~be ([alifornia ~ecbVOLUME CIV, NUMBER 23 PASADENA, CALIFORNIA APRIL 21,2003

D. KortalThe California Tech

Jonathan So 'OS looks on as Hnmanities Professor Cathy Jurca lays·answers questions posed by concernedstudents during the Hnmanities and Social Sciences session of the SFC last Wednesday.

Turn From 'Docility' Evident AmidstFaculty Turnout 'Highest in History'

dergraduate major, proposing thatinterested students should insteadmajor in EE and/or CS. Pughremarked, "I thought that peopledidn't seem to disagree much withthe findings presented, or at leastdidn't voice their disagreement."He expressed some concern withthe clarity of the presentation, stat­ing, "I'm hoping that the writtenpublication of our findings willclarify things." He further notedthat some problems can only bediscussed by students and changesmust come from the administration.Pugh commented, "In these cases,we can only recommend things tobe done, and hope our suggestionsare taken."

During the presentation by theStudent Morale and WorkloadCommittee, a desire was expressedthat more departments be run like

Continued on Page 2, Column 1

JPL SCIENTISTDETAILS NEWDATA ON MARSTERRAIN BROUGHT TO LIGHT

By JON FOSTERThe moon, science assures us, is

not made of cheese. Mars, on theother hand, is. The north is com­posed of cottage cheese, while thesouth is covered with giant plainsof swiss cheese.

The true explanation is less inter­esting. Water ice mixed with dustin the north produces a texture thatlooks like cottage cheese, and C02ice subliming off the south causesthe swiss-cheese effect. Even witha mundane explanation, the picturesremain just as tantalizing.

These, and a huge number ofotheralien terrain features, are broughtto us courtesy of the Mars GlobalSurveyor (MGS), which has beenin orbit around Mars since 1997.It boasts the distinction of having

Touching on Full Slate ofIssues,SFC Leaves Students Satisfied

. By JENNYIOFINOVAandARTHI SRINIVASAN

This past Wednesday studentsrejoiced as classes were cancelledfor the Student-Faculty Conference.The SFC consisted of presenta­tions by committees that spannedall th'e departments as well as twodealing with broader concerns: theCore Curriculum and the StudentMorale and Workload commit­tees. After the members of eachcommittee spent several monthsconducting surveys and collectinginput from students, faculty, andthe administration, each committeepresented their findings and helda subsequent question-and-answersession. Overall, the organizersseemed satisfied with the receptiontheir work received.

The first committee to presenttheir findings was the Core Cur­riculum Committee, chaired byKathryn Hsu '03. The committeemet to determine whether core asit is now is appropriate for all themajors represented at Caltech, andpresented arguments for specialremedial sections of chemistry andbiology, CS I and CS 11, and theCore I writing requirement. Theydecided not to pursue topics whichwould require more than 10 weeksto change, such as whether the mathand physics requirements were ap­propriate for all majors.

Hsu commented, "I was surprisedabout the lack of response aboutCore lab, particularly the proposedchange to turn it into a one termcourse; preliminary polling done byASCIT's Academics and ResearchCommittee (ARC) has indicatedthat most students are in favor ofthis change." Regarding the discus­sion on creating special chemistryand biology sections, she said, "Ifelt that the push for special reme­dial sections was well received,particularly in chemistry, which Iwas pleased about."

The Electrical Engineering, Elec­trical and Computer Engineeringand Computer Science committeewas chaired by Jim Pugh '03.Notably, the faculty present on thecommittee outlined the proposedrequirements for the forthcomingCS major, as well as confirmedplans to abandon ECE as an un-

D. KortaiThe California Tech

Members of The Caltech C perform a traditional Chinese dance in full costume. They were one of tencultural performance.~at Friday's International Week Culture Show.

Workload and Student Morale com-. mittees, which met in the morning.

Major concerns included whetherthe administration understoodstudent stress and if there was asubtle attempt to pacify studentsby attacking house traditions.Two proposals that were met withsupport were Institute sponsoredsessions on how to teach for profes­sors and the addition of a Deanof Undergraduate Studies. BothPresident Baltimore and ProvostSteve Koonin stood to voice theirand the administration's support forthe new position.

Members of the administrationwho attended the conferencewere generally happy with theoutcome. Associate Dean BarbaraGreen complimented the studentpresentations and added that therewere "more faculty than in history."Dr. Koonin commented. that theconference was "more productive

Continued on Page 2, Column 3

success.In an exciting day ofpresentations

and discussion, the Student FacultyConference addressed many issues,with committees focusing on alloptions as well as Core Curriculum.and Workload and Student Morale.Each committee had spent monthscollecting comments and conduct­ing surveys in their respective focusareas, culminating in the presenta­tion of a wide array of studentopinions regarding academics at theConference. Suggestions were thenpresented to solve the problems thatwere found.

The two major sessions of theday were the Core Curriculum and

table, described German food asbeing more unhealthy becausethere are more fats, but at the sametime most of it is homemade, andtherefore has less preservatives.

Over at the Organization of As­sociated Students from the IndianSubcontinent table, the hungrystudent could try Pulao, rice -withmixed vegetables and one of themain staples of the Indian people.Curry with chickpeas, a crowdfavorite, was also being served.Harish Bhat, a third year graduatestudent, and vice president of theOASIS club, described a chickpeaflour snack cake as something "youcan't get in a lot of restaurants,only homemade. It derives fromGujarat, one of the western states.Usually, it is a snack people havein the afternoon with tea." The lastcuisine dished up at this booth wasThandal, an almond flavored milkdrink that is popular in the summerbecause of its cooling effect.

While the attendees ate, they weretreated to a rock/punk band thatsang in Chinese! Said Corinna Zy­gourakis '06 of the event, "The foodis really diverse, really interesting,really good. The entertainment

Continued on Page 8, Column 1

Cultural Show, Food FairCelebrate Broad Diversity

ByTAMMYMA

By MATTHEW WALKER

"Where have they gone?" askedPresident David Baltimore aboutCaltech's trademark pranks duringWednesday's Student FacultyConference. Well, if they weregone, the pranks are back, as Dr.Baltimore found Friday when hearrived at his office to find that theentrance had been walled over witha sign reading "Due to budget cuts:President and Provost Offices havebeen moved." Only a small filecabinet for a desk remained. If allthe questions posed at the Confer­ence are answered this quickly,it will certainly be considered a

Caltech's International Week,which took place April 13th-18thwas wrapped up last Friday withthe Annual International Food Fairand Cultural Show.

The festivities, which took placein the Avery Courtyard, began at 4pm with 17 Caltech student clubshosting tables loaded with cuisines.Moving from table to table, thosepresent were transported to avariety ofdifferent cultures and cui­sines, and were treated to deliciousaromas. Among the clubs presentwere the Swedish Club, the KoreanStudent Association, the Associa­tion of Romanians at Caltech, theCaltech C, the Turkish Student As­sociation, the Singaporean Society,and Club Latino.

For just three dollars, the hungryattendee was able to sample suchfoods as Zenzai, Mici, Tourtiere,Crepes, Ba Bao Fan, and Kimbab.The German Club was serving Ger­man bread, which they describedas harder than normal bread, withmore grains; landjaeger, an airdried German salami; leberkaese,a sausage; liver pate, and potatosalad. Peter Oelschlaeger, a postdocworking behind the German Club

2 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS APRIL 21, 2003

By JILL PERRY

TearsheetsTim Tirrell

CirculationChris Crabbe

Kevin Carl BartzNews Director

Leo C SteinCommentary Editor

VOLUME elY, NUMBER 23

The Tech is published weekly except duringvacation and examination periods by theAssociated Students of the Califomia Instituteof Technology, Inc. The opinions expressedherein are strictly those of the authors andadvertisers.

Letters and submissions are welcome~

e-mail submissions to tech@ugcs.caltech.eduas plain-text attachments, including theauthor's name, by Friday of the week beforepublication. Sorry, the Tech does not acceptanonymous contributions. The editors reservethe right to edit and abridge all submissionsfor any reason. All written work remainsproperty of its author.

The advertising deadline is five p.m.Friday; all advertising should be submittedelectronically or as camera-ready art, butthe Tech can also do simple rypesettingand arrangement. All advertising inqui­ries should be directed to the businessmanager at business@reclI.calrech.edu. Forsubscription information, please send mail to"Subscriptions" or call (626)-395-6154.

Tammy Yee Wing Ma Vi Tuong TranManaging Editor Business Manage

~be QCaltfornia ~ecbCaltech 40-58, Pasadena, CA 91125

editorial desk: (626) 395--{;153advertising desk: (626) 395-6154

editorial e-mail: tech@ugcs.coltech.eduadvertising e-mail: business@tech.caltech.edu

presentations to alumni and friendsby Caltech faculty, researchers, andstudents.

The Distinguished Alumni areFernando 1. Corbat '97 (B.S. '50,physics), James Edward Gunn(ph.D. '66, astronomy and physics),Michael W. Hunkapiller (ph.D. '74,chemistry), Alan Lightman (M.S.'73, Ph.D. '74, physics), and Mi­chael Malin (Ph.D. '76, planetaryscience and geology).

Corbat is a professor emeritus inthe electrical engineering andcom­puter science department at MIT.He is known for his pioneeringwork on the design and develop­ment of multiple-access computersystems. He led the developmentof the Mutiplexed Information andComputing Service (Multics), the .precursuor to today's Internet.

James Edward Gunn is theEugene HIggins Professor ofAstronomy at Princeton UniversityObservatory. He was a deputyprincipal investigator on the WideField/Planetary Camera on theHubble Space Telescope, servedas the associate director of theApache Point Observatory, and is aMacArthur Fellow.

Michael W. Hunkapiller is asenior vice president of AppleraCorporation and president of Ap­plied Biosystems Group. He was aninventor of the DNA Sequenoer, thetechnology developed at Caltechthat allowed the Human GenomeProject to map and sequence the3 billion base pairs of humanDNA. He has also pioneered thedevelopment of automated systemsfor the analysis, synthesis, and

Continued on Page 6, Column 5

to be examined, and that he would"love to see from the students aproposal for how you would like tolive [their] lives."

Dr. Koonin added that "We shouldbe considering solutions especiallyduring this time of tension," refer­ring to recent hostilities betweenstudents and the administration.The comment underscored theagreement between both partiesthat the problems need solving andthat the Student Faculty Confer­ence will be successful only if itsrecommendations are taken seri­ously. Health Educator Jane Curtisaccentuated the point saying, "Theimportant thing is to follow up onthe conference.

D. KarlalThe Callfar/iia Tech

Many who attended the SFC felt it had been a success and was a stepin the right direction towards more open communication.

Alumni Awards HonorFive Caltech Graduates

An author, an inventor, anastronomer, a Mars researcher,and a computer pioneer will all behonored at the California Instituteof Technology DistinguishedAlumni Awards at 11 a.m. May17 in Beckman Auditorium on theCaltech campus.

The Distinguished AlumniAwardis the highest honor the Institutebestows upon an alumnus/a. It isin recognition of extraordinaryachievement by Caltech gradu­ates in business, community, andprofessional life. Nominationsare made by a faculty and alumnicommittee and confirmed by theBoard of Trustees. This award wasinitiated as a part of Caltech's 75thanniversary celebration in 1966.

The awards are presented at aceremony during Caltech's AlumniSeminar Day. This annual eventincludes a variety of lectures and

Admin. Lauds tSubstance,Productivity' ofConference

Continued/rom Page 1, Column 3and substantive" than the lastStudent Faculty Conference. VicePresident of Student Affairs MargoMarshak happily noted that it was"wonderful to get positive feedbackfrom students on ideas consideredby the administration," specificallyremarking with pleasure on thestudent support for the Dean of Un­dergraduate Studies. Ms. Marshakadded that many of the workloadissues could be solved with theaddition of this post.

Dr. Baltimore responded tostudent concerns by first declaringthat "nobody wants a docile studentbody." Applauding organizers ontheir efforts, he went on to agreewith many students that the size ofthe typical Caltech workload needs

D. KOrlalThe California Tech

Vice Provost Steven Koonin addresses issues about workload and stu­dent morale at last Wednesday's Student Faculty Conference. He feelsthat solutions need to be considered during this time of tension.

a prerequisite for CS 11, havealready been implemented. "I amcertain that one will see many more[changes] in the coming year,"Khan said.

Most people involved with this.year's conference agreed with Khanin noting a significant improvementover last year's conference, bothin the way the committees wererun, and in avoiding unforeseenadministrative difficulties like thosethat were incurred last year. Ted Jou'03, the former ASCIT president,attributed this year's success tomore planning and experience,commenting, "This year, we wereable to start much earlier and useour prior experience to organizea conference that ran much moresmootWy and was able to producemore concrete results."

He also commented that lastyear's conference was overly ambi­tious, but this year, each committeefocused on more specific issues,allowing the committees to createchange. He remarked that pickinga focused theme for each studentfaculty conference focuses thecommittee's work, allowing moreto get done. Asked about his wishesfor next year, Jou replied, "If I wereto pick a theme for the 2004 SFC,I would pick 'The Honor System.'Honor Code issues also came upduring the Student Morale portionof this year's conference and is arecurring theme in surveys aboutstudent life."

Overall, the student facultyconference was seen as a successby both the members of the com­mittee, as well as the students andfaculty who attended. However,the difficult work of implementingthe changes that each committeediscussed still remains.

in that there was a large numberof faculty in attendance at thepresentation. She also commentedon her committee's work, notingthat "a good deal of the commentsat the conference focused onproblems with one particular class(AM35). Although the class itselfmay have some problems, I thinkthe discussion stemmed from theunderlying poor state ofteaching atCaltech."

Abel Bourbois '03, who chairedthe Math!ACM committee, talkedabout the potential difficulties inenforcing some of his committee'srecommendations. Many of thefaculty and students expresseddesires were for more faculty andmore TA's for classes like MA 5,108, and 109. According to Bour­bois, there is currently insufficientfunding to implement this change.He noted, however, that the depart­ment has gone a long way with suchpositive changes as implementingthe MA 5 requirement for ACMmajors.

Elizabeth Felnagle '03, whochaired the Humanities and SocialSciences Committee, expressedsatisfaction with the presentation ofthe committee at the conference. "Ithink students appreciated our hon­est attempt to present the divisionin a fair light, without glossing overproblems that we all know are there.Consequently, our findings werewell-received, as were our recom­mendations for improving the HSScurriculum," she commented. Likemany others, Felnangle expresseda desire for her committee's recom­mendations to travel up the chaintowards implementation, althoughseveral proposed changes havealready been implemented, includ­ing the search for more Psychologyprofessors and the rewording of thecatalog to make graduation require­ments clearer. "I'm optimistic thatmany of the issues raised at thisyear's conference will be resolvedlong before next year's conferencerolls around," she said.

The main organizer of the SFCwas Basit Khan '03. As last year'sARC chair, he has been working formany months on the conference,and saw many improvements overlast year's conference. He citedthe fact that all of the committees,both department-specific, and thecore curriculum and student moralecommittees, were formed well inadvance and therefore had enoughtime to get sufficient student andfaculty feedback, and investigatethe issues in considerable depth.

Khan commented, "The commit­tees have since been able to makevery concrete recommendations onseveral fronts and a clear roadmaphas been laid out to continue theirwork through the ARC and otherstudent bodies." He further notedthat many of the changes discussed,such as the removal of CS 1 as

Committees Present Findings, PlansAt Annual Student~FacultyMeeting

D. Korta/The California Tech

O.J. Carlton '03 poses a question during the Student Workload andMorale session of the SFC.

Continuedfrom Page 1, Column 4

the Geology and Planetary Sciencesdivision, which exerts a lot of ef­fort on fostering communicationbetween the students and the faculty.Planetary Science major JennyFisher '05 was very content with herdepartment. The department heldfour option meetings, which, accord­ing to Fisher, "gave us a chance totalk about issues in the departmentand get both student and professorfeedback." She commented on thegeneral satisfaction of GPS studentswith the department, attributing thisto both its smaller size and to thefact that students are taken to lunchat the Athenaeum by the divisionchair and by various faculty tolisten to student concerns in a moreinformal way.

Fisher chaired the Geology andPlanetary Science Committee. Thecommittee addressed schedulingconflicts, as well as improvementsfor Ge 109 and restructuring thecurriculum for Ge 11 abc, a requiredsequence for Geology majors.Regarding the Ge 11 sequence,Fisher commented, "Because of themixed reaction regarding changesin the 11 sequence, it is unlikely thatwe will propose anything drastic;however, we will certainly be pro­posing some change. More drasticchanges will be discussed, with thecaveat that a substantial fraction ofstudents are not in favor, and thatany change should be thoroughlyinvestigated."

The committee on the E&ASoption, chaired by Jessie Kneeland'03, discussed problems pertainingto the concentrations of ESE, CNS,CE and MS, as well as the E&ASoption on a broader level. Kneelandcommented that the E&AS surveyhad over 100 respondents, althoughfar fewer actually attended thecommittee's presentation at the stu­dent faculty conference. She furthernoted that the committee "sparkedsome productive discussion regard­ing the reevaluation of the E&ASprogram, and it was particularlyapparent that student and facultyperceptions of the E&AS optionvary quite a bit." She added that"the involvement of students in thefaculty committee to reevaluate theE&AS degree program could bethe single most important thing thatcomes out of the work of this SFCcommittee."

Sarah Hendrickson '03, whochaired the ME/Aero committee,was also very pleased with hercommittee's work and its receptionby the student body. According toher, "Most students seemed enthu­siastic about the recommendationsand many students have personallycommunicated to metheir satisfac­tion with the committee's findings.The response by the faculty wasa great deal more subdued, butstill positive." She also notedthat her committee was fortunate

3

give feedback to your respectivehouse food representative nowwhile the Board menu is beingrevised. Take a few minutes andhelp create solutions to concernsyou have thatdirectly impact yourCaltech experience. The morefeedback we receive, the greaterthe chance of providing the typesof food you want.

I have received some feedbackon my health board about the typesof programs you would like to seenext year, but invite more studentsto stop by and give me additionalinput as I contin,ue to plan for nextyear's programs.

Again, my drop-in counselinghours are on Monday from two tothree p.m., Tuesday from nine to 10a.m. and Thursday afternoon fromfour to six p.m.

I hope the students, staff and fac­ulty enjoyed the Health & WorkLifeFair last Friday. I continue toreceive feedback from students thatthey would like to have more healthscreenings (and more massagechairs) next year. Also, lots offolkslike the climbing wall and band.All of this feedback will be sharedwith the other Planning Committeemembers.

As always, if you have morecomments, leave them on the healthboard outside my office. I waspleased to see students attend theStudent-Faculty Conference lastWednesday.

As a member of the StudentMorale and Workload Committee, Iwill continue to focus my efforts oncampus food service. I appreciateNatalia Deligne's comment - please

By JANE CURTIS

A bientot

about45% somewhatsatisfied with their Caltechence, and 70% rep:ortingteachiing was to I quote

REALLY varies by theclass; some are excellent in terms

lOVllle:lll, teaching, workload, etc.Some are bad. So it averagesouL."

Of course those results, assum­that the respondents are like a

sample, mean that a thirdof the students are none too happy,and there needs to be some seriousattention paid to undergraduateteaching. As reported in JudyGoodstein's book on "Millikan'sSchool," Hale, one of the moversbehind the transformation of theThroop Institute into Caltech, toldthe Trustees that they should not tryto teach everything but should con­centrate on doing "some one thingextremely well." It is advice that isoften repeated when discussing theresearch done in the various divi­sions. Something needs to be doneto make sure that we follow thesame precepts in teaching. I hopethis year's SF Conference will helpto refocus efforts to make Caltechthe very best in every way.

for the nextone could

all pro!JlerrlS,to have means to do so, andthat's a major restraint on the bestof intentions.

One ofthe central issues discussedat the Student/Faculty conferencewas the workload. We are knownfor a workload, which it turns out,can be insane, not just can be, is, isinsane. It is so huge that it has beensaid to sometimes get in the wayof learning, with too little time forthings to sink in.

Of course, the prospect of beingexposed to a fire hose of infonna­tion, to be snowed under by tonsof homework does not faze theincoming students. They have beenqueens and kings of their highschools. The prospect of lots ofwork does not scare anyone apply­ing to Tech. They have reason tothink they can take the challenge.This year the admitted class hasmean SATs up in the 780s for Math(779 for Math on the SAT I and787 for IIc) with other teststo match.

And that's how it has been for along time. With such formidableprowess who should fear the hose?

pel'sp(;ctive, h01iVeller, the toneconference, the words of the

speakers, the attitude of the inter­locutors, the level of the discussion,the civility of the encounters, allwere good illustrations of how ex­changes of ideas should take place.Impugning hidden aims, believingin antagonistic motives does nothelp to develop the confidenceneeded for progress to be made.Lashing out in cutting tones maygain a partisan audience but willnot garner respect and facilitatediscussions. To allow exploration ofdifferent points of view, it is neces­sary to show appropriate deferencefor the other person.

Now the true work begins, tofix what has been found wanting,to improve what has been foundadequate. Some of the committeeswill not disband, even though theremnants of the lunchtime barbecuehave been carried away by those

the ants who were nottraJrnpled by the hordes ofCOJate:rellce participants enjoYJmgtheir al fresco. There is a

THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY APRIL 21,2003-~_._-~-~-"

Student Morale the 'Fire oses ofDean Examines the Love#hate Relationship With the Caltech Workload

JEAN·PAUL of relief in the air, a release, a Besides there is also a frisson ofhope. So far as I know it has not pride in being able to boast, well

Walking ann in:~... happened yet, but as someone at maybe not boast, but at least carryFor the last fewEmonths a recur- the conference suggested, ASCIT proudly a workload from helL

ring subject of conversation an President Tom Fletcher and Institute I quote from Jane Greenham'sover campus has been the planning President Baltimore may some day presentation at the Conference:for the Student Faculty Confer- walk out arm in arm. It is crucial to "Huge workload, not much time toence. Organizing Committees met, remember we all ofus, striving do anything fun. But this is what wequestionn:aires were to and the Caltech came here for isn't it?"

eXlper'ierice for our students. it is because that's whatprc)blE:m, of course, is that, one hears about in the Dean's Of-

make better Caltech had the thatwhere you there was a lot of diElsatislfactio:nwhom your academics. So

athe

~Protection Plancenter for details,

miles1-loiJU-,:J:J4, -,HoM11\1, 0 r vi 8It

date of the expiration of the 4 yeanbiJ,UlJU mile BMW Nm'l'Velllcle Limited "'\farranty, See participating BMW passenger carof North America, LLC,The BMW logo are registered trademarks,

4o THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY APRIL21,2003

By TED JOU

n",u~" mnnlr1 have cOit1si,deI'eddoingbefore. to both the on:fn)shthe seniors: check it out, read it, andgo have fun like never hadbefore (there's a good excerpt atAmazon.com, the title is from it).

Peace,Tom FletcherASCIT PresidentP.S.: Coachella this weekend!

Go to the desert! You too prefrosh!http://www.goldenvoice.com/coachella/

Folk Music Society. Sparky &Rhonda Rucker, from Maryville,Tennessee, sing and play guitar and

Continued on Page 5, Column 1

Moment of Zen

For prefrosh with an abundantamount of time to do nothing whenthey go home, and for seniors in thesame boat, I'd like to recommendMysteries of Pittsburg, the firstbook publsihed by Michael Cha­bon. It's about a senior graduatingfrom college and the turns his lifetakes in that time of transition. It's

read that I think does a,..,~.v_j(~t' ~f' ~~tt;'H" at the whirlwind

fe,v months

Graduate) _Multicultural Students(African American, Latino, NativeAmerican, Pacific Islander, andInternational) __Asian AmericanCommunity _International Com­munity __Lesbian, Gay, Bisexualand Transgender Community (GayPride) _Women's Center EventsWomen's Wellness Series: Prepar­ing for Child Birth; Date: April 23,2003; Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm;Location: Avery Library, bldg.99; Space is limited and RSVP isneeded. Brown bag lunches will beprovided. For more information or toregister, please contact the Women'sCenter at 395-3221 or by email atwcenter@studaffcaltech.eduTraveling Safety Workshop; Tuesday,May 13, 12:00p.m.-l:00p.m.; Thisclass is designed to help travelersrecognize safe and unsafe travelinghabits and behaviors, while alsoproviding some self defense tactics.

There are a number of items inthe budget of particular interestto everyone. Interhouse partiesare now being funded at the levelof $500 per party. I'm personallyhoping this will make our partieseven more exciting. Multihouseevents are now being funded at$100 per event, per house thatrequests money. So, a two houseevent gets $200. This is basicallyhow it is now, but the details of itare a little different: on the plusside, a three-house event (haven'tseen these before really!) wouldget $300, but the total numberof possible multihouse events isdiminished. To use a hypotheticalexample, a "fashion show" wouldby default only receive $100, butcould receive up to $700 if otherhouses decide to pitch in and helpthrow it. We considered this changeto be acceptable since only a fewevents happen each term, but thatthey could be improved by extramoney.

There is also a $500 pranksbudget to be had! If you have agood prank idea, present it to theASCIT BoD, and we'll decide if itis meritous enough to pay for. Nowthat commencement is coming up,get thinking seniors! You couldhave up to $500 to wreak havoc!

We've also set up a number ofslush funds, to give us flexibilitythroughout the year. If you haveideas for how ASCIT could spendits money to improve student life,let us know! There is $4000 forfuture social events and over $1,000for clubs with new ideas. Now,please don't be worried if the slushfunds have names like DRUGSor CANCUN. Those are highlytechnical acronyms that the IRSmakes us use.

We Have Money to Give You

has been formed to initiate discussionand increase awareness about thevalue and meaning of diversity atCaltech. In order to capture the manydifferent voices represented on cam­pus, we will be providing multipleways for individuals to provide uswith feedback. We will be using thisinformation to write a more inclusiveDiversity Statement for Caltech.We will be holding focus groups dur­ing the month of May, and encourageyou to sign up to be a part of thisimportant discussion. Ifyou are inter­ested in participating, please providethe following information and emailit back to machang@caltech.edu byMay 6..Name, Email, Phone Extension.Mark with an "X" the categoryyou belong to: Faculty __Under-graduate Student GraduateStudent __Postdoctoral Scholar/Re­searcher _StaffMark with an any preferenceyou might have for a specializedfocus group. If you do not havea preference you will be invitedto join a general focus group:Undergraduate Male __GraduateMale _Female (Undergraduate &

Welcome Prefrosh!

By TOM FLETCHER

The student-faculty conference

Whom Did I Meet This Week?

A Coming Season ofDilatedT ime, Mysteries ofGraduation

was everyone's major concern thispast week; prefrosh: read up on itthroughout this issue. I saw most ofyou there - thank you for coming.I think the faculty that attendedwere impressed with how well theARC put it together. I'm glad thatPresident Baltimore got a hint ofthemessage: he showed up for a littleover two hours more than he hadsaid he would earlier, and for that,I thank him. I am disappointed hegot away too early for me to skipoff with him, but I'll make sure ithappens sometime this year ;-).

I did get a chance to hang out withWe Are Scientists after their show.I was a bit skeptical when I firstheard they were coming to play, butI was blown away by their show. Itwas not just quality acoustic rock,it was hilarious - between songs,we were treated to send-ups of J.Lo and Nelly, as well as storiesabout the band's history. Yes, oneof them was a scientist! He has anengineering degree from HarveyMudd. We were so impressed,we've tentatively invited them backfor first term next year. They agreedthat they would love to, but it mayhave been the calzookie - prefrosh:try one in the Coffeehouse, askan upperclassment to take youthere-that did all the convincing.

Unfortunately, both my meetingswith Margo Marshak were cancelledthis week. We'll be discussing howto implement suggestions from theconference later this week.

Tom Mannion let the ASCITBoD use his house for the budgetmeeting; thank you Tom. It wasvaluable to have him around toadvise us, and we set our budget forthe entire year. Clubs, you shouldalready have been notified or willbe shortly about your funding.What other highlights are there inthe budget?

On behalf of the Institute's on-goingcommitment to diversity, a,committee

D. Karla/The California Tech

Tom Fletcher elucidates his opinions at last week's Student-FacultyConference.

You may notice the Caltechstudent body is more jubilant thisweek. Prefrosh Week[end] tends tolighten the atmosphere. Prefrosh,we're happy to have you here andglad to be your hosts. From readingsome of your sheets, I know thatmost of you want to attend classesand meet professors, but let meassure you that the most importantpart of your Caltech education isgoing to be the students you spendyour time with. The professors willgive you your work and your lettersof recommendation, but they willchange every term. The food willbe forgotten as soon as you eat it.However, the people that work withyou, that drive to the beach withyou at midnight, that spot you atCanter's when you're broke andneed some home-cooking, theseare the people that will be with youyour whole life. I know you'veprobably heard all those wordsbefore and maybe they aren't true atthe end of high school, but I thinkthey are true in college.

My point is simple. It doesn'tmatter how big the textbook selec­tion is at the library. It doesn'tmatter how many spaghetti saucesthe kitchens have. The only thingthat matters is whether you like thepeople here. Can you connect withthem? WIll you work with theman entire night to finish a problemset? Will you go camping withthem over spring break? Please askyourselves these questions whenyou meet your fellow prefrosh andthe upperclassmen here. Then, andonly then, decide which school togo to next year.

faculty committees will be postednext Monday, April 21st outsideSAC 33:1. Freshman Admissions (six mem­bers and two alternates). 2. Grievances(two members and two alternates).3. Scholarships and Financial Aid(two members and two alternates).4. UASH (four members and twoalternates). 5. Upperclass Admissions(two members and one alternate). 6.Student Housing (one member andtwo alternates). 7. Health Committee(one member and one alternate). 8.Athletics and PE (two members andtwo alternates). 9. Foreign Students(one member and one alternate).10. Parking (one member and onealternate). 11. Computer Advisory(one member and one alternate).12. Matriculation Committee (threemembers and one alternate).Signups will come down at 5 PM onMonday, April 28th. All candidateswill be required to interview withthe IHC the week of the 28th. Pleasecontact jeremyp@its.caltech.edu ifyou have any questions.

be $4,000 greater than nrf:vifm.~!v

anticipated. She will putBudget online soon. Interhouse fund­ing has also been increased. Houseswill now be allowed to request $500instead of $200. On another note, theBoD allotted $500 to fund large-scalepranks. Any students who want torequest funding should contact theBoD.7. The current nominations for ARCare as follows: Kim Popendorf forARC Secretary, Vincent Auyeung forRep-At-Large, and Greta Jo for Rep­At-Large. Vote: 6-0-0, approved.8. The BoD also needs to order donutsfor Prefrosh Weekend.Meeting adjourned at 11 :42 pm.

Respectuflly Submitted,Anna SczanieckaASCIT Secretary

Attention all undergraduate stu­dents on financial aid: The last dateto request any change to your 2002-03financial aid award is Monday, May19, 2003. Requests for 2002-03changes made after May 19, will notbeconsidered. Please contact the Fi­nancial Aid Office at extension 6280if you have any questions. NOTE:graduating seniors must request anychange by May 5, 2003.

Summer Work Stndy: Informationand applications for 2003 SummerWork Study are available in theFinancial Aid Office. If you areinterested in Summer Work Study,please submit the required applicationas soon as possible, but no later thanJune 2, 2003. Your entire financialaid application must be complete byJune 2nd in order to be consideredfor Summer Work Study. If awarded,the work study funding will beginJuly 1st.

Signups for the following student

those things at another school, andyou will get similar results.

There are probably some otherfactors drawing you to Caltech:perhaps the weather, the tuition, orthe U.S News Ranking. Weatherchanges sometimes, tuition goes up,and rankings go down, so I wouldnot put too much stock in thosethings either.

There may also be a few thingsturning you away from Caltech:limited breadth in humanities andsocial sciences, the male/femaleratio, or the insane workload. Ifyou talk with science majors atother schools, you'll find out thatCaltech students actually take morehumanities than they do. The male/female ratio is an easy scapegoat,but the truth is, science nerds don'tget much play at any university. Asfor the insane workload, I'm notgoing to sugarcoat ito-if you don'twant to work hard, you should goto your state university and majorin letters and sciences.

All of these other factors justcomplicate the question and it isfoolish to weigh your college op­tions in terms of imprecise statisticsor fleeting impressions. There's re­ally only one thing you have to askyourself: Do you love science? Ifyou do, then you'll find that Caltechprovides unparalleled opportunitiesfor you to challenge yourself in theclassroom and in the lab. No mat­ter what little problems may ariseduring your time here, the sciencewill make it all worth it.If you don't love science, you'll

spend four bitter years working andcomplaining, and you might evenstart saying things like, "The housesocial life is the only good thingabout Caltech." You'll meet someofthese people on campus, but keepin mind that people who praise theCaltech social life are probablycrazy. Once you're here, there willbe plenty of extracurricular op­portunities and even some that areunique to Caltech, but please don'tmake your choice on those grounds.Come to Caltech for the science,and for no other reason.

Making the Big Decision:Advice for the Prefrosh

ASCIT MinutesApril 16th, 2003, 10:55 PM, SAC33Present: Joanna Cohen, Tom Fletcher,Kim Hiscox, Kathryn Hsu, JeremyPitts, Anna Sczaniecka, & CorinnaZygourakis. Absent: Galen Loram& Andrea Vasconcellos. Guests:TedJouAgenda1. Call to Order2. Over the next week the BoD willsend out Club Notification Letters.

They will inform clubs of ASCITfunding as well as suggest otherpossible sources of revenue.3. Jonathan Dama emailed the BoDwith the Development Team nomina­tions, which include William Coulter'05, Mikolaj Slomka '05, EvanMurphy '06, and Michael Turk '06.Vote: 6-0-0, approved.4. Sign-ups for the Quality of StudentLife Committee, the Dean of Under­graduate Studies Committee, and theInstitute Size Committee will comedown on Friday, April 18th at 5 pm.Candidates will be interviewed onTuesday, April 22nd and/or Wednes­day, April 23rd. Sign-ups for a hostof IHC-appointed committees go upon Monday, April 21st. Ted Jou alsopresented the BoD with a Guide toOutside Committee Representatives.5. We are Scientists was a big hit andthey are going to return in the fall.Kim is going to visit the seven housesover the next two weeks in order tofind out what social events studentsare interested in. She is also busyorganizing the ASCIT formal andplanning a few "top secret" campuswide events.6. Joanna says that the budget may

At the Student-Faculty Confer­ence last week, there was a lotof talk about admissions and inparticular, I heard many studentslament that Caltech wasn't exactlywhat they expected when theydecided to enroll here. This week,prefrosh will come to campus, andperhaps some of them will pick upthis newspaper. Ifyou're a prefrosh,this article is for you. I'm going totry to help you decide whether ornot Caltech is for you.

First off, you need to understandone thing: The Caltech undergradu­ate experience is not a stepping­stone to a six-figure salary or aNobel Prize. Being an undergradu­ate at Caltech is not training for thefuture, it is learning for the sake oflearning and living in a truly uniquecommunity for four years.

Coming to Caltech means living aparticular way of life. Matriculatinghere is committing to an honorcode, a house system, and a seriesof core academic requirements. Ifall you want is a sure path to a PhD,contacts to help you form a startup,or an easy road towards medicalschool, do not come to Caltech.However, if you're looking tostudy science, math, or engineeringat the highest levels for the nextfour years, you've found the rightplace.

A rewarding college experiencewill not be served to you on a silverplatter. No matter where you go,you will have to choose your ownextracurricular activities, build yourown relationships with professors,and define your own career path.You are an exceptional studentand with a little bit of personalinitiative, you should be happy andsuccessful at any school.

Caltech likes to tout several ex­ceptional qualities: 3-to-l student/faculty ratio, the highest percent­age of graduates going on to earnPhD's, and a whimsical student lifecharacterized by pranks and tradi­tions. None of these factors should

. matter to you, because you're notgoing to meet faculty, earn a PhD,or pull any pranks without doingthe legwork yourself. Put time into

THE CALIFORNIA TECH FEATURES APRIL 21, 2003 5

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The Aero Association of Caltech/JPL Spring General MembershipMeeting will be held in 114 E. Bridgeon April 23, 7:30 pm and will featureguest speaker Dan Wolfe from WolfeAir Aviation. Pasadena-based WolfeAir Aviation specializes in aerialcinematography and has won numer­ous Academy and Emmy awards forwork on films such as HBO's "Bandof Brothers" and Schwarzenegger's"True Lies." For more informationabout the meeting or how to jointhe Aero Association and learnto fly, please contact Elaine Ou(ou@caltech.edu).

The Mathematics Department ispleased to announce two categoriesof prizes to be offered to Caltechundergraduates.The E.T. Bell UndergraduateMathematics Research Prize. Acash prize of$500 will be awarded forthe best original mathematics paperwritten by a Caltech Junior or Senior.Contestants for the Bell prize mustbe nominated by a faculty memberfamiliar with their work. Studentswho wish to be considered for thisprize should contact a member ofthe Mathematics faculty prior to theend of the second term to discuss thenature of the research. If the entryis sufficiently worthy, the facultymember will nominate the contestantand act as sponsor. Each studentis entitled to only one entry. Allcontestants nominated must submittheir papers in final form to theirfaculty sponsors by May 2. A facultycommittee will then judge the papersand announce its decision before theend of the third term. The name of thewinner (or winners) will appear in thecommencement program.The Morgan Ward Competition.Any Caltech freshman or sophomoremay enter. An entry may be indi-

vidual;0~~~~~;~t~~~ one student) ora of twoor more student isentitled to at most three ofwhich two be individual.

is to of a mathematicalpnJblenl, t"ap,th,',. with a solution

sig:niilic,mt contribution towarda The problem may haveany source, but this source shouldbe stated in the entry. The entriesmay be judged on the basis of thenature of the problem, originality andelegance of the solution. Any outsidereferences used should be indicated.Entries from each contestant orgroup must be placed in an envelopeand delivered to the MathematicsOffice, 253 Sloan, by May 2. Thenames of the contestant, or the namesof all participants in the case of ajoint entry, must be written on theenvelope only, not on the entry. TheJudging Committee will consist ofthree undergraduates. The judges willselect a group of finalists and submittheir entries to the mathematicsdepartment faculty who will makeawards to the winners. Prizes willordinarily be awarded for the two tofour best entries, the value of eachprize being $75. Prizes for individualentries will be limited to one to acontestant and no group may receivemore than one prize.

Library Classes. The followingsessions are approximately one hourof formal instruction in the ShermanFairchild Library Multimedia Confer­ence Room (Room 328). Walk-ins arewelcome for the Electronic Thesessession.Tuesday, April 22 ,12 p.m.: "QuickReview for Electronic Theses"Thur~day, April 24 , 2 p.m.:"Web of Science for Science andEngineering"You may register for theseand other upcoming classes atlibrary.caltech.edu/learning. Forfurther information, please contactKathleen McGregor at x6713 orkathleen@library.caltech.edu.

Continuedlrom Page 4, Column 5

harmonica and banjo. Their playAppalachian music, old-time blues,slave songs, Civil War music, gospel,work songs. Sparky is a fine singer,and this will be a great opportunityto hear some blues-drenched musicfrom an African American perspec­tive. The concert is at 8:00 p.m.on Saturday, May 10 in DabneyHall Lounge. You can get ticketsin advance ($5 for students) at theticket office, or at the door. Or contactrmayreis@earthlink.net

6 THE CALIFORNIA TECH FEATURES APRIL 21, 2003

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Continued/rom Page 2, Column 5

purification of proteins, peptides,and nucleicacids. These systemsare key components of modernmolecular biology research labora­tories as well as the cornerstone ofsuch applications as forensic DNA

FIVE HONOREDALUMNI ACCEPTHOUSE PLAQUE

full of the Caltech-UCSB team's work in theMarch 14 issue ReviewLetters [Tang et 90, 107201

The article is available bysulJscription, but the main site canbe accessed at http://prl.aps.org/.This discovery is also featured inthe "News and Views" section ofthe forthcoming issue of NatureMaterials.

could also conceivably be used inmagnetic logic to replace transistorsas switches in certain applications.In other words, spin alignmentwould be used as a logic gate forfaster circuits with lower energy

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orientationthemselves. "Inductors, the of theelectrical current caniers does notplaya role, says Roukes. "Butin the magnetic semiconductorswe've studied, the spin polariza­tion -- that magnetism -- ofelectrical current carriers is highlyordered. Consequently, it can act asan important factor in determiningthe current flow in the electricaldevices."

In the naturally unpolarizedstate, there is no particular orderbetween one electron's spin and itsneighbor's. If the spins are aligned,the result can be a change in resis­tance to current flow. Such changesin resistance have long been knownfor metals, but the cun-ent researchis the first time that semiconductormaterial has been constructedin such a way that SpJlll-Cn;ln2:einteraction is as a verydramatic

The Laltec;h-1UL:::itlaged to accompli,;h

Physicists the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology and theUrliv,ersitv of California at SantaBarbara announced a basicdi~;coveJlV in semiconduc-tors that could result in a new gen­eration of devices for sensors andmpmnlnr aJJplicaljorls and

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his gladiatrix-slaves brought tearsto my eyes as the final inevitableoutcome came crashing headon with an appropriately heroicmusical score.

The Arena has its share ofhistori­cal inaccuracies and dramatiza­

but not as much as that othergladiator movie released in 2000.

Arena teaches that rebellionnorthern barbarian

Ai 2047-SMPA

Euro art house films, to great ef­fect; he never shows the same shotfor over a minute. The legendarydirector Roger Corman producedthe classic version of The Arena(starring the famous Pam Grier) in1973, and produced this remake tomake the more aplprclachalJlefor modern amiieJoce:s.man also directed such anddiverse action-adventure moviesas Women in

pIing musclesshould not be viewedoffended by the sightfemale

There is a romantic subplot for therare person not impressed by blood,gore, sex, or scantily-clad women.A doomed romance between theslave-trainer Septimus and one of

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The Arena (DVD) is a thought­provoking and titillating epic

The ASCIT Video Library,located in the Coffeehouse, is averitable treasure trove of moviesfor the Bored Caltech Student,containing such hearted andcomedic fare likeand the Grail

THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS APRIL 21,2003 7

Astronomers Provide Census ofExtreme Galaxies

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gold fish's perspective. The frames,which are projected onto a screenbehind the tank, depict each fish ina mathematically accurate position.Both the tracking and the graphicswere technical challenges, but theend result allows the viewer to seelike a fish.

NEURO is partially funded bythe National Science Foundation(NSF) as a public outreach programthat must accompany the CNSE'smajor grant. Traditionally, NSFoutreach money has been spent ondeveloping educational materialfor schools. However, bored withthe usual programs, CNSE directorPietro Perona proposed NEUROas an innovative alternative. OtherNSF-funded groups on campus are,consequently, experimenting withsimilar projects.

when the submillimeter galaxiesshone brightly can also provideinformation about how the sizesand makeup of galaxies developedat earlier times.

By detecting these galaxies, theCaltech astronomers have providedan accurate census of the mostextreme galaxies in the universeat the peak of their activity andwitnessed the most dramatic periodof star buildup yet seen in theMilky Way and nearby galaxies.Now that their distances are knownaccurately, other measurements canbe made to investigate the detailsof their power source, and to findout what galaxies will result whentheir intense bursts of activity cometo an end.

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Pieces such as this one, which investigate the art of perception arepart of the NEURO exhibit currently on display at the Art Centerand at the Athenaeum.seizures. Instead, one must walkpast the lightsticks and perceive theethereally floating words throughperipheral vision. Retinal paintingfills in the missing parts of thefragmented image.

All the artworks eschew thetraditional paintbrush and canvasfor unusual materials such ascomputers and software custommade by CNSE scientists. Infiltrate,developed by Caltech's PietroPerona and artist Ken Goldberg,employs sophisticated trackingand graphics systems to givethe participant a view from theproverbial fishbowl. Cameras andcomputers monitor the motions ofa gold Koi fish and three white carpswimming placidly in a fish tank.A graphics program then uses thetracking data to generate real timeanimations of the fish bowl from the

All 10 of the subrnillirneter galax­ies that were detected emitted thelight that we see today when theuniverse was less than half its pres­ent age. The most distant producedits light only two billion years afterthe Big Bang 12 billion years ago.Thus; the submillimeter galaxiesare now confirmed to be the mostluminous type of galaxies in theuniverse, several hundred timesmore luminous than our Milky Way,and 10 trillion times more luminousthan the sun.

It is likely that the formationof such extreme objects had towait for a certain size of a galaxyto grow from an initially almostuniform universe and to becomeenriched with carbon, silicon, andoxygen from the first stars. The time

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Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea,which are the world's largest opti­cal telescopes. These instrumentsfirst pinpointed the position of thesubmillimeter galaxies, and thenmeasured their distances. Today'sarticle in Nature reports the first 10distances obtained.

The Keck telescope found thefaint spectral signature of radiationthat is emitted, at a single ultravioletwavelength of0.1215 micrometers,by hydrogen gas excited by either alarge number of hot, young stars orby the energy released as matter spi­rals into a black hole at the core of agalaxy. The radiation is detected ata longer, redder wavelength, havingbeen Doppler shifted by the rapidexpansion of the universe while thelight has been traveling to Earth.

ByAMEERACHOWDHURY

NEURO, an art-meets-scienceexhibit produced by Caltech andArt Center, invites the viewer to seewith "different eyes." Six Californiaartists collaborated with scientistsfrom Caltech's Center for Neu­romorphic Systems Engineering(CNSE) to create pieces investigat­ing the art of perception.

Some works such as Body Electricand Infiltrate literally ask "what is itlike to be a fish?" Another project,perpetualperceptual (about arose),challenge a viewer to see withoutdirectly looking. CHEESE usescomputers to recognize sinceresmiles, and SCIANCE explorespopular perceptions of science andscientists.

These five pieces are on displayfrom April 15 to June 29 atArt Cen­ter's Alyce deRoulet WilliamsonGallery. The last work, Einstein'sDilemma, is installed in Caltech'sAtheneum lobby.

At the heart of NEURO is thebelief that art and science can in­spire each other. Consequently, theprojects comprising NEDRO drawheavily from both subjects.

For example, artist JenniferBronson's perpetual perceptual(about arose) was inspired byGertrude Stein's line "a rose is arose is a rose" but utilizes electricaldevices such as lightsticks and avisual phenomenon called "retinalpainting," which is studied inCaltech professor Shinsuke Shi­mojo's lab. Just as Stein describedobjects without naming them,Bronson's lightsticks emit wordsthat describe a rose, which is absentfrom the space. Looking directlyat the rapidly pulsating lightsticks,however, will likely cause epileptic

Art Meets Science in NEURO Display

i n v e n t

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By ROBERT TINDOL

New distance measurements fromfaraway galaxies further strengthenthe view that the strongest burstof star formation in the universeoccurred about two billion yearsafter the Big Bang.

Reporting in the April 17 issue ofthe journal Nature, California In­stitute of Technology astronomersScott Chapman and Andrew Blain,along with their United Kingdomcolleagues Ian Smail and RobIvison, provide the redshifts of 10extremely distant galaxies whichstrongly suggest that the mostluminous galaxies ever detectedwere produced over a rather shortperiod of time.

Astronomers have long knownthat certain galaxies can be seenabout a billion years after the BigBang, but a relatively recent discov­ery of a type ofextremely luminousgalaxy-one that is very faint invisible light, but much brighter atlonger wavelengths-is the key tothe new results.

This type ofgalaxy was first foundin 1997 using a new and much moresensitive camera for observing atsubmillimeter wavelengths (longerthan the wavelengths ofvisible lightthat allows us to see, but somewhatshorter than radio waves). Thecamera was attached to the JamesClerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT),on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

Submillimeter radiation is pro­duced by warm galactic "dust" -­micron-sized solid particles similarto diesel soot that are interspersedbetween the stars in galaxies. Basedon their unusual spectra, expertshave thought it possible that these"submillimeter galaxies" could befound even closer in time to theBig Bang.

Because the JCMT cannot seedetails of the sky that are as fine asdetails seen by telescopes operatingat visible and radio wavelengths,and because the submillimetergalaxies are very faint, researchershave had a hard time determiningthe precise locations of the submil­limetel' galaxies and measuringtheir distances. Without an ac­curate distance, it is difficult to tellhow much energy such galaxiesproduce; and with no idea of howpowerful they are, it is uncertainhow important such galaxies are inthe universe.

The new results combine thework ofseveral instruments, includ­ing the Very Large Array in NewMexico (the world's most sensitiveradio telescope), and one of thelO-meter telescopes at the W. M.

ofeek

This week's atWete of the weekis Tamara Becher '04 from trackand field. Becher jumped up on thetop-ten 2003 SCIAC marks thisweekend. Her time of 4:53 puts herup to number two in the conferencein the 1500, just three secondsbehind the number-one girl. Thistime bested her previous PR by 10seconds. She is also on the list forthe 400-meter and 800-meter.

By BRENTON REGER

AtWete of the Week

Men's Baseball

Caltech 0POMONA-PITZER 28

Caltech 1POMONA-PITZER 16

Men's Tennis

CALTECH .4Whittier 3

NEW RECORDSLIGHT MIXEDSPORTS WEEK

Caltech 0REDLANDS 7

Track & Field

Caltech 0POMONA-PITZER 17

Women's TennisCaltech 0WHlTTIER 9

Men's GolfCaltech 359WHITTIER 329

Caltech had a tough time againstCal State Hayward last weekdropping the game 6-12. One ofthe big higWights in the game wasby Rachel Thessin, a senior fromVirginia, with 13 saves on the day.

Women's Water PoloCaltech 6HAYWARD 12

The track team traveled to SanDiego State to compete in the Cal­Nevada Championships. TamaraBecher had a 10 second PR in the1500. She ran 4:53.89. Stuart Wardhad a PR in both the 200 (23.78)and 400 (51.98) and Scott Jordanhad aPR in the400H (61.55). HelenTai ran the 100 H (17.08) and 400H(72.12) while Sina Yeganeh ran the200 (24.19) and 400 (53.76).

To pre and cur-rent students alike: isCaltech the place foryou?

SUCCESS IN TRACK, MEN'S TENNIS

Becher, Jordan, WardSet New PRs In

San Diego

8 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS APRIL 21, 2003

ter ice clouds, and a jet stream arejust some of the features MGS hasdiscovered or studied in great detail.MGS has been in orbit long enoughto get several years worth of dataon the dust content, temperature,pressure, circulation, and watervapor content of the atmosphere.Scientists have recognized severalrecurring patterns: seasonal duststorms at the equator, and annualflows of water vapor from the polesto lower latitudes.

But the most famous data col­lected by MGS, and "everybody'sfavorite" according to Martin, is thehigh-resolution imaging. Writtendescription is completely unableto capture all the nuances thealien surface of Mars has to offer.Martin simply showed slide afterslide of odd geology, occasion­ally pointing out features whichcompletely befuddled geologists.Among the pictures Martin showedwere huge layered outcrops, "asedimentologist's dream," dunesin intricate geometric patterns,gully/channel systems which lookso tantalizingly like stream beds,evidence ofmassive flows, bouldersscattered in odd patterns, "rafts" ofice which should belong on Europanot Mars, and of course, two typesof cheese.

The infamous "face on Mars,"first seen by Viking made an appear­ance. MGS' image is a lot sharperand less human, more cat-like ifyoulet your eyes wander. The shadedside of the face has a cracked lookto it that had led some scientists tospeculate that it is snow, protectedfrom evaporation by the shade and acovering of dust. Martin noted thatthere was a lot of this sort of terrainat moderate latitudes, hintiIig at apossible source of water.

This brings us to the final, inevi­table section of Martin's talk: thepossibility of life on Mars, which,in his words, "is partly why we goand do all these things." There is notlarge, "galumphing" life on Mars,and three landers now have failedto detect small-scale life or any hintof organics in the soil.

And yet we cannot give up hope,and perhaps it is too soon. Martinpoints out that we have not been tothe most interesting places. Gulliesmight offer the best protection forlife near the surface, and the hugesedimentary layers would offer thebest chance to find fossils, but bothare dangerous locations to landspacecraft.

Upcoming missions will getcloser to these regions. The Euro­pean Beagle missions and NASA'sMars Exploration Rovers will befollowed in 2007 by the Mars ScoutMission, the Mars Science Landerin 2009, and a sample return mis­sion in the next decade. Maybe oneday we will be able to definitivelytalk about life on Mars. Until thatday, at least it will have plenty ofcheese to eat.

Continuedfrom Page 1, Column 5returned more data than all otherMars missions combined.

As part of the von Karmanlecture series, Terry Martin, a IPLResearch Scientist, gave two pre­sentations on MGS this past week.The April 17 lecture took place atthe von Karman auditorium at JPL,while the April 18 talk was at theVosloh Forum at Pasadena CityCollege.

Data from each of the wide arrayof instruments onboard MGS wereon display. The Thermal EmissionSpectrometer measured the albedoofthe planet and also its thermal in­ertia, or how well the surface holdsheat. This later measurement is anexcellent way of extracting surfaceparticle size, since dust loses heatvery well, while larger blocks ofrock retain heat. MGS has madea detailed gravity map of Mars,using its own orbital informationto calculate deviations from orbitaround a spherical object.

Although Mars lacks the globalmagnetic field present on the earth,it does have localized fields. Someplaces appear to have magneticfields frozen into the surface- pos­sibly a glimpse at an earlier erain which Mars was magneticallyactive. Magnetics also allowedscientists to locate an anomalouslystrong hematite concentration inSinus Meridiani. This odd con­centration of minerals may haveformed under water, and scientistswere intrigued enough to designatethe area as the landing site for thesecond Mars Exploration Roverdue to be launched in a month ortwo.

The surface of Mars containsmany wonders, but the atmosphereis also a bizarre and dynamicplace. Dust devils, giant dust frontssweeping down from the north, wa-

and Gwendolyn Ong '05 posted a10-2 record, winning 71 oftheir 108individual bouts. Season highlightsincluded 6-3 and 5-4 wins overUCLA, two 6-3 wins over USCand a 5-4 win over UC San Diegoat Westerns.

The conference championshipmarks the fourth year of Caltech'swomen's saber program, and thegraduation of its last original starter,Diniega, after losing the other twooriginal starters the previous yeardue to graduation, Elisa Chan '02,and injury, Minta Akin, '03.

The future of the program lookspromising, however, with Kimuraposting a 9-3 record against confer­ence rivals to end the season afterbeing injured for the first half, andHeckmanposting a 25-11 seasonrecord.

JPL Scientist Martin LaysOut Mars Data, ImagingOn Possibility ofET Life

By ABRAHAM KUO

mbe QCaIifornia meebCaltech 40-58

Pasadena, CA 91126

Fencers Place Second InCaL USFA TournamentThe Caltech Fencing Club

continued its strong performancein Southern California USFAtournaments, with Serina Diniega'03 taking second in women's saberat the '02-'03 Division I NationalQualifiers. The women's saberteam of Serina Diniega, MargotKimura '05, and Vanessa Heckman'06 kicked off their Pacific CoastChampionship circuit with a hometournament at Pasadena's VictoryPark April 13.

In the NCAA, the women'ssaber squad took first place in theIntercollegiate Fencing Conferenceof Southern California, beating outUCLA, USC, UC San Diego, UCIrvine, CS Fullerton, and UC SantaBarbara.

The team of captain SerinaDiniega, Margot Kimura, VanessaHeckman, Meredith Wiseman '06,

by Alturas. Thursday's lunch eventwas slightly more somber, with anIntercultural Discussion on TheImpact of War.

Ahighlight ofInternational Weekwas the luncheon with CaliforniaState Assembly George Nakano atthe Athenaeum on Tuesday, whospoke of his experiences in intern­ment camps during World War II,and how he's balancing his pastwith his current responsibilitiesduring a time when the "War onTerrorism" is impating many of thepolicies being debated at the local,state and national level.

Caltech's International Week wasa huge success in bringing togethera campus full of diversity.

showed up to an event at which theyexpected only 350.

And on what she hoped theCulture Show communicated tothe public, Bilal answered "that theworld is very colorful and there ismore than just annoying politics toit. That the people affected by day­to-day wars, are in actuality justready to enjoy the little, pleasantparts of life!"

The Food Fair and Culture Showwas just one of a number of Inter­national Week events which tookplace this last week. Among themwas the International Film Festival.A few of the films shown includeBuena Vista Social Club (1998), directed by Wim Wenders; MyNeighbor Totoro (1988), directedby Hayao Miyazaki; E pericolososporgersi (1993), directed by NaeCaranfil; To Live ( 1994 ), directedby Zhang Yimou; Where is theFriend's Home? (Khaneh-Ye DoustKojast?) (1989), directed by AbbasKisrostami; Joint Security Area(2000), directed by Park Chan­Wook; Do Aankhen barah haath(1957), directed by Rajaram Vanku­dre Shantaram and My Wife Is AnActress (2001), directed by YvanAttal. These films covered suchsupstantial issues as prison reform,sel;(ual orientation, communisum,Cultural Revolution, and sacrificefor a friend.

. . Lunch time presentations graced.the week. On Monday, Aziz Fayepreformed a Traditional WestAfrican Dance from Senegal. OnWednesday, there was a lively mixofSouthAmerican music performed

D. KorwlThe California TechEmcees Ruxandra Paun '06 and Andres De La Escosura '06 entertain the audience with jokes and ethnicinformation before each act at Friday's International Cultural Show in Avery Courtyard.

iLD. K";'"o""rtalll!!!T!!JlIhe~C~all"'lifo"'nlll!l'ia Tech

Members of one of a number of Caltech's ethnic clubs serves food atthe Friday's International Food Fair.

Caltech's International Week BringsCampus Together With Films, Food

Continued/rom Page 1, Column 2

is fun. More undergrads shoulddefinitely come!"

Following the Food Fair wasthe Cultural Show, which offeredcolorful and artistic performancesderiving from all ends of the globe.Flags from many countries circledthe Avery Courtyard, adding tothe cheerful mood. Performancesincluded a south Indian classicaldance, with three dancers in bells,bangles, and colorful stain outfits.They were followed by SerinaDiniega '03, who performed a Ha­waiian dance. The Caltech C filledthe courtyard with beautiful musicon the Zither, and later performeda classic Chinese dance, completewith costumes with flowing sleevesand shiny tassles. The audiencewas also treated to a Thai dance,an acoustic guitar performanceand a Pakistani/lndian dance. TheCaltech C wrapped up the afternoonwith a fashion show, with girls inbeautiful traditional cheung sam(long dresses) strutting down thecatwalk.

The event was coordinated byIram Parveen Bilal '04 and LisaWang '04. Commented Bilal onthe work that went into the event,"Lisa and I had to contact clubscampus wide and ask them if theywanted to participate. From thenonwards it was pretty much helpingthem choose events; how long theirperformances would be and justcoordinating them, in addition toother details like emcees and soundand music." Their hard work appar­ently paid off when over 500 people