The Role of Leadership in the Journey to Gender Equity
03-24-17
In celebration of Women’s History Month, a panel discussion was organized to explore the steps taken to date by JPL and Caltech leadership to recruit, retain, and promote a diverse talent pool. The panel was moderated by Cinzia Zuffada, the JPL Associate Chief Scientist. The panelists were Caltech Professor Melany Hunt, JPL Director for the Office of Safety and Mission Success Jan Chodas, and JPL Deputy Director Larry James. The panelists shared some accomplishments in gender equality over the last decade, and highlighted the next steps. Professor Hunt broadened the topic beyond Caltech to share successful approaches used by MIT, Harvey Mudd, and Boeing. She emphasized the importance of changing the culture and environment to be more accepting and encouraging to women and minorities. For example, training supervisors on ways to effectively mentor under-represented groups and identify their own biases as they sit on evaluation and promotion committees. [Event details]
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MCE
KISS
Melany Hunt
JPL
Cinzia Zuffada
Larry James
Jan Chodas
The Battle of the 'Bots
03-09-17
Caltech's 32nd Annual Engineering Design Competition (ME 72) featured teams of robots and their handlers battling for the best times navigating a "Robstacle Course." The V15TA team—Yunsang Choi, Mayra Melendez, Allison Penn, Eduardo Plascencia, and William Yu—won first place by having its robots successfully traverse 27 pylons, a seesaw, and a ramp to deliver a ball into a hole at the end of the course. [Slideshow of the event] [Video of the event]
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MCE
ME 72
2017 Caltech Distinguished Alumna
03-02-17
Caltech has recognized Engineering and Applied Science alumna Regina Dugan (PhD '93 Mechanical Engineering) with the Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor regularly bestowed by the Institute. Dr. Dugan is being honored for her sustained record of leadership and innovation in technology and business. [Caltech story]
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honors
MCE
alumni
Regina Dugan
Professor Tai Elected to National Academy of Inventors
12-13-16
Yu-Chong Tai, Anna L. Rosen Professor of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering; Executive Officer for Medical Engineering, has been named fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). He works on miniature biomedical devices including drug pumps, retinal implants, spinal cord implants, and more. He recently developed a device to count white blood cells that requires just a pinprick's worth of blood and processes samples in minutes. Election as an NAI fellow is an honor bestowed upon academic innovators and inventors who have "demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions and innovations that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society." [Caltech story] [NAI release]
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EE
honors
Yu-Chong
Tai
MCE. MedE
