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Vibrations
The Newsletter for the EAS Community
Message from the Chair
EAS Community,
As we head into March and prepare for daylight saving time (remember to set your clocks forward an hour this Sunday, March 10th), I want to highlight a couple of Division events happening soon. This week, both the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering and the Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) will be hosting symposiums to celebrate significant milestones. Below, you'll find the details of these events, and I encourage you to attend either or both if you are able. Additionally, ME72, the annual undergraduate engineering design competition, is back this week with an exciting theme: "Airship Quadball." I hope you can join us
this Friday in Brown Gymnasium to witness the excitement firsthand.
I am also thrilled to announce that Caltech's entry into the 2024 NASA BIG Idea Challenge has been chosen as a finalist. This marks the third time a team of Caltech undergraduates has achieved this honor, and I look forward to seeing their project come to life.
Harry Atwater
Otis Booth Leadership Chair, Division of Engineering and Applied Science
Selected Upcoming Events
Thursday, March 7, 2024, 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
The KNI Presents a Fireside Chat with Dr. George M. Whitesides (PhD '64) and Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum (Register to attend)
Location: Beckman Auditorium
Thursday, March 7, 2024, 1:30 pm - 4:15 pm
MedE Symposium: Celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering, Special Guest Speaker Professor Steven Chu
Location: Ramo Auditorium
Friday, March 8, 2024, 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
The Kavli Nanoscience Institute's 20th Anniversary Symposium (Reserve a spot here)
Location: Chen 100 Seminar Room
Friday, March 8, 2024, 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
ME72 Engineering Design Competition
Location: Brown Gymnasium
March 8, 2024, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Caltech Entrepreneurship Club: Software Engineer and Product Manager Panel Discussion (RSVP here)
Location: BBB B180
Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Watson Lecture - Einstein in Pasadena: Between Two Worlds - Diana K. Buchwald, director and general editor of The Einstein Papers Project and Robert M. Abbey Professor of History
Location: Beckman Auditorium
Thursday, March 14, 2024, 12:00 pm - 4:40 pm
Pi Day with the CCID
Location: San Pasqual Walk
New EAS Staff Spotlight
Winter Koifman
Professor Harry Atwater’s Executive Assistant and EAS Office Manager
Winter Koifman has joined the EAS Division Office as Dr. Harry Atwater’s Executive Assistant and EAS Office Manager. Winter comes to Caltech from a career in Medicaid policy, where they worked as a Senior Policy Consultant on behalf of the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). There, Winter supported Medi-Cal policy development and stakeholder engagement through inbox management, stakeholder communications, policy research, grants management, and extensive administrative support. Winter has worked professionally in educational outreach, stakeholder engagement, event coordination, and in disability and LGBTQ+ advocacy. They are passionate about applying their skillset within higher education, and thrilled to be joining a world-renowned science and engineering institute. Winter was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and earned their BA in Psychology and Social Behavior at the University of California, Irvine. They spend their free time on fiber and textile arts, SFF movies and literature, and hobbyist mechanical keyboard building. To contact Winter, email winterk@caltech.edu. They can also be found in 155 Gates-Thomas and at extension 4101.
Spotlight On Our People
Isabella Fiorello
Fulbright Visiting Researcher, Mechanical and Civil Engineering
My name is Isabella Fiorello, and I'm a Principal Investigator of the Bioinspired Plant-hybrid Materials group at the Cluster of Excellence livMatS of the University of Freiburg (Germany). I received a master’s degree in industrial biotechnology (with honors) from the University of Turin (Italy) in 2017 and a PhD in biorobotics (with honors) from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Pisa, Italy) in 2021. From 2021 to 2023, I worked as a Postdoc in the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory of the Italian Institute of Technology (Genoa, Italy). Since October 2023, I have been a Fulbright Visiting Researcher at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the group of Professor Chiara Daraio. During my scientific career, I received different grants and awards, such as the Young Researcher of the Year - ENI Award 2022 and the Early Career National Geographic Grant. My research aims at the development of biologically-inspired microfabricated living machines able to precisely interact with complex unstructured surfaces for applications in precision agriculture, space exploration, and soft robotics.
Alice Cheng
Undergraduate Student, Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Hi! My areas of interest include observational astronomy/instrumentation and the intersection between astronomy and computer science. Through Caltech’s astrophysics program, I’ve had the opportunity to image galaxies and study the variability of active galactic nuclei using the telescopes at Palomar Observatory. Through Caltech’s SURF program, I was able to travel to Copenhagen and work with the Cosmic Dawn Center to write an emulator for a popular software used by researchers to model interstellar clouds. On the computer science side, I’m curious about human-computer interaction and how it can be used to enhance access to resources, like education and medical care, across the world. At Caltech, I co-founded Product @ Caltech with fellow students, an organization which aims to introduce members of the Caltech community to product management via industry speakers, hands-on experience with start-ups, and skill workshops. I am also the treasurer of Caltech Dance Club, which hosts weekly dance classes on campus. I have also served as a teaching assistant for the Data Structures course and the head teaching assistant for Software Engineering, where I found a love for interacting with students. After graduating, I hope to continue teaching, whether it is in an academic setting or as a mentor in industry. When I’m not too busy, you can find me learning new languages, dancing, playing with cats, or cooking.
We'd like to feature you!
Calls for Nomination & Funding Opportunities
Caltech’s Office of Foundation Relations maintains an online database and email subscription service of primarily non-federal funding opportunities as a resource for the Caltech community. Opportunities include calls for proposals released by private foundations, public charities, associations, corporations, internal Caltech opportunities and federal limited opportunities.
Resnick Sustainability Institute Impact Grant Proposals
Caltech's professorial faculty are invited to submit proposals that leverage Caltech's unique strengths in fundamental science and engineering toward delivering real-world solutions to environmental challenges. Impact Grant concept papers are due at 5:00 pm on March 20. Learn more.
Division of Engineering and Applied Science
