APRIL 26,2004

described them as "completelyuntalkative." He relates how,"For once I had to start conver­sations-usually I am pretty shy."When later asked about this atSaturday's Steele House pizzaluncheon, prefrosh Daniel Re­menak of El Dorado, Californiaresponded only with, "No com­ment."

The initial tacitness of theprefrosh could probably be ex­plained by being in a totally newplace. "Bus Runners," however,helped the prefrosh find theirhosts' rooms once they arrivedon campus. Soon enough, largeflocks of prefrosh began to dom­inate the landscape of Caltech.

Upon arrival, each prefroshreceived a humorous t-shirt por­traying Caltech as "The World'sBest Playground for Math, Sci­ence and Engineering." In ad­dition, the prefrosh were givenpages of information detailingall the events going on aroundcampus from a casino nightin Fleming to a dessert socialand screening of Jaws by Page.Lloyd, Fleming and Blacker puton athletic events from Capturethe Flag to Basketball to Ulti­mate Frisbee. Ruddock createda miniature golf course whileRicketts staged a rock concert.On Saturday, Avery held a bar­beque for the whole campuscommunity with stellar per­formances from the a capellagroups Out of Context and FluidDynamics.

Flyers papered the walls andwalkways proclaiming all sortsof other things to see and do.Some represented groups like

By ROYAL REINECKE

Continued on Page 2, Column 1

This year's Prefrosh Week­end brought beautiful weatheras well as a large infiltration ofimpressionable young admittedstudents to Caltech for the daysof April 22 through 24. Onceagain, familiar phrases like theinfamous "They're all fine hous­es" could be heard resonatingacross the campus.

The large influx of prefroshbecame apparent by Thursdaynight when all of a sudden tech­ers could no longer recognizeevery face they encountered.However, dangling nametagsand packets of informationquickly gave away the identityof the prefrosh.

Many Caltech students helpedcontribute to the success of theweekend by helping out at theairport and on campus. Sopho­more Dima Kamalov, a plan­etary science major acted as an"Airport Runner," greeting pro­spective students as they got offtheir planes. Knowing that hewould be providing a first im­pression of a Caltech student,Dima prepared by not sleepingfor forty-eight hours in advance."I thought that would be reallyexemplary of Caltech life," heexplains.

Meeting prefrosh at the air­port also allowed Dima to makean initial analysis of the admit­ted students. He noted that they"leave a bit to be desired in thenerdiness department," but atthe same time this year's pre­frosh represent quite a diversemix of talents and experiences.

Of the wide-eyed youngstersarriving at the airport, Dima also

y, Prefrosh Nerdiness Questioned

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

n

D, KOrla/The California Tech

Dr.. Daniel Kevles, a former Caltech humanities professor, speaks about the moral decisions of scien­tists who work on the development of weapons.

Continued on Page 8, Column 4

eight weeks, with several run­throughs of the entire show inthe end.

The result is a highly enter­taining mix of humor, rangingfrom utter silliness to a sort ofbittersweet reflections on life,love and respect. All pieceshave a strong undercurrent of

community into contact withtheater and "have a student­produced theater project."

This year's production con­sists of five one-act plays, fea­turing a grand total of eighteenmembers of the Caltech Com­munity as actors, four directorsand a set/sound/lightning crewof five. Each play was chosenby the director and cast afteran open casting call. Accord­ing to producer Kayte Fischer'05, everyone who auditionedwas given a part. Each playwas rehearsed independently ofthe others for the last three to

sr

By WILLIAM FONG

On Wednesday, Daniel Kevles of the nuclear age, Kevles posedgave a lecture at the Beckman the dilemma that scientists ofInstitute Auditorium titled "Sci- the 20th· century including Op­ence, Arms and the State: J.R. penheimer have faced. That is,Oppenheimer and the 20th cen- although a scientist has an' obli­tury." Sponsored by the William gation to the state with regards toand Myrtle Harris Distinguished national security, a scientist in theLecture Series in Science and process commits a personal sinCivilization, Kevles discussed the by developing weapons whosemoral dilemma facing scientists sole purpose is to injure soldierswhen working for the state. or civilians.

After receiving a doctorate in In his lecture, Kevles provid-American history from Princeton ed two in-depth examples thatUniversity in 1964, Daniel Kev- display this dilemma: the use ofles began a 40-year association chemical warfare in World War Iwith Caltech. While he is a Pro- and the development of the nucle­fessor Emeritus in the Humanities ar bomb in World War II.and Social Sciences department The subject of chemical war­at Caltech, Kevles is. currently fare was first mentioned at thea member of the faculty at Yale Hague Convention of1899. ThereUniversity. was a declaration to ban the use

Beginning his talk by men- of projectile devices to releasetioning that this year would have chemicals. The ban was passedmarked the 100th birthday of J. to protect civilians and womenRobert Oppenheimer, the father and children, not as a precaution

Continued on Page 8, Column 1

By JENNY IOFINOVA

The Caltech One-Act Theaterpresented their repertoire of fiveone-act plays on Friday night inthe amphitheater behind Sher­man-Fairchild library. Therewill be a repeat performance at7:30 on Monday, April 26.

The One-Act theater, an in­novation in the cultural life atCaltech, is the brainchild ofKayte Fischer '05, Ryan Olf'05 and Kim Popendorf '06.According to Fischer, the goalof the project was to bring alarger proportion of the Caltech

Artus Research LeadsTo Ethical Diletutnas

Courtesy of C. Saldana

A prefrosh putts up a ramp during Ruddock Greens, one of the many events put on by the houses forthe prefrosh this past weekend during Caltech's annual open house for prospective students.

Patel's Original Play Helps MakeOne Act Theater Enjoyable Night

VOLUME CV, NUMBER 24

Courtesy of jpl.nasa.gov

Charles Elachi is the Director and Vice President of JPL as well as a professor in both electrical engi­neering and planetary science at Caltech. He will give a Watson Lecture this Wednesday.

By MARK WHEELER

APRIL 26, 2004

lSSlons

tion with two orbiters (Odysseyand Mars Global Surveyor). Atthe same time, Stardust and Gen­esis are collecting samples from acomet's coma and the solar windfor return back to Earth (Genesis,with its solar wind sample, landsSeptember 8; Stardust returns itscomet sample in January 2006),while Cassini will start its explo­ration of the Saturnian system asit goes into orbit around Saturn onJune 30.

Elachi was born in 1947. He re­ceived a B.S. from the Universityof Grenoble, France and a Dip­lome Ingenieur from Grenoble'sPolytechnic Institute in 1968. Hethen received an M.S. and Ph.D.from Caltech in 1969 and 1971,respectively. He has since earnedan MBA and an additionals M.S.

Elachi's lecture will take placeat 8 p.m. in Beckman Audito­rium, near Michigan Avenuesouth of Del Mar Boulevard, onCaltech's campus in Pasadena.Seating is available on a free, no­ticket-required, first-come, first­served basis. Caltech has offeredthe Watson Lecture Series since1922, when it was conceived bythe late Caltech physicist EarnestWatson as a way to explain sci­ence to the local community.

Elachi to Lecture OnRecentJPL

PASADENA, Calif. -- It's beena busy year for the Jet Propul­sion Laboratory, with a numberof recent missions serving as thefirst salvos of a bold space sci­ence and exploration programin the coming years. Two goals,notes Charles Elachi, JPL's direc­tor and vice president and profes­sor of electrical engineering andplanetary science at the Califor­nia Institute of Technology (JPLis a NASA facility managed byCaltech), are to explore the uni­verse and search for life in it. OnWednesday, April 28, Elachi willdiscuss the numerous missionsthat will spread throughout thesolar system over the next decadein his talk, "Challenges and Ex­citement of Space Exploration,"the last of the 2003-2004 Ear­nest C. Watson Lecture Series atCaltech.

In the 12-month period (sum­mer of 2003 to summer of 2004),he notes, the most advanced spaceinfrared telescope (the SpitzerSpace Telescope) started its mis­sion of exploring the universe inthe infrared, while the GalaxyEvolution Explorer (GALEX) ismapping the sky in the ultravio­let. Two rovers (Spirit and Op­portunity) continue their in situexploration of Mars in coordina-

NEWSTHE CALIFORNIA TECH

Continued/rom Page 1, Column 5

Prefrosh Visit Classes,Enjoy Special Activities

the Caltech Christian Fellow­ship. Other flyers drew uponthe prankster spirit of Caltech.For example, advertisements forthe Caltech Chthulu Fellowshipproclaimed, "When He awak­ens, His faithful servants will beeaten last. Wouldn't you like tobe eaten last?"

On Friday, many prefroshchecked out the classes, packingthe lecture halls with a turnoutunseen since the first week ofthe term. Freshman Math andPhysics proved especially popu­lar classes to visit. A couple am­bitious prefrosh were eVen spot­ted taking notes on the materialbeing covered.

The club fair also proved pop­ular during lunchtime on Fridaywith the Meat Club offering freesamples of goat and lamb roast­ed right before the prefrosh 'seyes. On the other side of thespectrum, vegetarian club man­aged a strong showing as well.

Just about every prefroshmentioned some experience heor she had never engaged in be­fore coming here-from ballroomdancing in Avery to tie-dying inDabney House. Perhaps on herway to getting some preparationfor the Caltech sleep schedule,Krystin Fong of Sacramento,California eagerly admitted witha grin how she "tried coffee forthe first time" during PrefroshWeekend.

Another prefrosh, MollyDavis of Magalia, Californiaexplained, "Everything aboutCaltech says it is crazy and psy­cho, so I thought, 'maybe I'll fitin here.' Molly went on to saythat her Prefrosh Weekend Ex­perience showed her that, "It[Caltech] is not a school of 900complete and total nerds sittingin their rooms studying all thetime." (Well. .. at least not on

Prefrosh Weekend!)Meanwhile, techers developed

their own views of the prospec­tive frosh. At Saturday's lunch,Freshman Civil Engineeringmajor Kristen Ward dubiouslyremarked, "I don't know, but Iwas sitting over there eating piz­za and they [the prefrosh] werecracking delta-epsilon jokes."

When asked his opinion onthe prospective members ofthe class of 2008, Junior JaredUpdike definitively replied,"They're all fine prefroshes."Jared, a computer science ma­jor, took his prefrosh to a CSlecture and afterwards broughthim to talk with the professor ofthe class.

The California TechCaltech 40-58, Pasadena, CA 91125

editorial desk: (626) 395-6153advertisiug desk: (626) 395-6154

editorial e-mail: tech@tech.caltech.edu

VOLUME CV, NUMBER 24

Tammy Yee Wing Ma Vi Tuong TranManaging Editor Business Manager

Matthew H Walker CirculationNews Director Natalia Deligne

TearsheetsTim Tirrell

The Tech is published weekly except duringvacation and examination periods by the As­sociated Students of the California Instituteof Technology, Inc. The opinions expressedherein are strictly those of the authors andadvertisers.

Letters and submissions are welcome; e­mail submissions to tech@tech.caltech.edu asplain-text attachments, including the author'sname, by Friday of the week beforepublica­tion. Sorry the Tech does not accept- .anony­mous contributions. The editors reserve theright to edit and abridge all submissions forany reason. All written work remains propertyof its author.

The advertising deadline is five p.m. Friday;alladvertising should be submitted electroni­cally or as camera-ready art, but the Tech canalso do simple typesetting and arrangement.All advertising inquiries should be directedto the business manager at business@tech.caltech.edu. For subscription information,please send mail to "Subscriptions."

Week of the Child Honored WithSpeech by Tufts Childhood Expert

D. Korta/The California Tech

Dr. David Elkind speaks about the increasing stressfulness of childhood. Elkind is a professor at TuftsUniversity in ~Child Development. He has written several books on childhood.

THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY APRIL 26,2004 3

Week in Sports: Track Fi~ldSetsSchool Records, MensBaseball kes a Tough Lost, Teams Wrap Up with SCIACS

This Week in Caltech AthleticsApr. 19: Men's Golf, SCIAC

18-Hole Tournament, 12:30 PMApr. 21: Women's Water Polo

at Cal Lutheran, 5:00 PMApr. 22: Men's Golf, SCIAC

18-Hole Tournament, 12:30 PMApr. 23: Men's Baseball at La

Verne, 3:00 PMApr. 24-25: Women's Water

Polo at SCIAC Championships,All Day

Bold indicates HOME gameCaltech 6OCCIDENTAL. 13

Women's Waterpolo

Caltech lPOMONA-PITZER. 12

Caltech 3STMARY'S 5

ues to close inon a first teamAll-SCIACselection. Theteam competesthis week at18-hole con­ference tour­naments Mon­day at Red HillCountry Cluband Thursdayat Brookside.

Women'sWater Polo

(5-16)Head Coach:Calla Allison

The Wom­en's WaterPolo team lostthree matchesthis past week,two againstconference ri- courtesy of dOflut.caltech.edu

vals Pomona- Tamara Becher '04 set the school record in the 3000Pitzer and Oc- meter Steeplechase in last week's Track and Fieldcidental, both SCIAC Preliminaries, earning her the Athlete of theof whom are Week distinction.in the CWPA The team will wrap up its seasonTop 10 D3 poll. Senior Jacki Wil- this week with an away match atbur was the best performer for the Cal Lutheran on Wednesday andweek, with totals of three goals, the SCIAC Championships thisnine steals and six ejections weekend.drawn. Sophomore Bekah Easonhad her second hat trick (threegoal performance) and is current­ly third on the team in scoring.

The Men's Golf team took aclose loss to Chapman Universitythis past week, 345-360. SeniorDavid Hedley lead the team witha 78, three strokes behind the topfinisher for Chapman, and contin-

Men's Baseball

Caltech OCMS 17

Men's Golf

Caltech 345CHAPMAN 360

Men's BaseballHead Coach: John D'Auria

Men's GolfHead Coach: John Suarez

cords fell, including SophomoreJeremy Leibs in the 100 Meter,Sophomore Stuart Ward in 400Meter, Sophomore Gustavo Olmin the 3000 meter Steeplechaseand Senior Ali Hassani in boththe 400 and 200 meters. Thosestudent-athletes who qualified forthe SCIAC Championships willcompete this weekend.

The Men's Baseball team tooka tough loss against ClaremontMudd-Scripps this past Friday,losing 0-17. For the season,Sophomore Tim Boyd has beenthe team's best performer at theplate, with a .409 batting aver­age and leading the team in to­tal hits, slugging percentage andon-base percentage. Junior IsaacGremmer has been the team'sbest pitcher with two wins and 32strikeouts in 43 and 1/3 inningswhile also producing at the platewith a team-leading eight RBI in10 games. The team plays its nextgame this Friday at La Verne.Track & Field

Head Coach: Julie LevesqueThe Caltech Track and Field

team continued to break school­records and watch its athletes im­prove their places in the SCIACstandings last weekend at the SCI­AC Track and Field Preliminar­ies. In addition to Senior TamaraBecher's Athlete of the Weekperformance, several other Bea­vers had standout performances.Sophomore Helen Tai broke theschool record in the Women's 100Meter High Hurdles with a timeof 16.31 seconds. 14 Personal re-

Women's TennisSCIAC Championships

Caltech 3LA-VERNE 6

The Women's Tennis team fin­ished its season this past weekendat the SCIAC Championships,losing to La Verne and Cal Lu­theran before their third matchwas rained out. Sophomore Jen­ny Hsaio won both her singlesand· doubles matches against LaVerne in the loss. The team's per­formance this season representedconsiderable improvement fromlast year's 0-21 record. Congratu­lations to the whole team!

Caltech OCAL LUTHERAN 5

Women's Tennis (4-13)Head Coach: Mandy Gamble

against Whittier. Overall, the teamfinishes with a 7-11 record, with a4-6 conference record. The teamexpects to return its entire lineupnext season, and also hopes tobring in some talented freshmenthis fall. Congratulations to thewhole team.

Men's TennisSCIAC Championships

Caltech lPOMONA-PITZER. .4

CALTECH. 7Whittier O

Week in Review

Men's Tennis (7-11)Head Coach: Mandy Gamble

Athlete ofthe Week

Caltech OOCCIDENTAL. 6

By MIKE RUPP

April 19, 2004

The Men's Tennis team finishedits season with a 6th place finishat the SCIAC Championships thispast weekend. Sophomore JohnHoward at #4 singles was the topperformer for Caltech at the tour­nament, winning Caltech's solepoint against Pomona-Pitzer andwinning at singles and doubles

Tamara BecherWomen's Track and Field

The Senior from Croton-on­Hudson, New York set the schoolrecord in the 3000 meter Steeple­chase this past weekend at the SCI­AC Preliminaries with a time of12:04.19. Becher's performancecatapulted her to 4th best time inconference this year, heading intothis weekend's conference cham­pionships. In addition to the newrecord, Becher also qualified forthe Women's 800 Meter run witha time of 2:24.59. Becher's per­formance helped earn the CaltechWomen a tie for 5th place at thePreliminaries.

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The Hawaiian Club is offer­ing hula (traditional Hawaiiandance) lessons this term! Classwill be held in Winnett Lounge onSaturdays from 2-4pm until May29 (with the exception of 4/24 and5/1: these classes will be held onSunday, 4/25 and 5/2). The cost is$5/class for Caltech communitymembers; $12/class for all others.

For more information, seeour club website at http://www.ugcs/~lilinoe or email us atmaruchan@its.

The Mary A. Earl McKinneyPrize is awarded each year forexcellence in writing. Only full­time students officially registeredat Caltech as undergraduates areeligible to enter the competition.This year, prizes will be givenin three categories: poetry, prosefiction, and non-fiction essays.All submissions must be typedand double-spaced. Include youraddress and phone number. Inthe poetry category, entrants maysubmit up to three poems. Submis­sions of prose fiction should notexceed 12,000 words. Essays maybe ones prepared for a humanitiesclass or any good piece of originalwriting on a topic relevant to thehumanities. The prize in each cat­egory will be $500. Eacll studentis entitled to only one entry ineach category. Contestants shouldsubmit hard copies of their work toProfessor Jenijoy La Belle, Divi­sion of the Humanities and SocialSciences, 228-77, by no later thanApril 30, 2004. No entries will bereturned. Each category will bejudged by a committee from theLiterature Faculty. Essays will bejudged on the quality of thoughtand the effectiveness of the writ­ing. Winners will be announced inMay, and the names of the winnerswill appear in the commencementprogram. The Committee may di­vide the award in each category incase of more than one outstandingsubmission. Previous winners inanyone category are not eligiblefor the competition in that cat­egory. If you have any questions,contact Prof. La Belle, extension3605, or Barbara Estrada, exten­sion 3609.

The Literature Faculty is pleasedto announce the Annual HallettSmith Competition honoringthe finest essay devoted to Shake­speare. Only full-time, officiallyregistered undergraduates are eli­gible to enter the competition.

All submissions must be typedand double-spaced and shouldnot exceed 4,000 words. The es­say may be one prepared for aliterature class or may be specifi­cally written for this competition.No student can submit more than

Continued on Page 6, Column 3

submit their papers in final form totheir faculty sponsors by Monday,May 10. A faculty committee willjudge the papers and announce itsdecision before the end of the thirdterm. The committee may awardduplicate prizes in case of morethan one outstanding entry.

2. The Morgan Ward Competi­tion --- Open to any Caltech fresh­man or sophomore. Entries may beindividual or joint. Each student isentitled to three entries; two maybe individual. An entry consistsof a mathematical problem with asolution or significant contributiontoward a solution. The problemmay have any source which shouldbe stated in the entry. The entriesare judged on the basis of the na­ture of the problem, originality, andelegance of the solution. Indicateany outside references used. En­tries from each contestant or groupmust be delivered to 253 Sloan byMay 10. The names of the contes­tant, or contestants, must be writ­ten on the envelope only, not on theentry. The Judging Committee willconsist of 3 undergraduates. Thejudges will select a group of final­ists and submit their entries to themathematics faculty who will makethe awards. Prizes of $75 will beawarded for the best entries. Prizesfor individual entries will be lim­ited to one per contestant; no groupmay receive more than one prize.

Caltech Blitz Chess Champion­ship. The Caltech Chess Club willhost its second annual blitz chesschampionship on Friday May 7th,from 8 till 10:30 pm, in the PageHouse Dining Hall. Participationis free to everyone in the Caltechcommunity, and players of all skilllevels are welcome. There will be a$425 guaranteed prize fund: $150,$100, $75, $50, and special prizesfor novices ($30, $20). To partici­pate, please email Patrick Hum­mel (hummel@its), or arrive 10-15minutes early for the event.

Reuse A Shoe. Get your oldsports shoes back in the gamewith the City ofPasadena. Recycleyour worn-out athletic shoes withNike's Reuse-A-Shoe program.The shoes are ground up to makenew sports surfaces like soccerand football fields and basketballcourts. When dropping off shoesplease follow these simple guide­lines:

*Athletic shoes only (any brandwithout metal)

* No Metal (spikes, cleats,eyelets)

* No dress shoes, thongs, san-dals, boots or shoes with lights.

* No wet or muddy shoes* Do not tie shoes together.Look for the Special Blue col-

lection bins with the REUSE ASHOE sign at these locations untilJune 15:

Villa Park Community Center363 East Villa StreetJackie Robinson Park1981 N. Fair Oaks AvenueVictory Park Community Cen-

ter, 2575 Paloma StreetFor more information, or to set

up a collection container at your lo­cation please call 626-744-4721 oremail cmeredith@cityofpasadena.net

Attention all undergraduatestudents on Financial Aid: Thelast date to request any adjust­ments of loan to work study, orwork study to loan, for your 2003­04 financial aid award, is Friday,May 7, 2004. Requests for 2003­04 changes made after May 7 willnot be considered. Please contactthe Financial Aid Office at ext.6280 if you have any questions.

APRIL 26, 2004

Summer Work Study: Infor­mation and applications for 2004Summer Work Study are availablein the Financial Aid Office. Ifyouare interested in Summer WorkStudy, please submit the requiredapplication as soon as possible,but no later than June I, 2004.Your entire financial aid applica­tion must be complete by June I,2004 in order to be considered forSummer Work Study. If awarded,the work study funding will beginJuly I, 2004.

The cast ofMTV's Real World- San Diego will be in the AveryDining Han on Monday, April 26at 8 pm. They will talk about someof the real life challenges theyhave faced and are facing and willrun a question/answer/discussionsession with the Caltech studentswho attend. It will be a very neatopportunity to hold an open dis­cussion (with a very visible group)about many non-academic issuesfacing college students today.

The Mathematics Department ispleased to announce two catego­ries of prizes to be offered againthis year to Caltech undergraduatestudents.

1. The E.T. Ben Undergradu­ate Mathematics Research Prize--- A cash prize of $500 awardedfor the best original mathematicspaper written by a Caltech Junioror Senior. Contestants· must benominated by a faculty memberfamiliar with the work. If the entryis sufficiently worthy, the facultymember will nominate the contes­tant and act as sponsor. Each stu­dent is entitled to only one entry.All contestants nominated must

I HEARD THAT!!GET TO WORK ON

THAT NEXT COMIC!!AND 10 MORE LASHES!

~«C X

)

It's too sunny tokill yourself

to stand out despite the presenceof so many talented, experiencedactors.

Nonetheless, what separatesAmerican Beauty from any otherwell-acted drama is Alan Ball'sscript, one of the best screen­plays of the decade. The story isso creatively written that the au­dience is forced to identify withat least half-a-dozen differentcharacters. In addition, the scriptis amazingly witty, as AmericanBeauty is slowly becoming oneof the most quoted movies of the90s. Most importantly, however,American Beauty has more valu­able life lessons than any moviein recent memory. Through Les­ter's bizarre exploits, we begin toappreciate the gravity of beauty inthis world and because of Jane'srelationship with Angela, welearn that there is nothing worsethan being ordinary. Also, everyperson in American Beauty is fardifferent than he/she appears be­cause sometimes, we have to lookcloser to truly understand some­one.

American Beauty is one of themost important movies ever madeand the best film of the 1990's be­cause it manages to speak to alldifferent generations. Teenagerscan relate to Jane's intense prob­lems, while every man has feltlike Lester at one time or anoth­er. In his very first picture, SamMendes has managed to make amovie for everyone and the endresult is absolutely beautiful.

**** out of ****

AND YOU!!PRETTIER

PICTURES! !

nope

in love with her outlandish nextdoor neighbor, a self-made drugdealer with a controlling, homo­phobic father. All three storiescome together on a rainy day inone of the most satisfying conclu­sionsin cinematic history.

Kevin Spacey won a much de­served Best Actor Oscar for histouching portrayal of a brokencynic, because he steals virtu­ally every scene in one of themost memorable performances inmodern cinematic history. Spaceymakes Lester as vulgar, sarcasticand unlikable as possible, yet heis still a hero because the audiencecan identify with his struggles.Bening and the supporting castmore than hold their own as theyeach give searing performancesto complement Spacey's once­in-a-lifetime role. The young ac­tors, including Thora Birch, WesBentley and Mena Suvari arerevelations because they manage

vWW. - n

Even if you've seen it before, it's worth watching American Beautyagain for all its beautiful acting and life lessons.

The hard work?

-------II II 11 ~that's not funny!

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4 THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY

Look Closer at an American M~ste~pie,ceBy HARRISON STEIN

"It's hard to be angry whenthere's so much beauty in theworld."

--Lester Burnham

A genuinely realistic film thataccurately depicts everyday lifecomes along once or twice a de­cade. People go to the movies forall different reasons but very fewexpect to learn valuable lessons,and as a result, films like the clas­sic American Beauty are simplyunforgettable. Sam Mendes'sgroundbreaking 1999 debut con­tains some of the best acting youwill ever see, including an un­precedented performance by theunmatched Kevin Spacey, yet themovie's greatest strength is itsability to create a vivid depictionof the pitfalls of seemingly ordi­nary lives.

Spacey plays Lester Burnham,a burned-out, middle-aged mal­content with a dead-end job whosuffers a mid-life crisis when herecognizes the lack of purpose inhis piddling life. His wife Carolyn(Annette Bening in an Oscar wor­thy role) is a tool of upper-classsociety willing to sacrifice herown morals in order to climb thesocial ladder, while daughter Jane(Thora Birch) is the epitome ofteenage angst. From the outside,it appears that this wealthy subur­ban family is living the Americandream, but on a closer look, theirlife is a complete charade.

Lester finds an escape from hismonotonous existence through adisturbingly lustful yearning forhis daughter's high school friend,Angela, while Carolyn demon­strates her newfound indepen­dence by starting a wild affairwith a conceited real estate mo­gul. In the meantime, Jane falls

THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY APRIL26,2004 5

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ASCIT formal will be held onSaturday, May 29, at the MOCA(L.A. 's Museum of Contempo­rary Art). Tickets will go on saleshortly.

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encouraging undergraduate stu­dent TA's to utilize the graduate­student-run Caltech Project forEffective Teaching.

8. Corinna notes that the Alum­ni Association has improved itsalumni online directory to includealumni careers, areas of interest,etc. This database, which promis­es to be very helpful in job searchand networking, should be madeavailable to undergraduate stu­dents in the near future.

9. Kim mentions new IHC de­cision that students in Blacker,Ricketts, and Dabney may pickcards in more than one house, butobviously cannot pick rooms inmore than one house.

10. Kim notes that Avery hasworked to improve its Consti­tution, which will be ratified ata later date. In addition, Kimmentions the Avery 2nd Inter­nal Lottery, which was actuallyeliminated a day after the ASCITmeeting.

11. Reporting back from a re­cent CUE meeting, Jenny Fishernotes that Chem 3a will now beoffered in separate morning andafternoon sections (as opposed tothe one-day sections in which it isnow offered).

12. Jenny announces the ARCCommittee Representatives-at­Large Liz Felnagle and Meng­Meng Fu and ARC SecretaryWendy Xu.

13. Kelly Lin has sent out clubletters to most clubs (elucidatingreasons for the amount of fundingthey received). The rest of the let­ters should be send out by the endof the week

ASCIT MinutesApri121,2004

Introduction:1. Call to Order, 12:06 PM

ASCIT Prepares Survey on Avery Issue, TakesSteps to Improve Communication With GSC

New/Open Positions:2. Interviews for MHF and

CRC committee representativeswill be held on April 27 and 28at 10 pm.

Present: Ann Bendfeldt, RyanFarmer, Jenny Fisher, Shaun Lee,Kelly Lin, Galen Loram, KimPopendorf, Corinna Zygourakis

Absent: Claire Walton (class)Guests: Jeff Cox, Lydia Ng,

Mark Polinkovsky, Ryan Samson,Candace Seu

Other Business:3. Kim Popendorf discusses

preparation of survey on the Av­ery issue for the entire undergrad­uate student body. This surveywill go up on the donut websitethis week. Its results are very im­portant and will be presented tothe faculty board on May 10, soplease take the time to participatein it!!

4. Galen Loram asks whetherhe and the BoD as a whole shouldtake a stance on the Avery issue.After some debate, no clear deci­sion is reached.

5. BoD ratifies ASCIT Execu­tive Committee members KimHiscox, Lea Hildebrandt, LibinZhang, Julian Greene, Gun­nar Ristroph, Andrea Kung, andAbe Fetterman. Vote: 7-0-0 (ap­proved). Members were chosenfrom respondents to Galen'semail announcement and from themembers of last year's Excomm. Money Requests:BoD agrees with Ryan Farmer's 14. Ryan Samson, Joey Vega,suggestion to charge students a and Jonathan Lee request to take$5 overhead fee for re-purchasing Professor William Goddard out tolost DVDs. Ryan will draft reso- lunch at the Ath. Vote: 5-0-0 (ap­lution to deal with charging stu- proved).dents for late and lost DVDs. 15. Candace Seu and Mike

6. Corinna Zygourakis reports Wilson request to take Professorback from Saturday meeting of Kayoko Hirata out to lunch at theCAFAC (Caltech Alumni Fund Ath. Vote: 6-0-1 (approved; KellyAdvisory Council), on which abstaining).she serves as the undergraduate 16. Melinda Owens and Vivi­student representative. Corinna ana Gradinaru ask to take Profes­mentions ways to facilitate inter- sor Joseph Bogen and his wife outactions with Caltech alums, par- to lunch at the Ath. Vote to ap­ticularly by inviting alums to at- prove lunch, pending approval oftend house dinners over the next MOSH: 6-0-1 (approved, Kellyfew terms. abstaining).

7. Corinna also discusses how 17. On behalf of the Caltechto improve communication with Orienteering Club, Markthe Graduate Student Council Polinkovsky thanks BoD for club(GSC) and suggests a joint meet- funding.ing between the two groups. Pos- 18. Lydia Ng thanks ASCIT forsible areas of interaction include Blacker Interhouse party fund­expanding the DVD library, inte- ing and provides receipts. Galengrating graduate students in the mentions that houses should ad­Student Faculty Conference, and vertise ASCIT funding on their

;""",============- party flyers if they advertise GSCfunding.

J. Morgan KousserProf. of History and Social Science

times and places, or in an individ­ual's life, at different life stages,any of these may be most impor­tant. All are what anthropologistscall "social constructions." Nonecan be set off as "natural," as op­posed to "artificial."

But because of the particulardiscriminatory history ofthe Unit­ed States, classifications by someof these categories are particular­ly "suspect," as the U.S. SupremeCourt puts it--especially race andgender. When we observe an ob­jective pattern of unbalanced ra­cial and/or gender ratios, we haveto ask whether some people arebeing excluded against their will,whether, in this instance, they aredeliberately or innocently madeto feel unwelcome in particularhouses. Perhaps members of ma­jority groups make remarks thatthey feel are entirely innocuous oreven just humorous that individu­als from other groups interpret asindicating that they are inferior ordifferent--unwanted.

At this point, we simply don'tknow what accounts for the pat­tern of segregated undergraduatehousing at Caltech, and we don'tknow whether it can be alleviatedby simple consciousness that theimbalance exists, or whether morevigorous action will be necessaryto reintegrate the campus.

Perhaps nothing made it clearthat Caltech is faced with a prob­lem, and not just a condition betterthan the appearance of the "Affir­mative Action is Racism" bannerduring the debate. By equatingany action against or even discus­sion of segregation with affirma­tive action, the students ignoredthe history of discrimination, thecontinuing effects of past dis­crimination, and the quite consid­erable continuation of private andstate-enabled discrimination.

They also associated themselveswith the position pioneered inthe 1960s by Alabama GovernorGeorge C. Wallace, the man whostood symbolically in the school­house door at the University ofAlabama to prevent any actionto enforce the U.S. Constitutionby allowing African-Americanstudents to enter. Many students,and not only those targeted by thesign, might feel uncomfortableliving in the same house with un­dergraduates so ignorant of his­torical and current race relationsand so insensitive to the feelingsof others. They might then "vol­untarily" segregate themselves.

Is this the sort of social climatethat Caltech should foster?

,Kortal17w CaUjornia Tech

Students hold up at "Affirmative Action is Racism" sign during the StudentHousing Segregation debate on 14.

Letter to the Editor: IsS .. II 1~"egregatlon atura :'Dear Editor,I write to correct some misun­

derstandings about your reportof the student housing segrega­tion debate on April lA and tomake some observations aboutthat debate, the issue, and the cli­mate on campus. My only claimsfor a right to speak are that I hadframed an earlier version of thetopic discussed, that I spoke pub­licly on the occasion, and thatyour reporter misrepresented myposition and my statements.

At the end of the often-illumi­nating discussion between thetwo pairs of student debaters,Ms. Bilal, the chair of the PublicSpeaking Club, asked if 1 wishedto say anything. I did. I began byremarking that the topic as I'dsuggested it contained no men­tion of SELF-segregation. (Yourreport mentioned my framing ofthe topic, but not the addition of"self' without my knowledge orapproval.)

Segregation is an objectivefact. White students comprise75% of the residents of RickettsHouse, but qply 36% of those inAvery. There are ten people of ap­parent Asian descent in Dabney,and five times that many in Avery.Whether this very marked degreeof segregation in Institute-ownedand -operated housing is entirelyvoluntary or not, however, is aconclusion about individual mo­tives on which we currently haveno systematic evidence.

We would not need such evi­dence if it were true, as the de­bate team against the proposition,those students who appeared dur­ing the debate with a sign statingthat "Affirmative Action is Rac­ism," and some of those studentswho stayed after the debate endedto discuss the subject for anotherhour seemed to assume: that is, ifsegregation were "natural."

As a white who grew up in thesegregated South and who hasspent most of his academic lifestudying and seeking to combatracial discrimination, I find suchan assumption as factually incor­rect as it is morally repugnant.

For one thing, the history ofslavery, segregation, and discrim­ination in the U.S. demonstratesthe importance of law in impos­ing such regimes. Without com­prehensive legal authority, slavescould have just escaped, defendedthemselves legally against poten­tial captors, and recaptured thefull fruits of their own labor. Seg­regation laws were necessary, astheir proponents well understood,because left to their own devices,people would interact in wayscontrary to theories of white su­premacy. Without gov­ernment-enforced segre­gation, some individualswould buy houses or rentapartments outside ghet­toes; some people wouldcohabit or marry acrosscolor lines; some em­ployers would hire basedon purely economic con­siderations. Nature ab­hors strict segregation.

For another thing, hu­mans have many identi­ties. Which is most "nat­ural"? Should houses besegregated by race, skintone, gender, class, reli­gion, political party, sex­ual preference, linguisticcapability, regional orurban/rural upbringing,country of origin of an­cestors, hlajor, musicaltaste, or morning/night­time proclivity, just toname a few? At different

6 THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY APRIL 26,2004

STUDENT TRAVEL

BAMBOO TEA HOUSETea as a way oflife

700 E. Colorado Blvd.Pasadena

Across from Vromans Bookstore(626) 577-0707

Toyota, Cressida,' 89,D.Blue, loaded, snrf,xclnt condit., new tires,156 K, $3495 obo.

Ph(626) 296-8567

I4MMM. TI4E5E ARE IN­TERESTING RESJLTS.

WE Sl4OUL]) TAKE TI4IS])ATA AN]) TURN IT

INTO A PAPER.

Congratulations to all 2004 Degree Candidates!!

The Bursar s Office will be scheduling your In~PersonExit In­terview soon. This process is desi8ned to inform you ofthe statusofyour student account and furnlsh you with loan relatedinfor­mation. This interview will be conducted in our office, which islocated in the Center for Student Services Building, room 120.

To find out more about this procedure please visit our website:www.bursar.caltech.edu/checkout~rad.htm

Our staff is here to make this procedure easy andfriendly.

Business PlansFinancial ModelsMBA, 20 years experienceEmail jkennedy@ant91.comOr call 310 6413511 x14

lOI CABOI4 night accomm.

From:

$464

Paris $467London $426Madrid $602Fiji $765

Air, hotel & transfers:

Fare is round trip from LAX and prices areper person. Subject to change andavailability. Tax not included. Restrictionsand blackouts apply. Fares are valid forstudents, faculty and youth under 26.

I-IAWAII5 night accomm.From:

$454

Housing.1) Beginning BellydancingSaturdays, 12:45-1:45 PM, be­

gins 4/3; Professional Instructor:Leela; Trial class fee: $5 forstudents, $8 for others; Caltechstudents fun term fee: $20 ($2.50per class!). Other Caltech com­munity members fun term fee: $50($6.25 per class!) CLASS SIZEIS LIMITED so RSVP to Kathy.Kelly@caltech.edu

2) Hip-Hop for Advanced Be­ginners; Thursdays, 9-10 PM, be­gins 4/1; Professional Instructor:Collette Sibal; Trial class fee: $5for students, $8 for others; Caltechstudents full term fee: $20 ($2.50per class!). Other Caltech com­munity members fun term fee: $40($5 per class!)

Interested in Applied Math ina broad sense ? What is researchingraduate school ? And wheredoes it lead outside of academia?Join the new student chapter ofSIAM ! (Society for Industrialand Applied Mathematics). Weorganize events to bring togetherundergraduate and graduate stu­dents, from all departments, tocome and hear cool talks and vitalcareer advice. Here's a sample ofour activities:

- The "Meetings on Mathemat­ics in Industry" are big, quarterlyevents, where we get top math­ematicians to come and talk abouttheir work in the Industry.

- In addition to these quarterlymeetings we organize a weeklystudent seminar with speakersmostly from the ACM, CDS andCS departments. Undergrads arewelcome to participate and pres­ent their work. This year severaltalks focused on the IEEE's Top10 algorithms of the 20th century- this friday is on the Fast Fouri­erTransform. Come and join us atnoon in room 200 Guggenheim.Lunch is provided.

Sign up for free student member­ship to SIAM during the Googleevent, and receive a free SUbscrip­tion to 'SIAM News' and 'SIAMReview'. Stay informed on theupcoming chapter activities byjoining our mailing list. For moreinfo and to sign up, visit www.its.caltech.edu/~siam.

Racquetball Challenge Court.Wednesdays, 5:30 - 8 PM, BraunGym. Show up to the Racquetbanclub's challenge court and take onanyone here. We usuany have tworeserved courts, and we play win­ner stays on. Challenge yourselfand a worthy opponent! Everyoneis welcome and we normally haveall skill levels show up (includingbeginners). And if you don't knowhow to play, look for our nextmonthly club sponsored lesson.You can borrow the necessaryequipment from the front desk.

54 South Raymond Ave

(626) 793.5595

one essay.All contestants must submit

two hard copies of their work toProfessor Jenijoy La Belle, Divi­sion ofthe Humanities and SocialSciences, 228-77, no later thanApril 23, 2004.

This year's prize will be $350,though the judging committeemay divide the award in case ofmore than one outstanding sub­mission. For more information,contact Prof. La Belle, extension3605, or Barbara Estrada, exten­sion 3609

The Collegiate InventorsCompetition 2004

Call for EntriesDownload the application pack­

et from: www.invent.org/col­legiate

To recommend someone for theaward E-mail collegiate@invent.org or call 330-849-6887

The Grand Prize Award is$50,000. The Deadline for the2004 competition is June 1,2004.

Dance ClassesAll classes meet in the Braun

Gym multipurpose room. Thereare 8 classes in each series. Nospecial clothing or shoes are re­quired for the beginners' classes.RSVPs required only for thebellydancing class. To be addedto our mailing list, go to https://utils.its.caltech.edu/mailmanllist­info/troupe-list. All classes areco-sponsored by the GSC andASCIT, with additional fundingfrom Campus Life and Graduate

Humanities and Social Sci­ences Seminars for this Term:

29 April (Friday) Munro Semi­nar Carl Hoeffer (Barcelona)."Chance, Time and Causation"

3 May Joshua Greene, PrincetonUniversity. "Cognitive Conflictand Control in Moral Judgment"

7 May (Friday) Munro SeminarMaria Farland (Fordham). "De­composing City: Walt Whitman'sNew York and the Science ofLifeand Death."

14 May (Friday) Munro Semi­nar Clementine Oliver,. Caltech/Huntington Fellow. "Where DoPamphlets Come From? Po­litical Writing in Late MedievalEngland"

21 May (Friday) Munro Semi­nar Justin D'Arms (Ohio State)."Objectivity in Taste and Emo­tion"

28 May (Friday) HPS SeminarBrian Copenhaver (UCLA)."From Magic to Science: Seeinga Way Out"

Continuedfrom Page 4, Column 5

THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS APRIL 26, 2004 7

cisco and Detroit. He also workedas principal-in-charge for largecivil-infrastructure projects, suchas highways, bridges, dams andrailroads.

In 1993, Schwartz was namedpresident and chairman of Sver­drup/Jacobs Civil and he is cur­rently a senior professor of civiland environmental engineeringat Washington University in St.Louis. He has served as presi­dent of the Water EnvironmentFederation and was president ofthe American Society of CivilEngineers from 2001 to 2002.Schwartz was elected to the Na­tional Academy of Engineering in1997.

At the ceremony, the six re­cipients will receive an engravedpewter Tiffany bowl and a framedcalligraphy certificate. In addi­tion, their names will be placedon a plaque at the Caltech AlumniHouse alongside the names ofall past recipients of the Distin­guished Alumni Award.

By ROBERT TINDOL

testing proteins with novel bio­chemical properties. The systemautomatically determines a stringof amino acids that will fold tomost nearly duplicate the 3-Dshape of a target structure.

Mayo earned his bachelor'sdegree in chemistry at the Penn­sylvania State University, and hisdoctorate in chemistry at Caltechin 1987. As a graduate student,he cofounded the company Mo­lecular Simulations, Inc. in 1985,and served as the company's vicepresident for biological sciencesfrom 1989 to 1990. Mayo alsocofounded Xencor in 1997 andserves on its scientific advisoryboard.

Stevenson, a member of theCaltech faculty since 1980, worksin the field of theoretical planetaryscience, employing techniquesfrom fields such as condensedmatter physics and fluid dynam­ics to better understanding theearth, the other planets, and theirmoons. Much of his research in­volves the interpretation of datafrom spacecraft such as Galileo,which orbited Jupiter, but he isalso involved in work on the na­ture and evolution of Earth's deepinterior.

Stevenson earned his doctoratein theoretical physics from Cor­nell University, and was a mem­ber of the UCLA faculty beforejoining Caltech. He is the win­ner of the Whipple Award and theHess Medal from the AmericanGeophysical Union, and was hon­ored by the late Gene Shoemaker,his wife Caroline, and A. Barriswith the naming of the asteroid5211 Stevenson to commemoratehis work in planetary science.

The new appointments bring to70 the number of living Caltechfaculty who are members of theprestigious Academy. In addi­tion, three current members ofthe Caltech Board of Trustees areAcademy members.

Long considered one of thehighest honors an Americanscientist can hold, the NationalAcademy of Sciences is dedicatedto the "furtherance of science andits use for the general welfare,"according to a statement releasedTuesday. Established by a 1863act of Congress that was signedby President Lincoln, the Acad­emy acts as "an official adviserto the federal government, uponrequest, in any matter of scienceand technology."

in the early 1990s. He served asexecutive vice president for thenew business group beginning

in 1998, guidingnumerous inter­nal start-ups, un­til his retirementin 2001.

H. GerardSchwartz Jr. hashad a long anddistinguishedcareer with theSverdrup Cor­poration, whichis now a part ofJacobs Engineer­ing Group, Inc.His work was in­strumental in de­veloping and ex­panding Sverdrupinto a national

leader in construction manage­ment. Schwartz's projects includ­ed multibillion-dollar water andwastewater-treatment systems forthe cities of San Diego, San Fran-

Four Faculty SelectedTo Join Elite Acadetny

PASADENA-Four members ofthe California Institute of Tech­nology faculty are among the 72new members and 18 foreign as­sociates named to the NationalAcademy of Sciences on April20. The election was announcedduring the 141st annual meetingof the Academy in Washington,D.C.

Caltech's newest members areDonald HeImberger, who is theSmits Family Professor of Geo­logical and Planetary Sciences;Andrew Lange, who is the Mar­vin L. Goldberger Professor ofPhysics; and Stephen Mayo, aprofessor of biology and chemis­try and a Howard Hughes Medi­cal Institute associate investiga­tor. David Stevenson, who is theGeorge Van Osdol Professor ofPlanetary Science and a nativeof New Zealand, was named as aforeign associate.

HeImberger's primary re-search interests are seismic wavepropagation and the inversion ofwaveforms to recover detailed in­formation about earthquake char­acteristics and Earth structure.He is particularly interested inmapping ultralow velocity zonesat the core-mantle boundary andinner-core structure.

The former director ofCaltech'sSeismological Laboratory, HeIm­berger has been a member of thefaculty since 1970 and previ­ously was a research associate atMIT and an assistant professor atPrinceton University. In 1997 hebecame the first recipient of theAmerican Geophysical Union'sInge Lehmann Medal.

Lange is a cosmologist whohas pioneered new techniques forstudying the cosmic microwavebackground radiation, a relic ofthe primeval "fireball" that filledthe universe at the time of the BigBang. He has used telescopes de­ployed on high-altitude balloonsover Antarctica to determine thefundamental geometry and com­position of the universe.

A member of the Caltech fac­ulty since 1994, Lange was pre­viously an associate professor atthe University of California atBerkeley. He earned his bache­lor's degree at Princeton, and hisdoctorate at Berkeley. He was co­winner of the California Scientistof the Year honor in 2003.

Mayo, a member of the Caltechfaculty since 1992, has workedfor the last several years on a sys­tem .for designing, building, and

sal's, the history of radio astron­omy and the development of newinstrumentation for radio astrono­my. His work has been recognizedwith such awards as the WarnerPrize of the American Astronomi­cal Society and the Gould Prizeof the National Academy of Sci­ences. Kellermann is a memberof the International AstronomicalUnion, the American Astronomi­cal Society, the National Acade­my of Sciences and the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences.

The author of the book The Ex­travagant Universe: ExplodingStars, Dark Energy and the Accel­erating Cosmos, Robert Kirshnerhas also written more than 200 re­search papers about supernovaes,the large-scale distribution of gal­axies and the size and shape of theuniverse. After postdoctoral workat Kitt Peak National Observa­tory and a stint at the Universityof Michigan, Kirshner joined thefaculty at Harvard University,where he is the Clowes Professorof Science and served as chair­man of the astronomy departmentfor seven years.

He was also associate directorfor optical and infrared astronomyat the Harvard-Smithsonian Cen­ter for Astrophysics from 1997 to2003. Kirshner is a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts andSciences and the National Acad­emy of Sciences and is currentlyserving as president of the Ameri­can Astronomical Society.

Gerhard Parker earned all threeofhis degrees at Caltech. After hislong residenceat the Insti­tute, he joinedthe Intel Cor­poration asa member ofthe technicalstaff. In 1977he was namedvice presidentand directorof technologydevelopmentand in 1988became seniorvice presidentin charge ofmanuf actur - Courtesy of www.actconferences.com

ing, technol- Gerhard Parkerogy develop-ment, purchasing, construction,quality and planning.

III this lat'tEir position, Parkermanaged Intel's worldwide ex­pansion of production capacity

so they can be removed by filtra­tion. If these compounds wereleft untreated, they would causestaining of plumbing fixtures andimpart a bad taste to the water.

Carns is also the chairmanof Carus Publishing Company,which produces educational ma­terials, most notably a research­based reading and writing pro­gram for children in grades Kthrough sixth. The publisher pro­duces a basic reading curriculumthat is used extensively in Cali­fornia.

Narendra (Naren) Gupta is theco-founder of Integrated SystemsInc., which later merged with

another com­pany to formWind River,the dominantmaker of soft­ware for suchdiverse com­puting devicesas airplane ra­dar systems andDVD players.He now servesas vice chair-

Courtesy ofwww.windriver.com man of thatNarendra Gupta company.

Gupta alsoserves on the boards of a num­ber of companies, including theDigital Link Corporation, a datacommunications and wide-areanetworking equipment manufac­turer, TIBCO Software, QuickEagle Networks and the Ameri­

ia Fo ndation. Gupta waselected a fellowof the Instituteof Electricaland ElectronicEngineers inNovember1991.

A radio as­tronomer,Kenneth Kell­ermann is asenior scientistat the NationalRadio Astron­omy Observa­tory (NRAO),

Courtesy of www.iwu.edu a research pro-M. Blouke Carus fessor at the

University of Virginia and anoutside scientific member of theMax Planck Society. He has beenaffiliated with NRAO since 1965,serving for a period of time as theobservatory's assistant director.Kellermann's research interestsinclude radio galaxies and qua-

By MARK WHEELER

Distinguished Alumni RepresentEminence in Industry, Academia

Courtesy of www.asce.org

H. Gerard Schwartz, one of this year's distinguished alumni and President of the American Society ofCivil Engineers, speaks at a conference for The Infrastructure Security Partnership.

PASADENA, Calif. -- One wayto measure how well educationalinstitutions educate their studentsis to note what kind of mark theiralumni make in the real world.Each year since 1966 the Alum­ni Association of the Califor­nia Institute of Technology hasacknowledged those graduateswho have attained extraordinaryachievement in business, theircommunity and in their profes­sional1ife.

This year, six graduates--leadersin science, industry and academia,have been selected to receivethe Institute'sDistinguishedAlumni Award.The awards willbe presentedat a ceremonyon Saturday,May 15, dur­ing Caltech'sannual AlumniReunion Week­end and Semi­nar Day.

The Distin­guished Alumniare M. BloukeCarus (BS '49, electrical engi­neering), Narendra (Naren) Gup­ta (MS '70, aeronautics), KennethKellermann (PhD '63, physics),Robert Kirshner (PhD '75, as­tronomy), Gerhard Parker (BA'65, engineering, MS '66, electri-cal engineering, PhD '7 .cal engineering)and H. GerardSchwartz Jr.(PhD '66, civilengineering ).

M. BloukeCarns is thechairman ofCarus Corpora­tion, a holdingcompany thatowns CarusChemical Com­pany. Based inPeru, Illinois,Carns Chemicalis a provider ofchemicals andservices for water and wastewa­ter treatment, air purification andother environmental applications.The company is also one of theworld's largest manufacturers ofpotassium permanganate, whichis used to "oxidize" soluble man­ganese and iron in drinking water

8 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS APRIL 26, 2004

D. Karla/The California Tech

Dr. Kevles pauses during his lecture last Wednesday. He wrote a book several years ago about a sci­ence ethics issue that involved a researcher in one of President Baltimore's former labs.

Chemical, uclear War ProvidedDifficult Challenges for Scientists

director and feature an identicalcast of three. The first featuresa narrator that walks the audi­ence through several versionsof a hello at some sort of re­ception or cocktail party. Thesecond has a theater professorexplaining the drama behind aman stopping another man fromjumping on the roof. While theplays are superficially similar,a nearly-identical presentationof both of them does not giveproper attention to the subtle­ties that distinguish one formthe other. However, both ofthese plays were the best partof the one-act performance.

Finally, the fourth productionwas the well-known Variationson the Death of Trotsky, alsoby David Ives. The Variationswere never my favorite piece,but this production showedthe play at its best. It ran crispand quick and was over beforeit was boring, just like a goodproduction should behave.

In short, all the productionswere pretty darn good. Whilesome plays appeared morepolished than others, all wereworth seeing. As an old stagemanager, I can only find onemajor point of criticism to theactors: a few need to make surethey stay in character onstage,especially when they are notspeaking. Considering no onewho auditioned was turneddown for a part, however, theacting was surprisingly good.

If the one-acts will be repeat­ed next year, which is unclear, Ido suggest that is that more carebe taken in selecting the plays.While all were excellent, allthree final plays had the samestructure, namely variations ona simple chain of events. Butperhaps this criticism is too se­rious, after all, the point of theOne-Acts, in my opinion, is thatthey are really, really fun. Andthey are. So if you haven't seenit yet, find some time Mondayevening. It is well worth thetime.

uperb ShowsDeliver

Courtesy of donut.caltech.edu

Kayte Fischer, left, helped organize One Act Theater, and RaajenPatel wrote and directed one of the plays.

humor and as the show pro­gresses, the humor becomes abigger and bigger part of theoverall piece.

The first piece, Poor LittleLambs by Stephen Gregg, is adidactic comedy about a senilegrandmother whose grandkidsplay a cruel game on her at asoftball game. As an opener,this play is not as flashy as itcould have been; in addition,it is unmerciful to latecomers,requiring the viewer to pay at­tention from the beginning tounderstand the end. While Iwould not have started off theproduction with such a serious,involved piece, I applaud theactors and director for under­taking this piece at all, as it is adifficult one to perform.

The second play, PictureHearts, written by Caltech'sown Raajen Patel '04, is theonly one labeled as "serious" inthe program. The piece is, in­deed, semi-serious, but as a re­flection on college life it is quitehumorous, as the audience canidentify with the exaggeratedplights of the characters. Pic­ture Hearts is a concatenationof three related scenes whichmay well be called snapshots ofcollege life. For something ac­tually written by a Techer, thisplay is incredibly good, hell,it's pretty darn good, period.While at first glance the laughsare less sophisticated than thoseevoked by the previous play,just thinking about the materialpresented in Hearts and put­ting it all together makes theplay seem a lot deeper, with farmore subtle themes than thosecreated by the plot twist at theend of Lambs.

The final three productionsare just humorous. EnglishMade Simple by David Ivesand Playwriting 101: a RooftopLesson by Rich Orloff, the thirdand fifth plays performed, havea remarkably similar structure,which is exaggerated by havingboth plays directed by the same

Continued/rom Page 1, Column 3

The California TechCaltech 40-58

Pasadena, CA 91125

in a land invasion of Japan.Although Oppenheimer and his

colleagues provided the scienceand technology to defend UnitedStates and to protect dem~cracyagainst fascism, they also gavethe politicians in Washington thetools to destroy cities and killcivilians. This moral dilemmawould begin to wear on Oppen­heimer after World War II.

After the Russians successfullytested a nuclear device in 1949,the United States pursued the de­velopment of a hydrogen bomb.Serving as the chair of nuclearenergy and weapons, Oppen­heimer was opposed to the hydro­gen bomb. He saw the bomb asa weapon of terror, a weapon ofunlimited power capable of tak­ing out millions of civilians.

Despite wanting to resign fromhis post, Oppenheimer contin­ued as a "good soldier" and fol­lowed President Truman's ordersto develop the hydrogen bomb.However, Oppenheimer would beforced from his position in 1953due to political fallout.

Through these two examples,Kevles successfully pointed outthe balance between good andevil: power, esteem, funding, pro­fessional ambition and technolog­ical power versus the burden ofbeing responsible for the deathsof many people. It is this paradoxthat links together science, armsand the state.

conjunction with aerial attacks. Areporter at the League of Nationscalled chemical warfare "barba­rous and inexcusable."

In 1922, the Washington Con­ference passed a ban on chemi­cal warfare unanimously, but theFrench refused to ratify it, thuskilling the resolution. Anotherattempt at banning chemicalwarfare came in 1925, when theGeneva Protocol called for a banagainst the use of poisonous gas­es and bacterial agents. However,the protocol was defeated in theU.S. Senate.

Despite public outcry denounc­ing chemical warfare, a group oflobbyists formed in 1919 that rep­resented the chemical industry.Their platform was that the devel­opment of more deadly chemicalagents would serve as a deterrentto war. In one instance, the lob­byists cited that 24% of soldiershit by artillery in WWI were in­capacitated compared to only 2%for gas attacks and concluded thatgas was 12 times more humane.

Such ridiculous claims did littleto win over the public. Instead,the perceived detachment ofchemists from the harsh realitiesof chemical warfare led to a nega­tive public image of the chemicalindustry.

While the chemists of WorldWar I fulfilled the social responsi­bility of science to the state, theylacked the ethics to earn publicapproval. However, the arrivalof lR. Oppenheimer would pro­vide the American public with animage to replace that of AlbertEinstein as the face of scientificgenius. Often referred to as thefather of the nuclear bomb, Op­penheimer . led the ManhattanProject whose goal was to beatthe Germans in the developmentof a nuclear bomb.

Once the Germans were de­feated, the purpose of a nuclearbomb seemed unclear. However,Oppenheimer spearheaded a ma­jority opinion that supported theuse of a nuclear device on Japa­nese civilians in order to save theAmerican lives that would be lost

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against the inhumane nature ofchemical warfare. It would notbe until World War I that this banwould be tested.

One of the most infamous Ger­man scientists in modern historyis the father of chemical warfare,Fritz Haber. His early work in­cluded the discovery of a mecha­nism for nitrogen fixation. Thisbreakthrough research earnedHaber a Nobel Prize in 1919.However, Haber would gain no­toriety before achieving this pin­nacle of scientific success.

The stalemate that had devel­oped between the French andthe Germans as a result of trenchwarfare led to the search of a newtactic. Haber suggested the use ofchlorine gas since the gas had theability to sink into the trenchesand essentially suffocate the op­posing troops. Although this vio­lated the spirit of the declarationfrom the Hague Convention, itwas legal on the technicality thatit was released from a cylinder,not a projectile.

First used in Belgium, the chlo­rine gas was released from 5730cylinders, each filled with 200pounds of chlorine gas. By 1916,poisonous gas was being releasedby explosion, which violated thespirit and the letter of the HagueConvention ban.

In addition to chlorine gas,other gases were used includingmustard gas, arsenic-containinggases and phosgene. Instead ofattacking .~roops, these chemicalswere also used to contaminate ar­eas that were favorable for the op­ponent. For example, the lifetimeof mustard>gas is long, renderingan area inhabitable for days orweeks.

In World War I, an estimated560,000 casualties resulted fromchemical warfare, not includingthe numerous soldiers afflictedwith chemical-related injuries.

The end ofWorld War I broughtdiscussion about the humanityof chemical warfare. There wasgrowing concern regarding theiruse on civilians and their use in