Auctions, Traffic, Selfishness, and Data Privacy
11-08-11
Problems where a conflict or tension exists between individual incentives and more global objective are one of the foci of Professor Katrina Ligett's research. "I'm interested in new algorithms, in understanding how difficult it is to solve problems," Ligett, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Economics, says. "There aren't that many places where computer scientists and economists actually talk to each other. At Caltech, people are really interested in and committed to investigating at this intersection, and that's very appealing." [Caltech Feature]
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Katrina Ligett
An Incredible Shrinking Material
11-07-11
Graduate student, Chen Li, and colleagues including Brent Fultz, Professor of Materials Science and Applied Physics, have shown how scandium trifluoride (ScF3) contracts with heat. "A pure quartic oscillator is a lot of fun," Professor Fultz says. "Now that we've found a case that's very pure, I think we know where to look for it in many other materials." Understanding quartic oscillator behavior will help engineers design materials with unusual thermal properties. "In my opinion," Fultz says, "that will be the biggest long-term impact of this work." [Caltech Press Release] [Nature Article]
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Chen Li
Brent Fultz
Fueling Fundamental Research
10-13-11
To strengthen fundamental science and technology and foster transformational advances in renewable energies, the Dow Chemical Company and Caltech have established a $10 million partnership. Under the partnership, Dow will provide ongoing support for graduate student research through endowed fellowships which include five in energy science. The Resnick Sustainability Institute is receiving a significant portion of the funding in the agreement. Through the new Dow Chemical Company Bridge/CI2 Innovation Program, financial support will be used to further promising graduate and postdoc research that has the possibility of creating licensable technologies and start-ups. The graduate research fellowships in energy—renewable for up to two years—will help advance clean-energy goals. [Caltech Press Release]
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Resnick
Dow
Caltech Named World's Top University
10-07-11
Caltech has been rated the world's number one university in the 2011–2012 Times Higher Education global ranking of the top 200 universities, knocking Harvard University out of the top spot for the first time in the survey's eight-year history. In last year's survey the EAS Division was ranked as the number one engineering and technology university in the world, the 2011-2012 results for this category have not yet been released. [Caltech Press Release]
Using Laser Light to Cool Object to Quantum Ground State
10-07-11
Oskar J. Painter, Professor of Applied Physics and Executive Officer for Applied Physics and Materials Science, and colleagues including graduate student Jasper Chan have cooled a miniature mechanical object—a tiny mechanical silicon beam— to its lowest possible energy state using laser light. The achievement paves the way for the development of exquisitely sensitive detectors. "In many ways, the experiment we've done provides a starting point for the really interesting quantum-mechanical experiments one wants to do," Painter says. [Caltech Press Release]
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Oskar Painter
Jasper Chan
