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Welcome to Caltech—a world leading STEM institution located in Pasadena, 20 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. Our faculty, students, and researchers study and advance solutions to the most challenging, fundamental problems in science, engineering, and technology. Our 1,000 undergraduate students thrive in a rigorous academic environment that encourages discovery, innovation, problem-solving, and research.
We're currently on the Olive Walk, named for the trees that line the path. This is a main corridor for several student residences and leads to Throop Memorial Garden where turtles bask in the sun. There, boulders chosen by the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences represent 2 billion years of California's geological history.
Hameetman Center
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The Hameetman Center is a hub for Techers to socialize and collaborate. At almost any time of the day or night, you will find students, faculty, and staff mingling over food, drinks, and the latest scientific questions. In fact, many scientific discoveries and even patent ideas started over a casual cup of coffee outside Red Door Marketplace. The Caltech Store is also located here, stocked with all kinds of Caltech gear.
Techers from more than 100 student-led clubs and organizations reserve the Hameetman Center's multipurpose room, club rooms, and conference spaces to meet or host events. One wall of the building features bricks engraved by alumni from the 1920s.
Page Lounge
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Our students are not just scientists. They are athletes, artists, activists, and more. They build community by participating in a wide variety of activities: from community service work to student government to taking a role in a theater arts production or a musical group. At Caltech, there are a myriad of ways to find or continue your passions!
Since first-year Techers are required to live on campus, the residential communities are an important component of student life on campus. Lounges, such as this one in Page House, are multipurpose spaces for all to use for meetings and study groups, or to unwind late into the night.
Venerable Lounge
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You're now in Venerable House, named after Grant D. Venerable, the first black undergraduate student to graduate from Caltech in 1932. While here, he engaged deeply in academics and student organizations, taking advantage of the full breadth of co-curricular opportunities offered.
When students join Caltech, they bring their passions, interests, and creativity to the campus community. An example of creativity on display is Caltech's unique undergraduate tradition of painting murals in some of the houses. In this corner of Venerable House, student-created murals such as the two-story astronaut painted by a 1979 graduate, decorate every wall creating a welcoming, homey, and uniquely Caltech environment.
Avery Upper Guard Tower
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Courtyards are outdoor extensions of the living space of each undergraduate residence and provide a place to host activities and events that express their unique culture. Every house hosts an annual Interhouse party. These parties are spread throughout the year, and each House spends weeks transforming their courtyard. Students create dance floors, artwork, and props to fit a chosen theme.
Here in Avery's courtyard, residents enjoy karaoke night and faculty dessert night. Blacker House has space and tools for DIY fabrication; Fleming has turf and outdoor games; Ricketts holds open-mic night; and Venerable includes a gazebo and skateboard ramp.
Students use these opportunities to create community and comradery across Houses!
Fleming Dorm Room
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You're in Fleming House. The undergraduate residences have several different layouts, including singles, doubles, triples, and suites for up to 12 students.
Undergraduates from all years live together in the residences. When incoming students arrive, they go through "Rotation," during which they spend time with each of the House communities before choosing where they want to live and with whom they want to affiliate.
Each residence has special traditions. For example, every Halloween, Dabney House drops frozen pumpkins from Caltech Hall, the highest point on campus, in an attempt to produce triboluminescence. In December, Lloyd House creates a "light tree" down the front of all nine stories of Caltech Hall.
Dabney Dining Hall
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We've now entered Dabney House which has a massive collection of board games to play and a large pile of squashy objects in the lounge called "The Bear Pit."
Each house at Caltech has its own dining hall and different dinner time traditions and rules. In one house, you can order drinks "extra cold," which means they are made with liquid nitrogen. In another, residents play Friday night games like a house version of Mario Kart.
Whether you've stayed up late working on a problem set or playing board games with friends, mealtimes and dietary preferences can always be accommodated by Dining Services.
Bechtel Courtyard
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Welcome to Bechtel, Caltech's newest undergraduate residence. In this award-winning, LEED-certified building, students live in suites ranging from singles all the way to 12-bedroom suites. There are kitchens on every floor and whiteboards in every suite that contribute to the sense of comradery and collaboration we value deeply at Caltech!
Success at Caltech is not achieved by only one individual. In fact, from a student's first day on campus, we emphasize the importance of group work that strengthens our mission as a think tank for STEM. Shared dinners are a longstanding tradition in which students participate in family-style dinners in their House or residence.
Cahill Center
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The Cahill Center is a focal point of the south side of campus and provides facilities for the world's leading astronomy and astrophysics faculty, researchers, and students to collaborate.The Cahill Rooftop Observatory offers six different telescopes, filling every niche from a "mini-observatory" for class projects to a manageable telescope for casual stargazing to an ultra-portable telescope for public outreach.
The view from the lobby upward is an ever-narrowing stairway to a skylight, mimicking the experience of looking through a telescope. Cahill's address —1216 California Blvd— even mirrors the wavelength in angstroms of ultraviolet light emitted by hydrogen atoms.
Dabney Library
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The Caltech Library has six locations that provide a breadth of resources, from STEM to social sciences to the humanities collection found in Dabney Library. The Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences has interdisciplinary partnerships with organizations such as the Huntington Library. In addition, the Caltech Archives collects oral histories, visual history, and Caltech artifacts. From the map collection to the astronomy library, there is plenty of material for our students to explore in person and online.
Students take advantage of the other services the libraries offer, especially the Sherman Fairchild's study spaces, the technology lending program, and the TechHub, a creative space where students can use 3D printers.
Linde Hall – Math
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Linde Hall is where math faculty conduct research in fields ranging from mathematical physics to geometry to topology. Techers get to know Linde Hall because as first-year students, they take three terms of math as part of the Core Curriculum.
At Caltech, we'll never run out of math for you. In fact, our faculty have expertise in fluid equations, mathematical physics, harmonic analysis, geometry and topology, Schrodinger equations, and many, many more. The math major is highly customizable and prides itself on the strength of relationships between faculty and students, where most upper level classes have 2-10 students.
Reisman Lab - Chemistry
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This is the laboratory of chemistry professor Sarah Reisman. She and her research group are advancing innovations in organic chemistry, creating new chemical reactions or synthetic design concepts that can enable the synthesis of small molecules for the study and treatment of human disease.
The Caltech Core Curriculum prepares students to jump into research and work in labs like this one. All Caltech undergraduates are required to take coursework in math, science, humanities, and social sciences through the Core Curriculum, a program that stimulates their deep curiosity and expands their academic interests. Imagine what you will discover at Caltech!
Mazmanian Lab - Biology
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Sarkis Mazmanian, professor of microbiology, investigates how gut bacteria influence the immune and nervous systems. Researchers in his group study how the microbes in the human gut can impact the brain and play a role in both health and disease.
In biology, faculty and students address complex questions related to how living things evolve, develop, and function, and use their findings to engineer innovative biological systems as well as medicines and other therapies. The methods and concepts of mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering and information science provide deep insight into classical biological problems.
Hutzler Lab - Physics
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Nick Hutzler, professor of physics, explores the universe by performing precise measurements in atomic, molecular, and optical systems as part of the search for new particles and forces. To do this, they use lasers to control atoms and molecules for table-top experiments in fundamental nuclear and particle physics.
At Caltech, we say math is the language of science and physics provides the rules. We prepare students to tackle the mysteries of the universe, and physics provides the foundational knowledge that will allow them to contribute to the Institute's legacy of groundbreaking research.
Orphan Lab - Environmental Science and Geobiology
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Caltech's culture of interdisciplinary science is evident in the Orphan Lab, where environmental microbiology, geochemistry, and geology meet. Victoria Orphan, professor of environmental science and geobiology, researches the interactions and ecological physiology of various microorganisms.
Our Core Curriculum requires students to gain academic breadth through "menu" courses that introduce them to topics outside of their chosen major, like electrical engineering, environmental science and engineering, geology, or information science and technology. Almost 20% of students change their option based on a menu course they've taken!
At Caltech, we don't study or investigate only one subject. Through this breadth of instruction, students have tools and the environment to explore and push disciplinary boundaries.
GALCIT - Research
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The origin story of aerospace research starts at GALCIT, the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology. Here, the focus is on experiments, theory, and simulations across many disciplines, including space technology and science, biomechanics, propulsion, combustion, and materials.
At Caltech, 90% of undergraduates participate in research. Our 3:1 student-to-faculty ratio provides opportunities for students to be involved in leading research from their first year on. With more than 50 research centers and hundreds of faculty labs, undergraduates can conduct research on campus, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, founded and managed for NASA by Caltech, or even at other institutions. Some students are paid for their research work!
Aerospace Robotics and Control Lab
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This is CAST, the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies. Here, researchers from Caltech's Engineering and Applied Science and Geological and Planetary Sciences divisions, as well as JPL, collaborate to create the next generation of autonomous systems, and to accelerate the fields of drone research, autonomous exploration, and bio-inspired systems. Researchers have developed drones to monitor volcanoes, bipedal robots to explore unknown environments, and prosthetic legs that use machine learning to enhance mobility. CAST's centerpiece is a three-story, wholly enclosed aerodrome—the tallest of its kind—that is used to test and fly drones.
CAST is an example of Caltech's interdisciplinary approach to education and discovery in action.
Jim Hall Design & Prototyping Lab - Engineering
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Caltech students apply theoretical knowledge to solve real-world problems. The Jim Hall Design and Prototyping Laboratory is a workspace for undergraduate students who are trained] on the fundamentals of mechanical design, and learn how to use machines like 3D printers, lathes, and waterjets. Once trained, they are free to use the lab on their own time. Students apply their training in classes like ME 72—an engineering design class in which teams of students design, build, and operate robots through unique competition and design challenges. In years past, these competitions have included sumo wrestling bots and underwater obstacle courses.
Chen Neuroscience Research Building
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Here at the Chen Neuroscience Research Building, faculty from Caltech's six academic divisions collaborate to advance understanding of the brain's structure, how it works, and why (and how!) it fails.
This collaboration extends beyond our labs. The Career Advising and Experiential Learning office works with students to help them achieve their goals. Post graduation, typically, 45% of alumni attend graduate school, 45% accept positions in industry, and just under 10% of students accept fellowships. Their starting salary is around $120,000 a year!
Wherever life may take Caltech's alumni, the science and engineering foundation that Caltech provides, and the sense of community we foster, sets students up for success!
