Caltech Surpasses $1.4 Billion Campaign Goal

PASADENA, Calif.-The California Institute of Technology has exceeded its goal of raising $1.4 billion during a five-year capital campaign for the creation of new academic centers, buildings, and groundbreaking research projects. The total amount raised was $1.424 billion.

"The end of a campaign is always a time for celebration and recognition--to celebrate achieving our goal, and to recognize the many people who made that possible with their financial contributions and wise counsel," said Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau. "I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who so generously supported the most ambitious fund-raising effort in the Institute's history.

"This milestone means that Caltech researchers can focus their attention on what they do best--making groundbreaking discoveries that establish new frontiers in science and engineering," added Chameau. "This campaign gives them the freedom to think big and accomplish their dreams."

Among those dreams is the Thirty-Meter Telescope, which, when built, will be the largest telescope in the world. Other projects that have become tangible realities during the life of the campaign include the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA), which is a radio observatory in the Sierras, and the Molecular Observatory synchrotron beamline, which produces intense X-ray beams to determine the structures of proteins. There are three buildings under construction on campus: the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology; and the Schlinger Laboratory for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Historic building renovations that have already been completed include the South House undergraduate housing complex and Dabney Hall of Humanities.

"In addition to benefiting from new and renovated classrooms, labs, and dorm rooms, and new cutting-edge equipment, Caltech students will see the benefits of the campaign in terms of increased funds available for financial aid, graduate fellowships, and an increased number of Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships," said Anneila Sargent, vice president for student affairs and the Rosen Professor of Astronomy.

In addition, 23 major research initiatives were created to enhance the study of cancer, space studies, cell regulation, molecular biology, molecular medicine, tectonics, achieving diversity in science and engineering, geochemical and cosmochemical microanalysis, neurobiology, socioeconomics, sustainable energy, solar power, chemical synthesis, and the brain, among other topics.

Since the start of the campaign in 2002, 572 faculty and staff from both the Pasadena and JPL campuses gave almost $23 million; 78 members of the Board of Trustees gave more than $379 million; more than 10,000 alumni contributed nearly $455 million; and more than 700 foundations and corporations granted $671 million. A total of 16,329 donors supported the campaign, more than a third of them contributing to Caltech for the first time.

The campaign was guided by chair Wally Weisman, a vice chair of the Caltech Board of Trustees.

"I'd like to thank Wally for his leadership of the campaign," said Chameau. "We couldn't have come this far without his energy, guidance, and encouragement."

Weisman gives much credit for the success of the campaign to the two Caltech presidents who headed the Institute during the past five years: David Baltimore, a Nobel laureate who stepped down from the Caltech presidency after nine years to focus on research at Caltech in 2006, and Jean-Lou Chameau, the former provost at Georgia Institute of Technology, who has served as Caltech's president since fall 2006.

"David Baltimore created the blueprint and the vision for this campaign. He kicked it off with his signature style and effectiveness, and we are grateful for the strides he made to take us beyond the $1 billion mark.

"Jean-Lou came to Caltech with only a year left in the campaign," said Weisman. "It is virtually unheard-of for a campaign to conclude on time when there is new leadership at an institution, but Jean-Lou hit the ground running, immersed himself in the Caltech culture, and has made an incredible impact on the campaign in a very short period of time. This is an extraordinary accomplishment."

Kent Kresa, chair of the Caltech Board of Trustees, noted that reaching the goal is a historic occasion for Caltech and a wonderful cause for celebration. "With only about 21,700 alumni, Caltech is, in scientific vernacular, orders of magnitude smaller than other institutions undertaking such a large campaign. To have exceeded that goal is thrilling and gratifying."

Kresa acknowledged that there are financial challenges in Caltech's competition for the "best and brightest" students, faculty, and staff. "The future of Caltech depends on an ample endowment, which Caltech does not have. We can't rest on our laurels. The competition at the forefront of science is incredibly expensive, and the current endowment is insufficient for us to continue excelling," Kresa said. At $2 billion, Caltech's endowment is well below those of the competition. For example, it is five times less than the MIT endowment and about 17 times less than the Harvard endowment.

According to Chameau, "An adequate endowment provides the financial flexibility to finance risky but promising research opportunities. Without the academic freedom afforded by a larger endowment, Caltech becomes even more reliant on sources of funding that reward more traditional approaches to scientific investigation."