2025-26 Academic Year-End Letter

To: The Caltech Community
From: Thomas F. Rosenbaum, Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and Professor of Physics

Over the last few months, I have been part of an international review of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. Founded only fifteen years ago, OIST is one of a number of recent, ambitious endeavors around the world to bring the California Institute of Technology model to fruition in very different settings. Whether it be in Japan (OIST), Korea (KAIST), or Saudi Arabia (KAUST), there is a profound recognition that Caltech makes unparalleled contributions to the creation of knowledge and the advancement of society through science and technology.

Many of these discussions center on the numbers and organizational constructs: How many students? How many faculty? What is an appropriate balance between undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars? Where are the intellectual dividing lines between Divisions? What are the structural constraints on interdisciplinary institutes? Such questions are of interest, but they miss the essential component that makes Caltech special and defies easy replication – the culture.

The cultural essence of Caltech also emerges as the prime consideration in our approach to difficult times. Caltech constantly hones its priorities, seeking maximal impact within a dynamic but roughly unchanging, or potentially even decreasing, headcount. The evolving emphases could involve mRNA research or foundational AI models or sustainability or exoplanets, to name a few recent examples. But these are tactical considerations. The strategic objective is to create an environment where the most original and creative scholars gather, seamlessly bridge the disciplines, surprise their colleagues with their insights and approaches, play different perspectives off each other, have the resources to develop new methods to interrogate nature, and thrive personally and professionally.

Caltech is special in many ways, but for me its most profound and unusual characteristic is the courage that our faculty, postdocs, students, alumni, and staff demonstrate in pursuing the most important problems, even if this means that they need to abandon their present pursuits and head in new directions. Similarly, JPL scientists and staff embrace the unknown. They combine their efforts, sometimes for decades before a mission is launched and the data flow, to accomplish the impossible. As long as we maintain the culture that encourages this fearlessness and generate the support that fosters opportune pivots, we will adapt to any external exigency and honor the intellectual imperative.

Cultural strength takes time to build, but it is robust when you have the right people. It is passed from generation to generation by those who believe that Caltech can make unique contributions to innovation and discovery. It sets an institution apart over the long term.

This is my last essay to the community as president before returning to the faculty full time. In the words of the Spanish poet Antonio Machado: "Out of the whole of memory, there's one thing worthwhile: the great gift of calling back dreams." I am grateful for the many memories you have provided and the dreams that will be gifts in the years to come.