Caltech in the News for the week of April 19, 2009
Caltech In the News is our weekly review of Caltech faculty, staff and students who have appeared in the news media this past week. This is but a sampling of our coverage. Please note that some links may expire after some time.
An April 24 Nature story covered the Senate confirmation hearing of former provost Steven Koonin for Undersecretary for Science.
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090424/full/news.2009.399.html
The May issue of BioMass magazine includes a story on chemist Frances Arnold's development of highly efficient enzymes to break down cellulose–an important step towards lesser-expensive biofuels.
http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2611
A series of small earthquakes near Yorba Linda led to media interviews with seismologists Kate Hutton, Lucy Jones and Benjamin Wu. Stories appeared on KNX-AM radio, the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV Channel 5, among others.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-earthquakes24-2009apr24,0,7483851.story
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/
The latest issue of US News & World Report includes rankings for U.S. graduate schools. Caltech ranked number one in aeronautical engineering, chemistry, Earth sciences, geochemistry, geophysics and seismology, cosmology, and elementary particles/fields/string theory. Many other Institute programs also placed highly. The Pasadena Star-News, Pasadena Now, and other publications covered the results.
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools
http://pasadenanow.com/main/2009/04/24/caltech-ranks-high-among-best-grad-schools/
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_12211812
An April story in Vision Systems Design looks at the use of computers to track the movements of flies. Neuroengineer Pietro Perona and biologist David Anderson led that project.
http://www.vision-systems.com/
On April 22, astrophysicist Sean Carroll was interviewed for the upcoming DVD release of the TV series, Lost.
An April 22 Science Daily story looked at work by Pamela Bjorkman looking at the efficacy of anti-HIV antibodies. The story–appearing in several other publications–also quoted graduate student Joshua Klein and biologist David Baltimore.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090422151832.htm
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal
An April 21 Pasadena Star-News story reported on Peter deCourcy Hero's appointment as new vice president for development and alumni relations. Philanthropy Journal covered the appointment, as did the Whittier Daily News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/business/ci_12192774
http://philanthropyjournal.org/news/caltech-names-hero-fundraising-vp
