [19], Eshan Govil [19], Bradley Justice [20], Connor Lee [17], John Lloyd [19], Richard May [18], Tim Menninger [17], Harry Putterman [201, Charles Ross [19], Parth Shah [17], Tomas Tussie (17] WOMEN'S WATER POLO Roster: Mary Boyajian [17], Sam D'Costa [20], Cameron Earl [18], Devi Ganapathi [18], Katie Johnston [19], Hana Keller [19], Sarah Kreider (201, Brittany Percin [191, Gemma Takahashi [19], Mackenzie Wooten [20], Sasha Zemsky [17] 099 ATHLETICS PHOTOS CLASS OF 2020 Zafir Abou-Zamzam David Adams Wren Adams Rita Aksenfeld Thomas Alford Audrey Anderson Vincent Andrews Maria Angelis Aaron Ayres Yovan Badal Andrew Bai Roshan Bal Ayan Bandyopadhyay Sebastian Bedoya Damien Berube Vivek Bharadwaj Harsh Bhundiya Caleb Bishop Addison Blazes Alexandra Bodrova Arlindo Borges Alexandra Bouman Madison Brady Jackson Briones Jesse Cai Jack Caldwell Philip Carr Ross Carter Benjamin Casse Anuj Chadha Gabriella Chan Jonathan Chan Sharon Chen Timothy Chen Victor Chen Daniel Chica Bhairav Chidambaram Christopher Cooley Sophia Coplin Robert Corado Adrianna Crowell Sarah Crucilla Kaylor Cruz Alexander Cui Can Cui Samantha D'Costa George Daghlian Sihui Dai David Elliott Noelle Davis Maximilien Debbas Cayla Dedrick Ramya Deshpande Erica Diaz Amanda Dilmore Dessie Dimino Jing Ding Stephanie Ding Marcus Dominguez-Kuhne Harel Dor Denny Duran Megan Durney David Fager Michelle Fan Julia Fay Nichole Feng Elisabeth Gallmeier Thomas Gallup Ishani Ganguly Ian Garcia Gregory Gephart Monika Getsova Juan Gomez Gokul Gowri Marcel Griffoen Karen Guo Tanvi Gupta Richard Hamel Dana He Erik Herrera Brendan Hollaway Sarah Hou Juliette Hu Adrian Huang 101 UNDERGRADUATES Zhong Huang Calvin Huh Lazar Ilic Laura Jaliff Rupesh Jeyaram Bret Johnson Lewis Jones Bradley Justice Anant Kale Karthik Karnik Nivetha Karthikeyan Carl Keck Yeokyoung Kil Hyunseong Kim Min Jae Kim David Kornfeld Nikita Kosolobov Timofey Krasnoperov Frederico Krauss Sarah Kreider Alex Krotz Siddharth Kurella Kathryne Lamkin Maggie Lang Alexa Lauinger Mei-ling Laures Madison Lee Thomas Leing Alexander Lettenberger Angela Li Jieni Li Lauren Li Michael Li Nora Linzer Qianhe Liu Victoria Liu Xiaoling Liu Jared Livingston Jackie Lodman Christopher Long Alejandro Lopez Sierra Lopezalles Tiger Lu Daniel Mark Christian Martinez Surya Mathialagan Sudhi Mathur James Mclaughlin Roberto Mercado Grant Messner Cathy Miao Rebecca Mikofsky Jayce Miller Joseph Min Prinesh Mistry Ziyan Mo Maxwell Molesky Antonio Monreal Tanner Moore Alex Moraru Sigiao Mu Karthik Nair Maitreyi Nair Sasha Nanda Cherish Nie Avery Nielsen Camilla Ora Andrew Ortegaray William Overman Kayla Owens Angelina Pan Emily Pan Hee Won Park Kyle Patterson Grace Peng Karen Pham Samuel Piascik Eli Pinkus Alyssa Poletti Olivia Pomerenk Nikhil Poole Alejandro Proskauer Harald Putterman Andrew Ramirez Hamza Raniwala Skye Reese Amrita Rhoads Simon Ricci Milan Roberson Alden Rogers Michael Rupprecht Erika Salzman Miranda Schwacke Arnav Sharma Helena Shield Woo Jun Shim 103 UNDERGRADUATES Tzarina Shippee David Shlivko Kapil Sinha Tawny Sit Yanke Song Connor Soohoo Carlos Sosa Jena Srikanth George Stathopoulos Sarah Steele Ariel Stiber Morgaine Mandigo-Stoba Alexandra Stutt Henry Sun Hsuan-te Sun Juihung Sun Bethany Suter Aidan Swope Kaitlyn Takata Aditya Telikicherla Gianmarco Terrones Joseph Tilahun Alicia Tirone Miha Valencic Tine Valencic Akshay Vegesna Vibha Vijayakumar Iman Wahle Eleanor Walker Sophie Walton Allison Wang Jessica Wang Pei Wang Shuxian Wang Tina Wang Mackenzie Wooten Craig Worley Asta Wu Helena Wu Jennifer Wu Alexander Wuschner Albert Xu Theodore Yang Evan Yeh Muhammad Younis Evan Yu Kevin Yu Rona Yu Sean Yu Hanwen Zhang Jim Zhang Manxuan Zhang Pamela Zhang Eric Zhao Michelle Zhao Angelica Zhou Arjun Zutshi NOT PICTURED: Stephanie Shao Mohammad Shobaki BRIGGS-MYER PERSONALITY SPREAD OF CALTECH ENFJ 3.4 ENFP 6.3 INTJ 28.6 INFJ 28.6 INTP 28.6 INFP 4.6 ISFP 1.7 ISTP 0.6 ISFJ 4.0 ISTJ 6.3 BRIGGS-MYER PERSONALITY TRAITS OF CALTECH Judging 65.1% Perceiving 34.9% Thinking 62.9% 105 UNDERGRADUATES Feeling 37.1% Intuitive 77.1% Sensing 22.9% Introverted 68.6% Extroverted 31.4% CLASS OF 2019 Robert Abrahamson Ayya Alieva Ren Alison Diandra Almasco Vaibhav Anand Cecelia Andrews Michelle Anthony Daniel Assumpcao Mia Austria Dillon Azzam Leo Balestri Jack Banaszak Amarbold Batzorig Patricia Beekman David Berger Maneiro Nishanth Bhaskara Aadyot Bhatnagar Urmi Bhaumik William Bloomquist Enrico Borba Eitan Borgnia Amine Boubezari Nadine Bradbury Tatiana Brailovskaya Steve Brotz Mark Burleson Lazarina Butkovich Brent Cahill Benjamin Calvin Elyzabeth Camacho Claudia Cañamas-Donnelly Zachary Chase Mohar Chatterjee Anne Chen Grace Chen Hannah Chen Joshua Chen May Chen Richard Chen Thippayawis Cheunchitra Jeongyoon Choi Rohan Choudhury Maria Coelho Dos Santos Jonathan Cotler Elise Cutts Adam Dai Michelle Dan Gefei Dang Catherine Day James Deacon Julia Deacon Brian Deng Alexander Denko Ashna Dhingra Andrew Ding Weiyi Ding Zachary Domanico Rohan Doshi Jennifer Du Shweta Dutta Elizabeth Eiden Luke Finnerty Grzegorz Flores Zoey Flynn Wayne Fong Rafael Fueyo-Gomez Maya Fuller Nikhil Ghosh Mary Giambrone Shaurya Gilani Matthew Gladstone Claire Goeckner-Wald Kristen Goodfriend Thomas Gorordo Michael Goulet Eshan Govil Muskaan Goyal Reeti Gulati David Gunby Evan Gunter Nikhil Gupta Melissa Gutierrez Nika Haleftiras Clare Hao 107 UNDERGRADUATES Michael Hashe Ariel Hasse Evan Haugh Joey Hong Bozhong Hu Yanqi Huan Cindy Huang Noah Huffman Abraham Hussain Michael Huynh Gyu Jang Sarah Jeoung Cherie Jia Aya Jishi Katherine Johnston Christopher Johnstone Maya Josyula Luke Juusola Yeorgia Kafkoulis Hana Keller Jake Ketchum Dong Kim Suna Kim Lydia Kivrak Kai Klocke Meera Krishnamoorthy Jonah Krop Christopher Lamartina Kale Langley Marcus Lapeyrolerie Chih-Chieh Lee Hye Lee Renee Lee Sara Lee Gideon Leeper Zixiao Li Luke Liao Charles Lien Cody Lim Ty Limpasuvan David Lin Abhishek Lingineni Andre Liu Sophia Liu John Lloyd Dylan Lu Brian Lue Filippos Lymperopoulos HEA) Clara Macfarland Daniel Magley Omar Mahfouz Michelle Marasigan Nishad Maskara Anirudh Mathukumilli Jake Mattinson Ishan Mazumdar Kanan Mehta Walker Melton Michael Miller Connor Moffatt Kabir Mohammed Christopher Moon Kana Moriyama Marc Muhleisen Tristan Nee Charles Nelson Laura Newport Danh Ngo Derik Nguyen Suzanne Oliver Cormac Oneill Julius Oppenheim Umesh Padia Jeffery Pak Somasundara Pandian Ruchi Pandya Kinam Park Caroline Paules Changnan Peng Brittany Percin Isabella Pestana Sophie Piao Tyler Port Siddharth Prasad Ethan Pronovost Shreya Ramachandran Kavya Ramakrishnan Anise Rau Nicholas Redd Tanner Reece Tucker Reese Alexander Reeves Julia Reisler Anna Resnick Kelsi Riley Charles Ross 109 UNDERGRADUATES Aaron Sartin Madeline Schemel Michael Seaman Sophus Shackford Sunash Sharma Aaron Shih Kyung Shin Vaishnavi Shrivastava Kalliopi Somis Akshay Srivastava Henry Steiner Maia Stiber Madelyn Stroder Hyung Suh Neha Sunil Gemma Takahashi Allison Tang Kevin Tat Aris Taychameekiatchai Teresa Tran Praful Vasireddy Sakthi Vetrivel Andrew Wang Jessica Wang Madelyn Wang Maxiar Wang Qifan Wang Shen Ting Wang Felix Weilacher William Werst Alexander White Sophie Whitmeyer Jonathan Willett Brenda Wu Emily Wu Matthew Wu Julia Xia Yuxie Xiao Amy Xiong Grace Xiong Juliette Xiong Daniel Xu Wenqing Xu Yaxin Xu Xiaohan Xue Bianca Yang Julia Yang Kathleen Yang Alejandro Yankelevich Alice Zhai Amy Zhai Benjamin Zhao Amy Zhou Anne Zhou Preston Zhou Kavya Sreedhar NOT PICTURED: Nicholas Choquette 10+ hours 16.99 What's sleep? 11.58 Anusha Pai Asnodkar Runzhong Zhang HOURS OF SLEEP THAT CALTECH STUDENTS GET 8-10 hours 17.76 6-8 hours 40.54 WHEN DO CALTECH STUDENTS GO TO SLEEP? 1-2 AM 45.66 3-4 AM 19.63 111 UNDERGRADUATES 5-6 AM 5.94 7-8 AM 0.91 Sleep is for the weak 19.63 9-10 PM 1.83 11 PM-12 AM 14.15 CLASS OF 2018 Carson Adams Gavy Aggarwal Avinash Agrawal Junedh Amrute Guangning An Aaron Anderson Sarah Antilla Richard Antonello Fabio Arai Naveen Arunachalam Beatriz Atsavapranee Caroline Atyeo Adrian Avalani Henry Baer Eigil Bagger Ashwin Balakrishna William Ballinger K'Yal Bannister Sam Bardwell-Evans Nathan Barton Victor Baules Frederick Berl Marcus Bintz Arjun Bose Alexander Bourzutschky Kabir Brar Alex Brinson Robin Brown Ryan Burns Nina Butkovich Sarah Cai Mattia Carrera Thomas Chaffee Chen Chang Annie Chang Advitheey Chelikani Vinciane Chen Kathleen Chinetti Sunghoon Choi Yunsang Choi Timothy Chou Anneline Christensen Edward Chu Ya Lun Chuan Jonathan Clements Daniel Cushey Roohi Dalal Artsroun Darbinian Collin Davda Joshua Dements Sarah Deretic Anant Desai Uma Dingankar Stephen Dolbier Joseph Donermeyer Anne Dorsey Christopher Dosen Alison Dugas Cameron Earl Angel Elizondo Robert Eng Alix Espino Marlon Facey Jared Filseth Devi Ganapathi Siva Gangavarapu Paige Gannon Amanda Gao Daniel Gawerc Alex Geffner-Mihlsten Mark Gillespie Miguel Gonzalez Ashay Gore Arjun Goswami Kshitij Grover Stephanie Gu Katherine Guo Gloria Ha Christopher Haack James Hamilton Ashwin Hari Kevin He Erich Herzig Olivia Hindera 113 UNDERGRADUATES Alec Ho Young Hong Caroline Howard Jenny Hsin Ching Hsu Audrey Huang Ida Huang Jason Huang Stephanie Huard Oriel Humes Nicholas Hutchins Danil Ilyin Ryeen Islam Janice Jeon Cynthia Jiang Yiwei Jiang Sachi Kamiya Andrew Kang David Kawashima Matthew Kempster Kun Kim Katherine Knox Gillian Kopp Joel Kosmatka Giacomo Koszegi Ian Kuehne Anita Kulkarni Varoon Kumar Peter Kundzicz Lokbondo Kung Abirami Kurinchi-Vendhan Shari Kuroyama Stephanie Kwan Frederick Lake Karim Lakhani Brian Lee Joon Lee Richard Lee Wen-Hua Lee William Levine Jessica Li Amanda Lin Hanzhi Lin Sierra Lincoln Zachary Lipel Phillip Liu Sandra Liu Timothy Liu Ethan Lo Peter Lommen Parker Lowe Michaelangelo Lucas Catherine Ma Yuan Ma Francesco Macagno Mason Macdougall Chanukya Malla Avery Marshall Richard May Neil Mcblane Christopher Mccarren Alexander Meiburg Mayra Melendez Nicholas Meyer Emily Miaou Tyler Middleton Jiseon Min Catalina Miritescu Anvita Mishra Sarang Mittal Amulya Mohan Jisoo Mok Daniel Molina Aadith Moorthy Rachael Morton Eric Moseley Tristan Murphy Zane Murphy Suraj Nair Jessica Nassimi Anusha Nathan Noah Nelson Aishwarya Nene Rachel Ng Sandra Ning Leslie Nitsche Willis O'Leary Tynan Ochse Pedro Ojeda Masaharu Ono Ciara Ordner Jeffrey Orenstein Mizing Paloian Sarah Pearce Allison Penn Tyler Perez 115 UNDERGRADUATES SQUAT Avikar Periwal Preethi Periyakoil Eduardo Plascencia Zachary Polizzi Nikhita Poole Anshul Ramachandran Meera Ramakrishnan Preston Rasmussen Gregory Rassolov Anushka Rau Namita Ravi Peter Renn Carly Robison Roel Rodriguez Camilo Saavedra Drew Schaffer William Schmidt Joseph Schneider Tara Shankar Ankita Sharma Ruogi Shen Thomas Sheridan Dennis Shim Eisuke Shimizu Kevin Shu Kirby Sikes Ayaana Sikora Jason Simon Tomas Soltinsky Rita Sonka Jacob Stark Matthew Strong Spencer Strumwasser Paul Suffoletta Garret Sullivan Gabrielle Tender Kisha Thayapran Narmada Thayapran Anish Thilager Julian Thomassie Boyu Tong Nicholas Trank Junno Tseng Greta Tuckute Daniel Valles Eugene Vaughan Malavika Venkatesan Ruomeng Wan Favorite Sports For Caltech Undergraduates Other 15.17 What are sports? 12.32 Ultimate Frisbee 1.42 Spike Ball .95 Robotics.95 Wrestling .95 Water Polo 3.79 Badminton 1.42 Track and Field 4.27 Baseball 5.21 - Volleyball 4.74 — Tennis 711 Audrey Wang Beiyi Wang Erin Wang Yuankun Wang David Watson Laura Watson Matthew Weidner Lucille Wells Anna Winnicki Bismark Wong Kelly Woo David Wu | Yeyuan Xin Yixiao Yan Sherrie Yang Grace Yao Dennis Yatunin Kevin Ye Samuel Yee Brian Zdeb Max Zhan Celia Zhang Tiffany Zhang Albert Zhao Christopher Zhen Licheng Zhu Haojie Zhuang Vincent Zhuang NOT PICTURED: Bravo-Escudero, Eduardo Nelson Chou Hong Chung Radmila Dancikova Serena Delgadillo Egon Einoder Christopher Gheorghiu Stefan Grampp Yi Gui Jeana Hayashigawa Nikhil Krishnan Xinyao Liu Andrew Lucas John Mcdaniel Yu Nam Vincent Park Alexa Parker Kira Pyronneau Vishveshwas Ramanathan Zhi Ren Brandon Robinson Alec Sands Anusha Sinha Nicholas Tillotson Rithwik Vedati Benjamin Wade Margaret Walter Michelle Wang Ruyue Xu 117 UNDERGRADUATES - Swimming 5.69 Soccer 9.00 Basketball 9.00 Fencing 4.27 Football 2.84 — Problem Sets 711 • League of Legends 3.31 CLASS OF 2017 Jacob Abrahams Kushal Agarwal Pallavi Aggarwal Yury Aglyamov Jagriti Agrawal Roshan Agrawal Saaket Agrawal Nasser Al-Rayes Cole Allen Jeffrey An Ritwik Anand Alexander Anferov Luc Angel Katie Antilla Diana Ardelean Manasa Ashok Rahul Bachal Bolton Bailey Benjamin Bartlett Rohan Batra Michael Bauer Moriah Bischann Aritra Biswas Fabian Boemer Jordan Bonilla Mary Boyajian Christopher Bradley Alec Brenner Eugene Bulkin Nicholas Buoniconti Slava Butkovich Lyra Cao Nancy Cao Kai-Tang Chang Kalyn Chang Kevin Chang MASN Caitlin Chen Ching-Hwa Chen Kevin Chen Lily Chen Lucy Chen Sophia Chen Yintong Cheng Andrew Chico Archana Chintalacharuvu Christine Chou Andre Comella Paulo Costa Adrian Costantino Christopher Couste Melissa Cronin Connor Crowley Marco Cruz Heredia Bailey Da Costa Shival Dasu Evan Davis Ryan Dempsey Nishant Desai Bogdan Dimitriu Leon Ding Mary Do Avishek Dutta Matthew Edwards Henry Elbaum Benzi Estipona Katherine Evans John Feist Michael Feldman John Galden Patrick Galliani Amanda Gao Kevin Gao Albert Ge Temesgen Gebrekristos Jaden Geller Evren Gokcen Carlos Gonzalez Jalen Green Mara Green Daniel Gu Jeffrey Gu Songshan Guo Nicholas Haliday Sirus Han 119 UNDERGRADUATES Victor Han Jacob Harmon Jianing He Vivian He Patrick Hsu Richard Hu NYC Tianyi Hu Seong Im David Inglis Erin Isaza Ryeen Islam Vasant Iyer Harrison Jacobs Shubhankar Jain Tiantian Jiao Matthew Jin Michael Johnson Bhavana Jonnalagadda Jonathan Joo Zofii Kaczmarek Juliana Kew Hyun Kim Jaebin Kim Seohyun Kim Won Kim Young Kim Kai Kirk Nand Kishore Milica Kolundzija Ross Koval Ankit Kumar Neil Kumar Netgie Laguerre Luke Lango Jake Larson Minh Le David Lebaron Morgan Lebby Connor Lee Ga Lee Lawrence Lee Yoon Lee Justin Leong Kate Lewis Jessica Li John Li Lauren Li Halston Lim Matthew Lim Soon Lim Chih Lin Christina Lin Albert Liu Eric Liu Kimberly Liu Alison Lui Daniil Lukin David Luo Lilly Luo Shaoxiong Luo David Mace Sumana Mahata Edgar Martinez Nailen Matschke Timothy Maxwell Emily Mazo Daniel McAndrew Sean Mckenna Emily Meany Keegan Mendonca Sean Mendoza Timothy Menninger Christina Meyer Talia Minear Andrew Montequin Stephanie Moon Matthew Morgan Siddharth Murching Colin Murphy Sheila Murthy Xinyi Nan Anirudh Neti Suchita Nety Willis Nguy Loc Nguyen Chinmay Nirkhe Won Noh Tyler Okamoto Suzannah Osekowsky Jay Palekar Ruthwick Pathireddy Ramsathwick Pathireddy David Peña Rishabh Pipada Alexander Place Anand-Markose Poozhikunnel 121 UNDERGRADUATES Juliane Preimesberger Anjali Premkumar Federico Presutti Parul Pubbi Abhijit Puranam Eric Qiao David Qu Jared Reed Gerri Roberts Constance Robinson Joseph Roddy Jeffrey Rosenberg Alexander Ryan Sarthak Sahu Yuka Sakazaki Robert Sanchez Graham Schmidt Kyle Seipp Parth Shah Gauri Shastri Jiemin Sheng Jingwei Shi Ji-Soo Shin Dayeon Shon Emma Shupper Darius Simmons Nikita Sirohi Evan Sloan Mojolaoluwa Sonola Elijah Sorey Johnathan Stauffer Taylor Strumwasser Surya Sundararajan Alp Sunol Henry Swanson Lee Tang Amal Tariq Torin Thosath Tomas Tussie Victor Venturi Cameron Voloshin Mugdha Walke Charles Wang Emily Wang Shannon Wang Wujie Wang Lindsey Whitesides Jong Seok Won Popular TV Shows 25 20 15 10 Michelle Wong Jiyun Xiao Xi Xu Yujie Xu Ker Lee Yap Chanud Yasanayake Joon Yoon Chenchao You Aaron Young Ellen Yu Kristie Yu Lidan Yu Yizhen Yu Yi Yuan ominic Yurk Brana Zemaky Yanbing Zhu | Berk Özdalyan NOT PICTURED: Elliot Ahn Alexander Barreiro Daniel Chou Martin Fabbri Cody Han Ali Harb Christopher Hazard Morgan Hill Stephanie Hong Myra Interiano® Joon Kim Harrison Krowas Jiaxin Li Yicheng Li Anthony Lutz Ishan Mehta Ismael Mireles Kyung Park Andre Ramos William Rieger Roel Rodriguez Elizabeth Schroder Elizabeth Terlinden 5 Game of Thronessherlock The Office creaking Bad, It's always Sunny in Philadelphia Westworld Rick and Morty Anime Bojack Horseman Friends House of Cards Parks and Rec Archers Arrested Development Black Mirror How I Met Your Mother Last Wek Toar Trek Steven Universe Stranger Things 123 UNDERGRADUATES LETTER EROM THE EDITOR I'M NOT GOING TO LIE: this was a hard year. Last year's editors, while they definitely made the book better than it had ever been before, left the Big T in tens of thousands of dollars in debt, with last year's book unfinished and unpublished, no resources, and a grand total of zero returning staff members. When ASCIT appointed me editor, I had no idea what I was getting myself into: I had no yearbook experience, and what leadership experience I did have was leading fifth graders through science projects. I had to spend the first part of the year aggressively recruiting staff instead of covering events and planning spreads. After cobbling together a staff, we had to spend time training them, since most hadn't touched InDesign or Photoshop before. We lost over half of the staff we had at the beginning of the year to attrition, namely the lack of a workspace large enough to accommodate us all at the same time. And, once we finally got going, we faced opposition from the student body - the very people we were trying to make an awesome book for were the same ones going to ASCIT and arguing to de-fund the Big T. I cannot tell you how many emails I got this year interrogating me about when last year's books would come out, why the house pages were cut from 5 to 2, why students who didn't want books were paying dues to keep the Big T running, or why we would DARE send out a survey with funny questions to use in the book. Were it not for Mike Wong, who has been something of a yearbook guardian angel, I don't think we would have made it at all. One of these difficulties, however, turned out to be a blessing: ignorance. Yup, that's right, ignorance. The staff and I, with no experience, had no idea what yearbooks were usually like, so we didn't get stuck in the rut of just doing what had been done before. We did wild stuff like cut photos into triangles and use not 10, not 11, but 10.75 font for our body copy. We did feature stories instead of news report-ing, and sorted spreads into sections based not on chronology or the traditional sports/academics/student life scheme, but by sub-themes. We based our entire design scheme on Star Trek (did you catch that?), made custom maps and icons, and chose to cover a few stories that mattered instead of trying to fit everything, regardless of significance, into the book. Would we have done anything like that had we known what we were doing? Probably not. In the end, all that ignorance was a boon because we learned how to do yearbooks in a whole new way. And we've got a lot of crazy, ignorant ideas for next year too. So, thank you Mike, Joseph, Ziyan, and Sharon. You made the best yearbook Caltech has seen in decades, and you did it despite having to lick boots to scrape up publication funds, the casual disrespect of (some of) your peers, a tiny, dysfunctional publications lab, and being possibly the smallest and least experienced university yearbook staff ever to publish. Although we're only five strong, I couldn't have asked for a better staff. Thank you for putting in the hours, learning new skills, writing copy you really didn't want to write, and dealing with my sometimes unconventional leadership style. I'm looking forward to another year of long nights, orange chicken binges, and stupid memes with all of you. I'd also like to thank Half and Half Boba, the unofficial sponsor of the Caltech yearbook and possibly the only thing keeping us all sane. As far as you go, reader, readers, whoever you are - I hope you liked the book. For all of my bitterness over people wanting the yearbook gone, there's a logic behind that kind of thinking. For years, the Big T has been an afterthought. Until the last editors took over three years ago, the book wasn't even designed by students: it was a black and white photo book with no copy or captions, and only the house pages had any trace of student involvement. Of course people would get tired of paying for a product like that. We wanted, more than anything else, to make this book something that people would actually want, whether or not they were featured in the book themselves. That's why we focused on feature stories rather than simply reporting on the existence of various clubs and academic divisions: we wanted the book to be fun to read and to look at, not just a glorified catalogue of sports teams and acapella groups. Only you can say for sure if we were successful, but if I had to bet, I'd say we went beyond expectations. Until next year, EusE M. CittE Editor-in-Chief FLISE CUTTS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF COLOPHON The 2017 Big T was created on three Dell workstations in Room B134 in the Student Activities Center at the California Institute of Technology and staffers' personal laptops. Software used: Adobe InDesign and Photoshop (CC and CS6). The staff utilized four Nikon and one Canon DSLRs to take photographs. The titles were set in Industry Bold; the body text and captions were set in the Chaparral Pro family of fonts. The swatches were named Kirk (gold), Spock (blue), Montgomery Scotty (red), Khan (brown), and Jaylah (black) after characters from Star Trek. The staff would like to acknowledge Corey Mundwiler, our Balfour representative, for supporting our endeavors and helping us renegotiate our contract to publish both the 2016 and 2017 volumes this year. 400 GAFF Y BARBOO STAFF 125 MICHAEL WONG SHARON CHEN JOSEPH MIN ZIYAN MO PHOTOS COPY DESIGN COPY 1. I BELIEVE I CAN FLY Graduate student Annelise Thompson soars above the stage during the Caltech Dance Show, bathed in the eerie blue of the stage lights. 2. IN THE SPOTLIGHT Alison Koontz, a first year graduate student in biology, carries the iconic solo "Another Hundred People" in this year's winter musical: Company. 3. BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY Bobby, played by Steve Markham, and June, an airline flight attendant played by Kelvin Bates, flirt over a story April tells about a butterfly during Company. The musical broke boundaries this year by holding gender-blind auditions for certain characters, casting Bates in a part usually played by a woman. 2 3 A yearbook isn't just a book. It's memory. It's the cannon firing on the last day of term. It's leaving it all on the stage, on the field, or on the lab bench. It's new friends made at 3 a.m. over bad coffee and problem sets who taught us more about who we are than we could have ever found out on our own. And who we are is important. 1 CHNOT 1. WINNING Senior Chris Brad-ley, speaking at the athletics awards ceremony, accepts an award for his outstanding career on the Beavers water polo team. This year, Bradley lead SCIAC in goals scored with 103 goals and lead the team with 34 steals, 48 winning sprints, 22 field blocks, and 276 goal attempts. 2. PITCH WELL, CORTLO "I'm gonna give that pitch some velocity. Pitches looooove velocity." —probably Cort-land Perry 3. RITUAL One explanation for the uncanny success enjoyed by Caltech's tennis teams this year is that they were making ritualistic sacrifices to occult gods. Pictured here in a huddle, it is very possible that the Beavers were planning on sacrificing a frosh to ensure an important win. We Pioneer. We push ourselves and each other to reach new heights and forge new paths. We take the riskier paths to higher summits not because we are told to, but because we want Beavers BEAVER to. With ambition for a compass and education to fill our sails, we chart our own courses through life, unafraid to cast away from paths well-traveled for opportunities unknown. SPRING TO LIFE Sometimes, it's easy to forget how beautiful campus is. It's not so easy in spring. Seemingly overnight, barren branches and empty gardens come alive— oranges grow, flowers boom, and the trees are cloaked in brilliant violet blossoms. We achieve because we Discover. We look closely when others stand back, and see the big picture when it is easier to get tangled ROCK OUT One might be forgiven for thinking the GPS division was offering degrees in music given its ubiquitous presence in campus bands and other music groups. Lee Saper, a graduate student in geology, might be an expert on martian clays, but he rocks out with the jazz band on the trombone at night. Hey—if you don't have an apatite for schist puns, that's not our fault. up in details. As torchbearers, we carry the light of curiosity and innovation wherever we go, forging the path ahead with the spirits of explorers whether our paths lead to the laboratory, boardroom, or the foot of a volcano. FLUID DYNAMICS Elise Cutts [19], Dana He [201, and Amy Zhai [19] hold down the three-part solo line in "Bang Bang," backed up by their a ca-pella group, the Fluid Dynamics. Despite being sick during the performance, Zhai hit the impressive high note at the song's climax flawlessly, sending the crowd into a frenzy of cheers. However, climbing high also sometimes means falling hard. We can go boldly and think bravely only because of the Courage of our community. When one of us stumbles, another is there to lend a hand, CLOWNIN' AROUND The winners of this year's Techstock music festival, The Clowns of Nabla, play a gig at Old Towne Pub close to home, in downtown Pasadena. hold extra office hours, or make a therapeutic midnight boba run. We support each other even when prospects seem hopeless, and achieve things that wouldn't have been possible alone. "!~! MARS BAR Caltech Dining Services showed off their creative talents for the Caltech Arts Gala, crafting a delicious chocolate astronaut to decorate the desert bar. The Gala showed off the multitude of artistic talent in Caltech's community, from photography to sculpture to chamber groups to "that guitar guy." This is the end of a year, the end of a yearbook, and, for some of us, the end of a journey. Armed with new Courage, a spirit of Discovery, and the drive to Pioneer, the class of 2017 is ready to start a new adventure, to become the architects of their own futures and the future of the world. For those of us who stay, there is PERSPECTIVE The audience of graduates, fam-ily, and friends gather on the lawn in front of the iconic "wedding cake," Beckman Auditorium. Have Lunch on Me! still time to learn, to grow, to find our ambition, our creativity, and our heart. But whether this year was the beginning of your Caltech journey or its end, you'll surely agree: this year went Beyond. 1. THE REAL PRIZE Dr. Peter Gao, a graduating PhD in planetary science, shows off the piece of paper he was happiest to receive at commencement—a coupon for a free celebratory meal at Ernie's. Ernie's food truck business got his daughter through college and became a fast favorite with the Caltech community. He still values education, and makes sure every new Caltech graduate departs campus on a full stomach. 2. CHEERS These Pageboys would like to personally thank champagne for getting them through four years of Caltech.