OCTOBER 13, 2003

eillornecdotes

his central. message through all ofthis wasforevetyonetogetout andexperiel1ce the 'Yorld around them.He tried to focus his message spe­cifically to Caltech students in theroom, although the hall was mostlyfilled by older adults. He warned ofbecoming stuck in problems anddigging a deeper and deeper holeof woes. And although everyonelaughed at his ridiculous stories ofyoung men and women who throwaway their lives for short-term re­lationships, the stories made every­one look deeply into his own prob­lems.

Garrison Keillor then answeredquestions from the audience. Manyenthusiastic fans asked him abouthis life, such as why he quit writ­ing for the New Yorker and why hereturned from Denmark. He repliedthat he stopped writing for the NewYorker when the new editor tried tochange the image of the magazine

Continued on Page 8. Column 1

L. TranlThe California Tech

Author Brenda Maddox signs autographs for fans and readers afterher talk last Tuesday in Beckman Auditorium about her new book,Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady ofDNA.

mance artist, and comedian. He haspul>lisllYd§y"eraliboQ~foradJ.*s,largely drawn from his own expe­rience and also children's books.

Garrison Keillor was at ease in hiskhaki suitjacket, blazing red socks,and hands casually stuck in jeanpockets, yet he was the embodimentof sophistication and confidence. Inhis deep soothing voice, he beganthe night with a series of poetryrecitations by well-loved poets,such as Emily Dickinson, MaryOliver, and E.E. Cummings. EmilyDickinson's poem was about theagonizing price of success. "WildGeese" by Mary Oliver gently cre­ated images of dark, quiet nights inthe forests as the background of thehuman imagination and despair.

Without pause, Keillor made thetransition to anecdotes and passagesfrom his book, Love Me. He told alarge variety of stories and jokesthat drew laughter, reminiscence,and reflection from listeners. But

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

Author, Comedian GarrisonCaptivates Audience With

By DIANA LIN

rated by 3.4 angstroms.When James Watson, under con­

troversial circumstance, got achance to look at the photograph, itgave him the impetus to finish hiswork with Francis Crick on thestructure of DNA and publish theirseminal paper in the April 25th,1953 issue of Nature.

Watson, Crick and Wilkinsceived the 1962 Nobel Prize fortheir work. Although Nobel Prizesare not awarded posthumously andonly three may share a prize, nev­ertheless left unmentioned at theceremony was Rosalind Franklin'scontribution to the discovery ofDNA's structure. This omissionwould become the focus of alongstanding controversy.

In 1968, Watson fanned theflames by publishing The DoubleHelix, a personal account of 1951­1953 and the race to discover thestructure of DNA. In that book,Watson portrayed Rosalind as ashrewish and disagreeable womanwho played a minor role in the chainof events that led to the discovery.In an infamous quote, Watsonwrote, "Momentarily I wonderedhow she would look if she took off

Continued on Page 8, Column 4

D. KortaiThe California Tech

Comedian, author, and story teller Garrison Keillor recites poetry during his talk in Beckman Audito­rium Monday. Keillor just released a new book, Love Me.

Last Monday evening, under thegold glittering ceiling of BeckmanAuditorium, Garrison Kyillor deftlyweaved an atmosphere of humorover an adoring audience. Long be­fore the hour arrived, the campuswas buzzing with excitement andfilling with visitors.

Most widely known as the authorof the much loved radio show, Prai­rie Home Companion set in the fic­titious city ofLake Wobegone, Gar­rison Keillor is a storyteller, perfor-

She realized, however, that to do se­rious research she would have to re­turn to England. In 1950, Rosalindaccepted an appointment at King'sCollege in London to work in JohnRandall's lab on the structure ofbiological fibers.

While she made significant dis­coveries at King's College includ­ing making an X-ray diffractionplate of the B form ofDNA that elu­cidated many of the molecule'sphysical properties, Rosalind's timeat the college was very unpleasant.

Disliked by the other scientistsand involved in a bitter dispute withMaurice Wilkins, Randall's secondin command, over her role at thelab, Rosalind left for Birkbeck Col­lege at the end of 1953 to head a

.group studying viruses. She workedih.this area until her death, publish­inglZ,papers and laying the foun­dation for structural virology.

Rosalind Franklin's most wellknown contribution to scientifichistory was her so-called "Photo­graph #51," an exceptionally clearX-ray diffraction image of the Bform of DNA. Using this photo­graph, Franklin determined that theB form is a helix of2, 3 or 4 strandsin which 10 base pairs were sepa-

VOLUME CV, NUMBER 3

Award-winningBrenda Maddox made an appear­ance at Caltech last Tuesday to givea lecture about her new book,Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Ladyof DNA. To a full audience at theBeckman Institute Auditorium,Maddox talked about the life of andthe controversy surrounding of oneof the key participants in the 1953discovery of the structure of DNA.

Born in 1920 and dying in 1958of ovarian cancer, RosalindFranklin's lifespan of only 37-yearsnevertheless allowed her to makeimportant contributions to three dif­ferent areas of science: the natureof coal and charcoal, the structureof DNA, and the nature of the to­bacco mosaic virus and RNA.Rosalind was born to a very wealthyAnglo-jewish family and enteredCambridge in 1938.

During World War II, Franklinstudied the efficient use of coal andpublished five papers before the endof the war. In 1946, she moved toParis to do research in X-ray crys­tallography and over the next fouryears Rosalind found herselfenjoy­ing the French lifestyle immensely.

1

California's Recall ElectionMakes ew State History

By CHRISTINE LEEEverybody probably knows who voters' signatures who voted in the

played the robot in Terminator, but last election for the office aredoes everyone know how the recall needed. In particular, 897,158 sig­works? Never a moment without natures were needed for the quali­controversy, the California recall fication to recall Davis.ele.ction has finally ended. How- To start a recall, proponents mustever, the voters are perhaps as draft a petition stating reasons forpuzzled as before. What is a recall the recall and get the approval fromand how does it work? To answer the Secretary of State. The statethat question, here are some useful constitution sets no criteria on re­facts: calls. Davis recall organizers ac-

On October 10, 1911, a special cused the governor of "gross mis­election under the governor Hiram management of California fi­Johnson enabled California voterS nances."to recall state-elected officers, en- After the petition has been ap­act state laws and constitutional proved, the proponents have upamendments by initiative, andre- until 160 days to collect the re­peal state laws by referendum. Ever quired number of signatures. Thesesince then, there have been 31 re- signatures will be collected andcall campaigns against the gover- verified by the country officials andnor but none had succeeded. reported back to the Secretary of

A recall procedure is similar to a State. After the signatures are col­proposition. However, the main dif- lected, the Secretary ofState has 10ference between a recall and a days to verify the tally to the lieu­proposition is that a recall requires tenant governor, and in tum, themore signatures. For a proposition, lieutenant governor has 60 to 80one only needs 5% of the voters' days to call a special election. Thesignatures who voted in the last cost of a special election is esti­election; for a recall, 12% of the mated to be between $20 million to

Continued on Page 8, Column 1

K. BartzlThe California Tech

Gray Davis' performance in the recall election Tuesday. The darkergray represents greater support for the deposed governor.

TearsheetsTim Tirrell

CirculationNatalia Deligne

VOLUME CV, NUMBER 3

Caltech 40-58, Pasadena, CA 91 125editorial desk: (626) 395-6153

advertising desk: (626) 395-6154editorial e-mail: tech@ugcs.caltech.edu

Kevin Carl BartzMatthew WalkerNews Directors

Tammy Ma Vi Tuong TrOllManaging Editor Business Manager

The Tech is published weekly except dur­ing vacation and examination periods by theAssociated Students of the California Insti­tute of Technology, Inc. The opinions ex­pressed herein are strictly those of the authorsand advertisers.

Letters and submissions are welcome; e­mail submissions to tech@ugcs.caltech.eduas plain-text attachments, including theauthor's name. by Friday of the week beforepublication. Sorry, the Tech does not acceptanonymous contributions. The editors reservethe right to edit and abridge all submissionsfor any reason. All written work remains prop­erty of its author.

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Leo C SteinCommentary Editor

m:ue ((aHfornia m:ecu

Courtesy of M. Betancourt

FI€~miing shower cu.r­message in Baxter

may be unfit for office-the mil­lionaire actor's surprise campaignproved resilient enough for victory.

Republicans worried in the weeksleading up to the Octo­ber 7 election that themore conservativeMcClintock would si­phon away enoughvotes fromSchwarzenegger to giveDemocrat Bustamante

the plurality needed for victory. Anearly L.A. Times poll placing thegovernor-elect behind Bustamanteand McClintock at third with 18%fed Republicans' fears.

But after a battery of top stateRepublicans, from party chairman

Continued on Column 1

ofJapanese FluidsBy MARYN NELSON

Christopher Brennen, professor Additionally, Brennen served as aof mechanical engineering at the United Nations consultant to IndiaCalifornia Institute of Technology, in 1980 and chaired the 4th Inter­is the first non-Japanese recipient national Symposium on Cavitationof the Fluids Science Research in 200l.Award, given by the Japanese Fluid In response to the award, BrennenScience Foundation. emphasizes Tohoku University's

The foundation was created in continued role in improving inter­1947 by Professor Fukusaburo national relations. It was the firstNumachi and is currently managed school in Japan to admit interna­by the Institute of Fluid Science at tional students. In awarding his ac­Tohoku University in Sendai, Ja- complishrnents within the field ofpan. Tohoku University was mechanics, says Brennen, "In partfounded in 1907 as the third Impe- they are recognizing my contribu­rial University of Japan, and is tion to international cooperation."among the most prestigious scienceand technology institutions in theworld.

Brennen, author of CavitationandBubble Dynamics, published in1995 by Oxford University Press,is an international expert in cavita­tion and multiphase flows. His con­tributions to the field of rocketryhave greatly benefited the develop­mentofthe U.S. and Japanese spaceprograms. Brennen has traveled toTohoku University's campus innorthern Honshu on several occa­sions throughout his career, and isa familiar contributing collaboratorat the Institute for Fluid Science.

Brennen looks forward to travel­ing once again to the university onDecember 11 to receive his award.

Originally from Belfast, NorthernIreland, Brennen earned hismaster's and doctoral degrees fromthe University of Oxford, and hasbeen a Caltech faculty membersince 1969. The honors and awardsthat Brennen has gamered through­out his career include the 1992 Flu­ids Engineering Award of theAmerican Society of MechanicalEngineers, and last year's FluidsEngineering Award of the JapanSociety ofMechanical Engineers.

NEWS

stounding Specialfocused on statewide unity, long atheme of his campaign. "I want tobe the people's governor," he saidin an acceptance speech. "I want torepresent everyone.Tomorrow, the hardwork begins."

Schwarzenegger sur­vived a barrage oflast­minute harassment al­legations from formerco-workers whoclaimed the actor groped them onmovie sets anytime from the mid'70s to as recently as 2000.

Despite a cacophony of warningsfrom left and right-DemocraticAttorney General Bill Lockyerthreatened to investigate andMcClintock said Schwarzenegger

By KEVIN BARTZ

cally or it will be inadequate tocleanse the released hydrogenfrom the atmosphere, Eiler says."An analogy would be the discov­ery that trees and other plants getrid of some of the carbon dioxidethat cars emit, but by no means allof it," he says. "So the question aswe look toward a future hydrogeneconomy is whether the microbeswill be able to eat the hydrogen fastenough."

The research was funded in partby the National Science Founda­tion. Bruce Doddridge, programdirector in the NSF's division ofatmospheric science, said, "Thiscarefully conducted research inves­tigating the natural chemistry ofsources and sinks affecting theabundance of molecular hydrogenin the troposphere results in themost accurate information to date,and appears to account for the tro­pospheric deuterium excess previ­ously observed. "A more accuratemolecular hydrogen budget mayhave important implications as glo­bal fuel technology shifts its focusfrom fossil fuels to other sources,"Doddridge added.

The lead author of the paper isThorn Rahn, a former postdoctoralscholar of Eiler's who is now af­filiated with Los Alamos NationalLaboratory. The other authors arePaul Weunberg, a professor of at­mospheric chemistry and environ­mental engineering science atCaltech; Kristie A. Boering andMichael McCarthy, both of UCBerkeley; Stanley Tyler of UCIrvine; and Sue Schauffler of theNational Center for AtmosphericResearch in Boulder, Colorado.

In addition to the NSF, other sup­porters of the research were theDavidow Fund and General MotorsCorp., the David and LucilePackard Foundation, the NASAUpper Atmosphere Research Pro­gram, and the National Center forAtmospheric Research.

Outgoing California Gov. GrayDavis failed last week in his bid todefeat an unprecedented Republi­can-led recall effort, losing 55% to45% in a statewide vote that re­placed him with Republican actorturned politician ArnoldSchwarzenegger.

Internet news sites called the elec­tion for Schwarzenegger as early asTuesday afternoon, while the ma­jor news network waited, per cour­tesy, until the polls closed at eightp.m. The new governor-elect led allreplacement candidates with 48.7%of a vote which, contrary to con­cerns that it would be a slim plural­ity, represented a clear mandate.

Final returns gaveSchwarzenegger a comfortable leadover.second-place finisher Demoe

cratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's32% and Republican State Sen.Tom McClintock's 13%.

Introduced after· his victory byTonight Show comedian Jay Leno,the same man to whomSchwarzenegger first annOllln(;edhis

be mil:igaltedral processes th2lt deslro'y hvdJ:og;en,or else the leaked will ac-cumulate in the If thelatter, this hydrogen would inevita­bly find its way into the stratosphereand participate in chemical reac­tions that damage the ozone layer.The key to predicting how thischain of events will unfold ising what natural processes destroyhydrogen, and to what extent theymight counteract increases in hu­man emissions.

Hydrogen is a highly reactive el­ement, but the question ofwhen andwhere it reacts, and under what cir­cumstances, is difficult to knowprecisely. This question is simpli­fied in the stratosphere, where it'seasier to single out and understandspecific reactions.

According to John Eiler, an assis­tant professor of geochemistry atthe California Institute of Technol­ogy and an author of both the newpaper and the June paper in Science,the new data were gathered from airsamples gathered in the stratospherewith one of the high-flying ER-2planes operated by the NASADryden Flight Research Center inthe Mojave Desert. The ER-2, areconfigured U-2 spy plane, is partofNASA's Airborne Research Pro­gram and is crucial to atmosphericchemists interested in directly col­lecting stratospheric samples forair-quality research.

The air samples that were col­lected in the ER-2 in various localesshow that there is an extreme en­richment of deuterium in strato­spheric hydrogen. "We wanted tolook at hydrogen in the stratospherebecause it's easy to study the pro­duction of hydrogen from methaneseparate from other influences,"Eiler explains. "It may seem odd togo to the stratosphere to understandwhat's happening in the ground, butthis was the best way to get a glo­bal perspective on the importanceof soils to the hydrogen cycle."

With precise information on thedeuterium content of hydrogenformed from methane, the research­ers were able to calculate that thesoil uptake of hydrogen is as highas 80 percent. It is suspected thatthis hydrogen is used by soil-livingmicrobes to carry on their biologi­cal functions, although the detailsof this process are poorly under-

after a pivotalon the potential impact of a futurehydf()gt~n economy on the environ­ment, evidence is errler:giulgon what would happen to new quan­tities of hydrogen released into theatmosphere through human activ­ity.

In an article appearing in the Au­gust 21 issue ofthe journal Nature,a group of researchers from theCalifomia Institute of Technologyand other institutions reports resultsof a study of the atmosphericchemical reactions that produce anddestroy molecular hydrogen in thestratosphere. Based on these results,the report concludes that most ofthehydrogen eliminated from the at­mosphere goes into the ground, andtherefore that the scientific commu­nity will need to tum its focus to­ward soil destruction of hydrogenin order to accurately predictwhether human emissions will ac­cumulate in the air.

The researchers reached this con­clusion through careful measure­ment of the abundance of a rare iso­tope of hydrogen known as deute­rium. It has long been known thatatmospheric molecular hydrogen isanomalously rich in deuterium, butit was unclear why. The only rea­sonable explanation seemed to bethat atmospheric hydrogen ismostly destroyed by chemical re­actions in the air, and that those re­actions are relatively slow for deu­terium-rich hydrogen, so it accumu­lates like salt in an evaporating panofwater. Ifcorrect, this would meanthat oxidizing atmospheric tracegases control the natural hydrogencycle and that soils are relativelyunimportant.

The Caltech group discoveredthat one of the main natural sourcesof atmospheric hydrogen-thebreakdown ofmethane-is actuallyresponsible for the atmosphere's en­richment in deuterium. This resultimplies that reactions with atmo­spheric oxidants are relatively un­important to the hydrogen cycle,and that uptake by soils is really inthe driver's seat.

This issue is important because ofthe potential for a future hydrogeneconomy to leak hydrogen into theair-a scenario explored in the ear­lier study published in Science.Such leaks ofhydrogen seem likely

2

By MARYN NELSONPASADENA, Calif.- Anneila Created in 1820 with the purpose

Sargent, a professor of astronomy of promoting astronomy and phys­at the California Institute of Tech- ics, the RAS has resided in thenology, has been selected to be the Burlington House since 1874.Royal Astronomical Society's Sargent has been a fellow of the(RAS) 2003 George Darwin Lec- RAS for many years, and eamed theturer. honorary title of associate in 200l.

Sargent will give the society's Her husband, Caltech's Bowen Pro­George Darwin Lecture later this fessor of Astronomy Wallaceyear and will contribute a written Sargent, was the 1987 George Dar­version of the lecture to the win Lecturer.society's journal, Astronomy and AnneilaSargenteamedherPh.D.Geophysics. in astronomy from Caltech in 1977,

Recipients of the lectureship and has since become a facultyaward are selected from a slate of member, the director of the Owensnominees by the RAS awards com- Valley Radio Observatory, and themittee, which looks for "a distin- director of the Michelson Interfer­guished and eloquent speaker in a ometry Science Center.field of astronomy." As the chosen Her contributions to the field oflecturer, Sargent will talk about the astronomy have been acknowl­ori~ins of other planetarysystems 9dged with numerous honors in­to an audience ofprofessional as- cluding NASA's Public Servicetronomers, geophysicists, and .ad- Medal in 1998. Sargent was se­vanced amateurs. lected as the University ofToronto's

Sargent looks forward to travel- 2003 Graham Lecturer and the Uni­ing to London forthelecture,.which versity of Pennsylvania's 2002will be held on December 12.at the Selove Lecturer. In addition, sheRoyal Astronomical Society's served as the 2000-2002 Presidenthome, the historic Burlington of the American Astronomical So­House in

**** out of **** and then some

Continued on Page 6, Column 3

3

Caltech students full term fee: $30($3.75 per class!)Other Caltech community membersfull term fee: $40 ($5 per class!)Be;ginnilJlg BellyrumdngSaturdays, 12:45-1:45 PM, starts10/4Professional Instructor: LeelaTrial class fee: $5Caltech students full term fee: $30($3.75 per class!)Other Caltech community membersfull term fee: $60 ($7.5 per class!)CLASS SIZE IS LIMITED soRSVP to Kathy.Kelly@caltech.eduBeginning BalletWednesdays, 10-11 PM, starts 10/8Instructor: Julie LinFREE!Advanced BalletMondays, 10.11:30 PM, starts 10/6Instructor: Catharine LarsenFREE!

The rest of the supporting cast,while not spectacular, is more thanserviceable. Claude Rains is hilari­ous as corrupt French captain LouisRenault (in the funniest scene of themovie, Renault is forced to closedown Rick's cafe because of "ex­cessive gambling," and then turnsaround and collects his winnings).Paul Henreid gives a stirring per­formance as Victor, the man caughtin the middle of an impossible lovetriangle. And although IngridBergman seems lost during some ofher scenes with Bogart, she makesup for it with an extremely movingfinal scene.

And finally, Humphrey Bogartproves that he is the quintessentialleading man of his era by stealingevery scene with a perfect blend ofwit, intelligence and heart. RickBlaine's metamorphosis is unbe­lievable, but Bogart makes it looknatural. Although he somehow didnot win an Oscar for this role, it isone of the best you'll ever see.

Movies from other generationsmight have been superb at the time,but they often decline as time goesby. Every once in awhile, a moviemanages to buck the trend and be­come an all-time classic. For the1940's, and the 20th Cen-tury, is that movie. Be-lieve me, there's a reason everyoneloves it.

Dance Troupe Fall Classes. Therewill be eight classes in each pro­fessionally-taught dance series. Allclasses meet in the Braun Gymmultipurpose room. No specialclothing or shoes are required forthe beginers' classes. To attendclasses, simply show up with aCaltech ID or gym membershipcard. RSVPs are needed for thebellydancing class(Kathy.Kelly@caltech.edu). To beadded to our mailing list, please e­mail troupe@caltech.edu. For moreinformation, see our website:troupe.caltech.eduHip-Hop for Advanced BeginnersThursdays, 9:30-10:30 PM, starts10/9Professional Instructor: ColletteSibalTrial class fee: $5

patriot and underground leader. Theheartbroken Rick laments, "Of allthe gin joints in all the towns in allthe world, she walks into mine."Years ago, Ilsa jilted Rick after apassionate affair in Paris and worstof all, gave no explanation.

Naturally, Rick and Usa rekindletheir lost love, and he develops amajor dilemma--which two peopleshould get on the plane to Lisbon?Should he steal Ilsa from Victorwho already has his hands full withthe Nazis, or should he exhibit someuncharacteristic altruism, not tomention courage, by letting Victorand Ilsa board the plane together?This all leads to the legendary air­port scene where Rick makes hisdecision resulting in the movie'smost famous exchange.

So why is Casablanca so good?The film has one of the wittiestscreenplays ever, and "Here's look­ing at you, kid," "We'll always haveParis," "I think this is the beginningof a beautiful friendship," and "Kissme as if it were the last time" areamong the many quotes that havebeen repeated endlessly.

Dooley Wilson plays Sam, Rick'sloyal piano player, and contributesto the splendid soundtrack.Wilson's rendition of "As TimeGoes is remarkable and helpsshow insight into Rick and Usa'sformer romance. Although Wilson'spart is small, it is one of the firstsignificant African-American rolesin a major motion picture.

By HARRISON STEIN

tories and demonstrations) avail­able for faculty and instructors.The CUE will also address, whenappropriate, any other major prob­lems and complaints that shouldarise.

Though these are all optimisticvisions for undergraduate educa­tion, these goals will be difficultto attain without the presence stu­dents on the CUE. "The adminis­tration and faculty have put to­gether a body with some punch;any student who cares at all aboutCaltech education should be will­ing to participate," says Goodstein.So, if you are concerned with thestate of your schooling here, theCUE is providing you with an ex­cellent opportunity to make a dif­ference.

Casablanca: Watch as if it werethe Last Time

If you're a girl, the odds areyou're going to love Casablanca nomatter how much your significantother complains. For all the guys, Ipromise Casablanca is a fantasticmovie worthy of its ranking as theAmerican Film Institute's secondhighest rated movie in Americanfilm history. Sure, Casablanca'splot might seem rather generic now.But even after 61 years,Casablanca is considered the beston-screen romance of all time (TheAmerican Film Institute ratedCasablanca #1 on its list of 100Years 100 Passions) and it containsthe most famous love triangle out­side of the final season of Friends.

The Oscar-winning story is ex­pertly told, and when you combineit with an excellent cast, you getmovie magic. The irreplaceableHumphrey Bogart stars as RickBlaine, the owner of Rick's CafeAmericain in 1940's Casablanca,Morocco. He humorously stumblesacross two letters of transport thatallow those living in Casablanca toescape to Lisbon, Portugal, an asy­lum free of Nazi rule.

Rick, a caustic, andbroken man has no use for theseletters until former lover Usastunning Ingrid Bergman) waltzesinto the Cafe Americain with herhusband Victor Laszlo, a French

trial Dean of Undergraduate Stud­ies to assess the need for the extraposition. Goodstein volunteered toact as chair of this new committee.When asked why he would agreeto take on what will surely be atime-consuming role, he states that"for a long time, [Provost] Kooninand I felt that someone in the ad­ministration should be responsiblefor the undergraduate educationhere."

And so the CUE was assembled.In its present state, it includes notonly Dr. Goodstein, but also thefaculty chairs ofseveral importantcommittees: the chairs of the CoreCurriculum Steering, Core andUASH are on the CUE. Vice Presi­dent Margo Marshak, Dean ofStu­dents Jean-Paul Revel, MOSHCathy Jurca and David Levy fromthe registrar's office hold positionsas well. The ASCIT BoD is cur­rently searching for students to filla number of spots on this council.

Of course, Goodstein still has anumber of issues he'd like theCUE to tackle. In particular, theVice Provost has advocated a num­ber of goals directed toward im­proving the quality of teaching atCaltech.

First off, he has encouraged theProvost's office to earmark fundsfor to expanding the Caltech Projecton Effective Teaching, an existingprogram founded last year by agroup of concerned graduate stu­dents. This project entails holdingworkshops in which new profes­sors, postdocs and graduate stu­dents can work on improving theirteaching skills.

Additionally, the CUE is lookinginto cr<;:ating .auniform teachillgevaluation form for the entire In­stitute, which would allow better,more efficient feedback to profes­sors about their courses than thecurrent system of division-specificforms. Finally, Goodstein and theCUE will be working towardsmaking core course recitation sec­tions taught by faculty in residencerather than undergraduates orgraduate teaching assistants in or­der to increase contact betweennew students and senior profes­sors.

One of the more ambitious goalsof CUE is to rework the advisingsystem. Goodstein has noted thatthe current advising system "breaksdown at many points" and fixingthese points will certainly be diffi­cult given the sometimes wildlydifferent schedules of faculty andstudents.

Other issues to be examined in­clude resolving common schedul­ing conflicts encountered by up­perclassmen and increasing teach­ing resources (classrooms, labora-

MOSH and HumallliHes PrOfleSS(rrformed Council Eduadi(]ln

members. CUE been workiin2 vi2:or(lUslycore classes and due dates for pr()bl,em

Freshmen on campus may nothave noticed, but there have been afew faculty and administratorsworking hard to make their liveseasier.

Under the direction of Vice Pro­vost Dr. David Goodstein, the re­cently formed Council on Under­graduate Education (CUE) hasbeen putting forth efforts to resolvecommon complaints about under­graduate education. In the weeksprior to the beginning of the schoolyear, this CUE worked to not onlyspread the due dates for core cur­riculum homework throughout theweek, but also to ensure that therewere virtually no schedule con­flicts between freshmen corecourses, their recitations and hu­manities.

Finals for freshmen should alsobe less stressful than in the past,when math, physics and chemistryfinals were all due within a 24-hourperiod. The CUE and Goodsteinhave managed to extend the duedate for grades in these courses, al­lowing these finals, for the firsttime, to be due on three separatedays.

Furthermore, Goodstein and theCUE have lobbied to make the CS1 final a limited time examination,rather than a marathon infinite timetest as in past years. The CUEworked to make this all happen be­fore the freshmen even arrived atCaltech.

The CUE itself has rather un­usual origins. During the search fora new Vice President of StudentAffairs a couple of years ago, therecommendationfor a Dean ofUn­dergraduate Studies was made.Such a dean would theoretically beresponsible for making sure theundergraduate academic programsran smoothly.

Many of our peer institutions(Stanford, MIT, Harvard) alreadyhave such a position set aside forits students. However, determiningwhether or not Caltech was simi­larly in need of a Dean of Under­graduate Studies proved to be dif­ficult.

To investigate this question fur­ther, last spring a committee headedby Professor Andrew Ingersoll wasconvened. At that point, a group ofstudents and faculty determined thatthe best course of action was a cau­tious one. Instead of agreeing toimmediately institute a new Deanof Undergraduate Studies position,it was decided that key members ofthe faculty, administration and un­dergraduate student body were tomeet regularly to assess the state ofUndergraduate Studies.

This group's chair was to act as a

By KATHRYN HSU

4 THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY OCTOBER 13, 2003

Dean Offers Advice to ew Class: tpass/Fail, Frosh'Ponders Tough Questions on Universe, Friendship

Courtesy of wwwfilcampbell.com

Irish singer Fil Campbell will per­form at the Winnett Student Cen­ter this Friday.cluding Bolshoi Ballet, Queen andBob Dylan.

In recent years, Campbell and herband have been touring the UK andEurope, showing off their uniquestyle and eclectic portfolio of songs.The band made history in May 1998when it was the first band to everplay in Belfast's Parliament build­ings. The band was opening forElton John as part of a celebrationfor the signing of the Good FridayAgreements.

Campbell and her husband alsorun a summer camp for aspiringteenage singers.

picture? What will determine thesuccess of the relationship is yourwillingness to work at maintaininga reciprocally satisfying liaison.This applies to people and also toyour House. It will come to ap­proximate the House of yourdreams, if you work on having ithappen.

A bientot

By REX MAYREIS

Pasadena, CA-Irish songstress,Fil Campbell, will appear at Caltechon Friday, October 17 at 8:00 PM.The performance will be in WInnettStudent Lounge, on the Caltechcampus in Pasadena.

From Rostervor, County Down,in Northern Ireland comes Fil (pro~nounced as "Phil") Campbell, a fineand contemporary song interpreterand songwriter. She studied musicat Queens University in Belfast andhas worked with Van Morrison,opened for Elton John and per­formed in many festivals through­out Europe.

She's a versatile singer with adelicate voice, whose singing runsthe gamut from fun and sassy tomournful to romantic. She playsguitar and has three albums to hercredit including her most recent,Beneath the Calm.

On this quick tour of the UnitedStates, she will be joined onstageby her husband Tom McFarland,who very tastefully punctuates hersongs with hand drums, includingthe Bodhran (Irish drum), AfricanDjembe, Latin American congas,bongos and various shakers.

Campbell has been a music en­thusiast her entire life and her ca­reer began at age five with her firstperformance in Belleek, Ireland, herhometown. Working as a publicistin the 80s, she promoted some ofthe biggest names in Ireland, in-

Courtesy of L. ZhangDuring one of their many on screen appearances, Tommy Chong ex­presses his dissatisfaction with co-star Cheech Marin.

Irish Singer SponsoredBy Folk Music Society

off the seconds, the country'sPresident and the Mayors ofeach little town, all the residents(well almost) made ready tosynchronize their watches athigh noon. So get yourself in theEcuadorian spirit!

Now for those of you who didnot land in the House of yourdreams remember, remember...you just made a bunch offriends out of strangers withwhom you had nothing but abus ride and an IQ in common(sorry twins, who share so muchmore, I have to simplify a little).Where things are not whatyou'd like them to be, you can workat helping develop a better fit. Re­flect on the fact that some day al­most all ofyou will find that uniqueperson who'll become your life'spartner.

But truth be told, the "one andonly" will be picked from the smallsubset of people that you have met.Don't you think there is likely other"only's" who never did enter the

enands

hippies, ceased making movies dur­ing the 'just say no' era.

Now, I'm as conservative as thenext guy, but if the Powers-That­Be achieve their goals, the Ameri­cans who still dare to believe in lib­ertarianism and that smoking vari­ous herbal substances is a person'sown business shall be forced tocrudely fashion smoking pipes fromfaucets and plastic honey bears likeBrad Pitt in 'True Romance'. Druguse rates will not be adversely af­fected.

In an era of budget deficits andterrorist threats, it seems logical thatthe American government shoulddedicate all of its resources to rootout terrorists instead of fightingsmallAmerican businesses. Instead,55 pipesellers and Tommy Chonghave been removed from ourstreets.

Does Ashcroft not have betterthings to do? Where are Ossamaand Saddam Hussein? And pleasedo something about those silencerson the Internet.Fortunately,

www.freetommychong.org has aself-explanatory petition. The samejudge Arthur Schwab who sen­tenced Chong has set an October16th hearing on a request to releaseChong while an appeal goesthrough the 3rd U.S. Circuit Courtof Appeals. Good luck, man.

Actor Tommy Chong and friendin better times. Tobacco pipes cor­rupt our children's moral fibre andweaken our resistance against Com­munism.

importantly, clues as to what to doabout them.

You have now passed the gaunt­let of rotation and will even havemoved for the last time this year.Congratulations if you found thematch of your wishes.

As envisaged by the studentsdeputized by the Board of Trusteesto plan for the organization of stu­dent life (this took place in 1932 asthe South Houses were being built),your House is supposed "to supple­ment the intellectual developmentwith a cultural and social develop­ment not possible where the stu­dent's social contacts are limited,or where his living, lounging or din­ing accommodations do not reflectthis atmosphere."

You'll excuse me please if! smirka little, being skeptical of achiev­ing all these lofty goals, althoughfor many and with a little work, theHouses do end up being familyaway from home. It will requireskill and sensitivity to make thehouse not just great for you but alsofor the nerd next door and the jockin the next alley. It will be difficultnot to be sucked into all the fun ac­tivities and opportunities for dissi­pation that will come your way.

Don't let yourself be intimidatedinto doing anything that makes youfeel uncomfortable or uneasy. Yeah,you are now on your own to agreater extent than you have everbeen and you are on Pass/Fail,Frosh, but that's not a license to doas little work as possible. I am sureyou'll remember the skit in Chal­lenges and Choices and the voicesof the panelists on "How to suc­ceed." Take the opportunity to learnhow to pace yourself, while"piffing" is still the way of life forY?ll' Stu,dy ~d do your work in atimely manner.

I have heard on the news (BBC,October 1) that timeliness is in fash­ion and has even caught up with Ec­uador. On October 1st, it was re­ported, church bells tolled, sirensblared, radio announcers counted

mostly nonsensical house skitsachieve, except perhaps to remindeveryone that there are houses,while avoiding anything that mightbe interpreted as breaking rotationrules. But why would a house wantto make itself memorable for non­sense?

I enjoyed the duet of Kathy andRick Wilson and the violin bravuraof virtuoso Leyan Lo, to name justtwo of the outstanding perfor­mances. I thought the boat races ex­traordinary, from the enginelessbarge Hindenburg, launched by thecamp staff and a wonderfully ap­propriate counterpoint to Prof.Shepherd's explosive lecture, tosome of the best bOats I have seenin my Camp career.

And after a great dance it wasback to the lowlands with newlymade friends and a better under­standing of what challenges wouldhave to be met at Caltech and more

ing to sell bongs and other drugparaphernalia on his websiteChongglass.com. Tommy Chong isthe latest and most high profile ca­sualty of Operation Pipe Dreams, aDEA program against drug para­phernalia distributors and thepipemaking industry.

In February, a major operationclosed head shops and distributorsaround the country and raidedChong's business Nice DreamsEnterprises. Around 55 people werearrested at the time, and Chong wasarrested later.

Chong's website claimed all pipesfor sale were "for legal blend andtobacco use only." However, hepleaded guilty to all charges. Healso admitted to hawking drug para­phernalia during nation-wide pro­motional appearances and said hegot carried away with the fictionalpersona.

However, he says that he has quitsmoking pot and wanted to use hiscelebrity status to fight drug abuse.Assistant U.S. Attorney MaryHoughton countered that Chongachieved fame by glamorising druguse and trivialising law enforce­ment in his films, and used his char­acters to promote his business.

Of Chinese and Scots-Irish ances­try, Tommy Chong was a guitaristof the 1960s sextet Bobby Taylor& the Vancouvers. He and CheechMarin achieved world fame with aseries of semi-improvisational com­edies, such as Cheech and ChongUp in Smoke (1978) and varioussemi-sequels. The comedy duo, al­ways playing perpetually stoned

which will release the rovers Spiritand Opportunity. Among many ac­tivities they'll analyze minerals atlocations where the images pro­duced by MGS suggest that therehad been water. If there is watercould life be (have been?) far be­hind?

At least we could have a conver­sation with Martians, with only 14minutes delay each way, better thantrying to converse with the putativeinhabitants of the small (0.1 Jupi­ter mass) planet, discovered lastMay, orbiting HD49674, some 133light years away.

The talent show was refreshinglydifferent, with House skits a littleless arcane for a change. In truth Istill have not figured out what the

"Formany... with a little

work, the Houses do end

up being a family away

from home. "

By LIBIN ZHANG

"People selling drug parapherna­lia are in essence no different thandrug dealers. They are as much apart of drug trafficking as silencersare a part of criminal homicide."­John Brown, acting DEA chief.

Strangely enough, even as JohnBrown and the rest of the DrugEnforcement Agency are crackingdown on online sellers ofdrug para­phernalia, I can still buy silencerson the Internet. At impactguns.com,a Gemtech silencer can be pur­chased for under $400. The sitestates that: "You won't believe howmuch fun it is to shoot a gun with asilencer (or suppressor). Do yourcommunity a favor and reducenoise pollution today."

Of course in California, onlyClass 3 dealers and Class 2 manu­facturers, and not individuals, mayown them, but once I get around asimple geographic inconvenienceand some background checks I toocan be 'a part ofcriminal homicide.'

The makers and sellers of tobaccoaccessories are continuing to be ar­rested by the DEA, while JohnBrown is hypocritically indifferentto the legal sale of silencers acrossthe country. There is sadly no Na­tional Bong Association to providecampaign contributions.

On October 9, Actor-comedianThomas B. Kin "Tommy" Chongreported to a minimum-securityfederal prison near Bakersfield,Calif., to begin a nine-month sen­tence. He was sentenced in Pitts­burgh on September 11 for conspir-

By JEAN·PAUL REVEL

Week one at CIT. Well this is it,the academic year '03-04 has beenlaunched starting with the first forwhat is to be an annual event, aConvocation in Beckman Audito­rium to welcome all incoming stu­dents.

Dr. Marshak, the VP for StudentAffairs waS the emcee, with Presi­dent Baltimoreand Provost Kooninreflecting on how science is doneand the Drs. Goodstein, Vice Pro­vost and Archivist respectively, in­troducing the giants on whoseshoulders we stand.

And from there we went toAstrocamp. The skies were clear,revealing that the Milky Way wasstill reassuringly arching overhead.Aren't we small puny creatures,imbued of our self-importance butsuch tiny mites in the Universe?

We now know of 117 planets or­biting other stars, but have not iden­tified any which might resembleEarth, they are too small to be de­tected. Just looking up to the deepdark sky certainly makes one thinkit likely there must be some, per­haps inhabited by creatures long­ingly looking for us.

Speaking of little green creatures,Mars was a disappointment. Therewere high hopes that it would be astupendous sight, what with closeapproach only a few weeks ago. Itwas indeed very large but a com­plete bust when viewed through thetelescope.

Well, we can always tum backtothe wonderful images from MarsGlobal Surveyor (MGS, push theJPL button on the Caltech homepage) and there will hopefully bemore excitement, later this year,what with three probes aimed at dif­ferent regions of tlieplanet.

The probe launched by the Euro­pean space agency, will be first torelease its lander, Beagle 2, in midDecember (wonder what Darwinwould say ofthis Voyage?) Next toarrive are the twin American

THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY OCTOBER 13, 2003 5

National Human Genome Research InstituteAwards New $12 Million Grant to WormBase

courtesy of wWlj'.wqrmbase.org

medical advances.The role of WormBase in 21st­

century medicine will continue tobe as a resource for knowledge.Already the wormbase.org site isfully searchable in a number ofways, including by genes, cells (thenematodes have only 959, and allare clearly understood and clearlyvisible under a microscope), andbiological processes, as well as bynames of researchers.

Information in WormBase comesfrom teams at the two centers thatsequence the C. elegans and C.briggsae genomes-a team at theSanger Institute, in England, led byRichard Durbin, and one at Wash­ington University, led by JohnSpieth. The innovative softwareused to display the information inWormBase was developed by Lin­coln Stein of the Cold Spring Har­bor Laboratory, where theWormBase Web server is located.

Fourteen individuals at Caltechare currently involved in theWormBase project, including ninebiologists and three computer ex­perts.

• Nick Papadakis, CNS StaffMember• Kevin Parkin, Graduate Stu­dent, Aeronautics• Ray Prado, Assistant Director,Undergraduate Admissionso Jess Reynolds, Undergraduate,Mechanical Engineering• Robert Robertson, Undergradu­ate• Chris Rutherglen, Undergradu­ate, Physics• Kerry Sieh, Professor of Geol­ogy• Robert Southworth, GraduateStudent, Computer Scienceo Julius Su, Graduate Student,Chemistryo Daniel Taylor, Biology Librar­iano Jaap Weel, Undergraduate Stu­dent, Physics

Collection: $120The freedom to be yourself:

pricelessThere are those who cite National

Coming Out Day as a gratuitousflaunting of the 'homosexuallifestyle.' After all, there is no Na­tional Being Straight Day is there?To these critics, I argue that thereis, it's just taken for granted. Everyday that a heterosexual couple isable to get married, adopt a child,or hold hands in public without fearis a celebration of heterosexuality.

In honor of National Coming OutDay (Oct. 11th), as testimony to thepresence of the gay, lesbian, bi­sexual and transgendered commu­nity at Caltech and perhaps as aninspiration to those who have yetto or are in the process of comingout, I (as Queen ofthe Caltech Stu­dent Pride Association) present toyou a list of out and proud CaltechlJPL students, faculty, staff andalum.

o Chris Adami, Faculty Associ­ateo Mark Barton, Staff, LIGOo Martin Basch, Graduate Stu­dent, Biologyo James Chakan, Graduate Stu­dent, Physicso Shelley Diamond, Staff, Biol­ogyo Juan Garcia, Undergraduate,Engineering and Applied Scienceo Eitan Grinspun, Graduate Stu­dent, Computer Science• Isaac Hilburn, Undergraduate• Bethany Joy, Undergraduate,Environmental Engineering• Nir Krakauer, Graduate· Stu­dent, Geochemistry• Brian Meehan, Graduate Stu­dent, Chemistry• Jim O'Donnell, Geology Librar­ian

Proud Students, FacultyCelebrate Coming Out

By JUAN GARCIA

Why in the world would anyoneever want to come out of the closet?It's not for the cute nicknames thatpeople come up with for us ('fag­gots,' 'biological errors,' 'sexualdeviants'). It's certainly not forperks and benefits (same-sexcouples can be denied hosJ.>ital-visi­tation rights for sick/dying partnersor their children). And lord knowsit's not for our health (October 7thmarked the 5th anniversary ofMat­thew Shepardis brutal murder).

Then why, given all these discour­agements, would any sane personever come out? Because it's impor­tant to do so and the rewards canfar outweigh the penalties. To un­derstand this, one need only lookto a very famous advertising cam­paign:

Front row tickets to see Madonnain concert (again): $300Matching hers & hers flaming mo-torcycle helmets: $230

Queer as Folk: 2nd Season DVD

actions of two genes alone," saysSternberg. "Also, our future effortwill include working with similardatabases of the genomes of otherorganisms, such as the mouse, frnitfly, and yeast, for shared softwareand shared conceptual vocabular­ies.

"The ultimate purpose is to allowmedical researchers to get the in­formation more easily," he adds.

The human-worm connectionmay seem tenuous to people out­side biology, but it is known. thatthe two organisms have similarityin about 40 percent of their genes.A very realistic motivation for thefunding of genome sequencing ofother organisms has been to providedata for comparisons of genes thatare ofinterest in the quest to betterunderstand human disease. Thus, acancer researcher who discoversthat a certain gene is expressed incancer cells can use the WormBaseto see if the gene exists in nema­todes, and if so, what is knownabout the gene's function.

Exploring the fundamental rela­tionships between genes from spe­cies separated byhundreds of mil- I~C;:;:;:]J~~£].~~~~;:;:]@~~.

lions of years ofevolution is ex­pected to be a cor­nerstone of 21st­century biologicalinnovation. Im­proved knowledge ;,,~

ofhow a gene is ex- ...."pressed in one spe­cies-and as timegoes on, how twoor more genes in­teract-will pro­vide new ap­proaches for deal-ing with humandisease and will.al- ...most certainly be This is an example of a genetic map, taken fromthe foundation for the WormBase data base.some important

By ROBERTTINDOL

The Caltech-led WormBaseproject, an ongoing multi-institu­tional effort to make genetic infor­mation on the experimental animalknown as C. elegans freely avail­able to the world, has been aug­mented with a new $12 milliongrant from the National HumanGenome Research Institute. Themoney will be distributed over fiveyears for ongoing work on the ge­nome database, which since its in­ception in 2000 has become a ma­jor resource for biomedical re­searchers as well as biologists at­tempting to better understand indi­vidual genes and how they interre­late.

According to Caltech biologyprofessor Paul Sternberg, leader ofthe project, WormBase has alreadysucceeded in making available on­line the complete genome sequence(100.2 million base pairs) of thenematode, plus an almost completesequence for the closely related or­ganism C. briggsae, as well as genesfor some 20 parasitic nematode spe­cies. In addition, the project makesavailable a huge amount of experi­mental data pertaining to the nema­tode.

The completed sequences will bevital for an emerging research ef­fort that includes the new double­strand RNA interference techniquefor understanding a gene's function,and the frnits of the sequencing ef­f9rt are already apparent. There arenow 23,000 such experiments inWormBase, along with 280,000DNA expression ("chip")ffijcroarray observations, as well asdetailedinformation on the expres­sion of more than 1,600 of theworm's 20,000 genes.",pqrth~ ..•futur~, ..ri<§e~(?Mrs'WiU

look at interactions between genes,which means that there are 20,000­squared possibilities for the inter-

PS: What do Ken Lay, Gov.Arnold, and President Baltimorehave in common? You tell me:h t t P / /www.consumerwatchdog.org/utili­ties/rp/rp003709.pdj

teraction and a uniformly sharedstudent culture and set of values.Now that I have brought the prob­lem into the open, I ask you all tothink about it, and see what you cando to make it better.

We Are Scientists Are Coming!Get psyched! We Are Scientists

are coming on October 25th to playSaturday night! We're ironing outthe details ofwhere they'll play, butthey're coming! Undergrads, gradstudents, rocking professors, staff,come hang out and listen to We AreScientists! If I haven't piqued yourinterest yet, check out their websitefor music and humor: http://wearescientists.coml

Peace out Caltech,Tom Fletcher

Courtesy of www.ealteeh.eduASCIT President Tom Fletcher alleges that segregation ofAsian stu­dents into off-campus h.ousing is a growing problem.

rates.What we appear to have is almost

two discrete student bodies, one thatrepresents the traditional Caltechcommunity and lifestyle, anotherthat is effectively "ghettoized" in,admittedly better, off-campus hous­ing. At present, the system seemsto be working okay, but this sepa­ration does manifest itself by hav­ing an impact on the honor code,student life, and the unity of the stu­dent body.

Of course, what we need to rec­ognize is that no one marched allthe Asians off campus, or burnedtheir ballots to prevent them fromelecting representatives. This is amutually accepted situation by bothsides.

What I want to start discussing,and getting people to think about,is first, how can we bridge this gap?Why are we willing to perpetuatethis system? What can be done tobring the two communities closertogether? I assure everyone that theschool, student body, and individualwould benefit from more diverse in-

Caltech's response to WardConnerly's diversity lawsuit. Thisweek, I think I'd like to address agrowing problem that, despite itslack of legal ramifications, is hurt­ing our campus. I'm talking aboutthe rift in the student populationbetween the Asian and non-Asianstudent communities.

A walk through Avery last yearcaught my attention, so I ran somesimple statistical tests (HO: propor­tion of off-campus housing used byAsians =proportion of Asian stu­dents, HA: proportion off-campus>proportion of student body). I gotsignificance for my tests at a p-levelof 0.001, which is two orders lessthan the standard 0.1 used in socialscience research.

What does this indicate? For one,it is statistical proof of a profounddisconnection in the student body.The houses, for whatever reasons,appear to fail a large fraction of thestudents (almost half of the fresh­men class!). Meanwhile, a fractionof the class is systematically cor­doning itself off from the rest of thestudent body, and we all suffer fromthe lack of interaction. More quali­tative proof: one of nine BoD mem­bers was Asian ("underrepresented"minorities outnumber them!), zeroof nine members of the IHC areAsian. I do not know what I wouldfind in the Y excomm, but I'm will­ing to guess similar or slightly bet­ter results. The point is simple: de­spite making up an enormous frac­tion of the Caltech undergraduatebody, Asian students seem to par­ticipate in student life and the stu­dent community (by which I meanthe houses) at disappointingly low

Who I Met With This WeekThe faculty board meeting was

the big event of the week. The newhealth insurance plan was reviewedand appears to be quite comprehen­sive and well-designed; to the pointthat other states' legislatures are

now copying our studenthealth insurance plan.Re­member, if you have anyproblems with your healtllin­surance, make sure tQreportthem so that we can advocate

for you. At oofcaltech.edu, you canfind the faculty health committeeand email those with the ability tofix things.

The head of the art committee,Pietro Perona, also made some an­nouncements at the meeting. Theschool is working on getting re­placements for the cancelled Vec­tors sculpture. They are consider­ing a number of rotating exhibitsaround campus. The art committeehas also secured MHF money tohire an artist-in-residence to createart for Caltech and hold workshopswith students. If you want to spendyour free time working with a pro­fessional artist on projects, keepyour eyes open and contact yourstudent representative on the artcommittee, Jacki Wilbur.

More Missed OpportunitiesLast week, I wrote about

Goodstein has done and hope thatyou all chime in with your academicconcerns, assistance, and praise.Remember, he will only know whatissues need to be worked out if thestudents on the CUE tell him whatneeds to be resolved.

By TOM

Progress on UndergraduateEducation

Vice-Provost Goodstein deliveredhis report on his efforts to improveundergraduate education to the fac­ulty board. His full report will beposted soon on oofcaltech.edu. Hiswork as head of the Council on Un­dergraduate Education (CUE, youcan sign up for it by SAC 33) cameout of the overwhelming demand ofstudents at last year's Student Fac­ulty Conference for some oversightof the undergraduate cur­riculum.

In a short time, Goodsteinhas already attacked sched­uling conflicts by sittingdown all of the freshmancore professors and jointly workingto avoid any conflicts. At the sametime, they also collaborated to makesure homework for different classeswas due on different days. The nexttrick will be to make sure that notall of the finals are due on the sameday (Wednesday) of finals week.This will require some doing, butwill hopefully be accomplished.

The CUE grew as a compromisebetween professors who saw noneed for a dean of undergraduateeducation and those who felt it wasnecessary. While this debate is stillopen and heated, Goodstein wasmet with nothing but praise andcongratulation by the faculty at themeeting. Prof. Antonsson went sofar as to say that what Goodsteinhad done had never been imaginedbefore at Caltech.

I have personally been very im­pressed with what Professor

Asian Population IGhettoized': Socials

c51# 1017560-40

ENTER TO WIN THE trip Por 2at your local branch or

www.statravel.com!

The Measurement Science Con­ference (MSC) has established ascholarship to fund students in anEngineering, Science or QualityAssurance degree program. Thescholarship program places empha­sis on experience or accomplish­ments related to the application oradvancement of measurement sci­ence technology. To be consideredfor one offive, $1000 scholarships,individuals must: have completedat least 24 units of upper divisioncourses in an Engineering or Sci­ence Degree Program or fivecourses in a Masters Program inQuality Assurance; have an overallgrade point average of 3.2 orgreater; a U.S. citizen; be able toattend the Measurement ScienceConference on January 16,2003 inAnaheim; submit an applicationbefore November 28, 2003. Appli­cations are available in the Finan­cial Aid Office.

The Air Force Reserve OfficerTraining Corps (APROTC) offers3.5-,3,2.5-, and 2 year scholarshipsin all majors. The scholarships aregenerally capped at $15,000/yeartowards tuition and fees, with anannual book allowance of$480 and$200/month stipend during theschool year. Full-time student sta­tus, AFROTC program involve­ment, and a minimum of 2.5 cumu­lative GPAis required to be eligible.For more information visitwww.usc.edu/afrotcl.

Scholarships:

The John Gyles EducationAwards of $3000 are available tofull Canadian or American citizenswho are studying all areas ofpostsecondary study. A minimumGPA of 2.7 is required. Criteriaother than strictly academic abilityand financial need are consideredin the selective process. Filing datesfor mailing applications in 2003 are

1, June 1 and November

on the contemporary politi­cal scene. provocative, andfunny, Lies is becoming one of themost talked about book of politicalhumor in 2003.Franken is the best-selling authorof Oh, the Things I Know!, RushLimbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot andOther Observations, Why Not Me?,and I'm Not Good Enough, I'mSmart Enough and Doggone It,People Like Me!A book signing will immediatelyfollow the reading.Presented in collaboration withVroman's Bookstore and Caltech'sWords Matter series.This event is open to the public, freeof charge. Parking for BeckmanAuditorium is located on MichiganAvenue south of Del Mar Boule­vard in Pasadena. Call toll-free 1(888) 2CALTECH (222-5832) or(626) 395-4652 for information.

Take a Priend Por'see your branch Par detailsairline special

This is THE trip oP the season!Follow the casts' Pootsteps PromParis to »Nice

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Satirist and author Ai Franken willread from his new book, Lies andthe Lying Liars Who Tell Them...AFair and Balanced Look at theRight, on Wednesday, October 22,at 8 p.m. in Beckman Auditorium.This even is part ofCaltech's Voicesof Vision series.Franken trains his subversive wit

On Wednesday, October 15, Dr.David Baltimore, President andprofessor ofbiology at Caltech, willgive an Earnest C. Watson lecture,entitled "Viruses, Virsues Vi­ruses." Beckman Auditorium,parking located at 332 South Michi­gan Avenue, Pasadena. 8 p.m. Ad­mission: free. Call toll-free 1 (888)2CALTECH (222-5832) or (626)395-4652 for information.

The Caltech Women's Center islocated at 265 Center for StudentServices. Our mission is to promotethe advancement of women in sci­ence and engineering. TheWomen's Center works to supportsthe central research and educationalmission of Caltech, while provid­ing students, postdoctoral scholars,staff, and faculty--women andmen- with opportunities, pro­grams, and services that addressgender issues and promote success,equity, and safety. Some ofour pro­grams include Academic and Pro­fessional Development; JUMP, theJPL Undergraduate Mentoring Pro­gram; Women Mentoring Women;Technical Tours Series; and Semi­nars and Workshops. Coming up onSeptember 30 is the GraduateWomen's Discussion Group. Octo­ber 7, we will host "RosalindFranklin: The Dark Lady ofDNA,"Lecture and Book Signing with au­thor Brenda Maddox. For a full listof programs and services, visit ourwebpage at www.womenscenter.caltech.edu.

Please note the following Munroseminars as well:17 October 2003 (4:00 pm 25Baxter); Jonathan Israel (Institutefor Advanced Study, Princeton),"The Radical Enlightenment"7 November 2003 (4:00 pm 25Baxter); Gideon Yaffe (USC), '''TheGovernment Beguiled Me, and IDid Eat': Responsibility and theEntrapment Defense"Seminars on the Caltech campus areopen to the community at nocharge. For information, contactMoti Feingold at 626-395-8696 orfeingold@hss.caltech.edu

Caltech is offering Guitar Classesfor the fall term on Tuesdays start­ing October 7. Beginning 4:30-5:30p.m., Intermediate 3:00-4:00 p.m.,Advanced 5:30-6:30 p.m. in theStudent Activities Center (SAC)Room 1. Classes are free to Caltechstudents, and staff is space permits.The instructor is Darryl Denning.For more information, contact himat ddenning@caltech.edu or x.2923.

1

The Seminar on Science, Ethics,and Public Policy (SEPP) has beenrenamed: Caltech Humanities pre­sents Seminar on History and Phi­losophy of Science (HPS).20 October 2003 (4:00 pm 25Baxter); Michael Arbib (USC),"From Monkey-like Action Recog­nition to Human Language: AnEvolutionary Framework forNeurolinguistics"

The Everhart Lectnre Series se­lection committee is seeking appli­cations and nominations for the2003-2004 lecture series. TheEverhart Lecture Series is a forumto encourage interdisciplinary inter­action among graduate students andfaculty, to share ideas about recentresearch developments, problemsand controversies, and to recognizeexemplary presentation and re­search abilities. Lecturers discussscientific topics at a level suitablefor graduate students and facultyfrom all fields while addressingcurrent research issues. Each fall,three graduate student EverhartLecturers are selected to presenttheir work to the Caltech commu­nity. Speakers receive a $500 hono­rarium and recognition at gradua­tion. This prestigious honor is spon­sored by the Graduate Office andthe Graduate Student Council. Formore information, visitwww.its.caltech.edu/-els or e-mailels@its.caltech.edu. The deadlinefor applications and nominations isMonday, October 20. Selectionswill be made by December.

Aero Association of Caltech(Caltech Flying Club). Want tolearn to fly? AACIT offers aircraftrental and flight instruction, andorganizes fly-outs and flying relatedactivities. For more informationvisit our web pagewww.its.caltech.edu/-aacitorcon­tact Eric Fechter atfechter@its.caltech.edu.

Continued/rom Page 3, Column 4

SURF Party! The Caltech commu­nity is invited to gather for cake onFriday, October 17,from noon to1:30 PM on San Pasqual Mall tocelebrate a quarter century of un­dergraduate research and studentachievement through SURF!

SURF Seminar Day, Saturday,Oct. 18th from 9 am to 5 pm. Pre­sentations begin at 10 am. Studentswill present and discuss their sum­mer research projects. To register,please go online at http://www.hypatia.caltech.edu/surf-sem/. A schedule of presentations willbe posted on the SURF website atwww.surfcaltech.edu. For ques­tions, please contact NormaDavalos at 626.395.2885 or emailher at sfp@caltech.edu.

6

Regions

7

test the prediction that areas withhigh gravity will have low strain,and vice versa.

The team points out that althoughlarge earthquakes occur wheregravity and topography are low,there are low-gravity areas in sub­duction zones with no seismic ac­tivity. Furthermore, the researchconcentrates on subduction zones,and so makes no predictions aboutother types of faults.

Nonetheless, within a subductionzone known to be earthquake­prone, Simons believes earthquakesare more likely to occur in low­gravity zones. High gravity areas dotend to have few earthquakes. Sowhile the research does not offer away to predict where earthquakeswill happen, it can predict wherethey won't happen, says Simons.

www.bateswhite.com

'U'JU'''''...... 13, 2003

of 4 x lOA-4 m/sA2.Because topography and gravity

variations persist over periods oftime much longer than the typicaltime between earthquakes, 100 to1,000 years, large earthquakesshould be consistently absent fromareas with large positive gravityanomalies, say Song and Simons.

"This study makes a strong con­nection between long-term tectonicbehavior and short-term seismicactivity," says Simons, "and therebyprovides a class of new observa­tions for understanding earthquakedynamics."

Though no one can tell when orwhere the next major earthquakewill occur, Global Positioning Sys­tem measurements can show wherestrain is accumulating. Simonshopes to use such measurements to

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NEWS

• Courtesy of www.gps.caltech.edul-alexGeology and Planetary Scumce graduate stud.ent Teh-RuAlexS(png enjoys a scenic view. Song played akey in studying the relation between gravitational and earthquakes.

8, Column 5

have greater gravity and topogra­phy anomalies, and are also morelikely to have earthquakes.

Though this account provides abasic explanation for a rather com­plicated and unintuitive phenom­enon, it is a simplified view, andSong and Simons would like to domore work to refine the details ofthe relation between the gravityfield and large earthquakes.

The gravity anomalies the teamconsidered take a long time to buildup, and change very little overtimescales up to at least 1 millionyears. Short-term events such asearthquakes do change the gravityfield as the earth's plates suddenlymove, but those variations are smallcompared with the long-termanomalies, which are.on the ord~r

CALIFORNIA TECH

be fought. Schwarzenegger, whowill take office once state officialscertify the results, has requestedthat Davis refrain from signing leg­islation in his final weeks as gover­nor. Still, Davis is widely expectedto allow more than 200 lingeringbills to become law and perhapsmake as many as 100 appointmentsbefore he leaves office-quite amess to clean for the man whopromised Leno he'd "go to Sacra­mento and clean house."

Schwarzenegger may also face anew, Democratically led recall ef­fort ifhe fails to meet expectations.After Tuesday's election, Demo­cratic party executive BobMulholland said he'd give the newgovernor 100 days; after that, he leftopen.the possibility of followingwhat he called the Republican pre­cedent of recalling officials thepopulace dislikes.

In the meantime, Schwarzeneggerhas assembled his transition team,a 65-member hodgepodge groupthat runs the ideological gamutfrom Republican businessman BillSimon to San Francisco MayorWillie Brown. Other curious selec­tions include Democratic L.A.

James conservativeBruce and

thropisHlbout-ltovv'n Eliwhose millions financed Caltech'sBroad Center.

"The transition committee 1 amanulouricing today is a distingui"hed

of men and women whomy commitment to restoring

California to greatness,Sc1l1waf2~eneggersaid at a press con­,ference to introduce the team. Thegovernor-elect is expected to takeoffice later this month.

no

OU sy 0 www.thestar.com

Governor-electArnold Schwarz­enegger after his Thesday victory.

Duf Sundheim down to the vastmajority of the Republican caucusin the State Assembly, went publicto endorse the action star,Schwarzenegger had no troublewinning "with one McClintock tiedbehind his back," to quote thewords ofSan Diego House Rep. andrecall bankroller Darrell Issa.

On the Democratic side, Davistook a surprisingly conciliatory tonein defeat. "This state has been verygood to me," said the ousted gov­ernor in his concession speech. "1am on everyone in the stateto put recall and the divisive-ness behind us and do what'sfor the state of California."

be to cornehowever. Francisco,where 80% voted "no," to Kern

where 76% votedreturns in this election were

both from north tothe coast inland.

Schwaf2:enegJ~er's wassimilarly ranging his62% in Kern to just 19% in SanFrancisco.

Moreover, there remain battles to

Continuedfrom Page 1, Column 5

show that during the early 50s,many women served on the facultyof King's College and some evenheld senior positions.

Rosalind's bitter disagreementswith Maurice Wilkins were prima­rily due to a conflict of personality,Maddox argues, and the transfer of"Photograph #51" to Watson didnot involve any malicious intent.

Finally, Maddox raises the inter­esting point that in 1953, no onebesides Watson and Crick knew thatthere was a race to solve the struc­ture ofDNA and that even after thepublication of the paper, many sci­entists, including Franklin, wouldnot appreciate its importance untilyears later.

Brenda Maddox's other works ofbiography include Nora: The Biog­raphy of Nora Joyce, Life ofD.H.Lawrence, and Yeats Ghosts.

ControversiesContinuedfrom Page 1, Column 3

CQurtesy of www.gps.caltech.edul-simons

Associate Geology Professor Mark Simons ~arefullyexamines a lavaflow as it cools.

her glasses and did something novelwith her hair."

On the flip side, the feministmovement of the 60's and 70'smade Rosalind into something of aposter child. Many have claimedthat Watson stole outright the struc­ture ofDNA from Rosalind and thatshe was robbed of the credit she de­served by Watson, Maurice Wilkinsand the anti-women King's College(which had separate men andwomen dining rooms at the time).

In Rosalind Franklin: The DarkLady ofDNA, Maddox tries to rec­oncile these two divergent interpre­tations ofRosalind's contribution tothe discovery of the double helix.Maddox attributes RosalindFranklin's bad treatment at King'sCollege to a combination of herJewishness and her upperclassbackground rather than an institu­tional bias against women. Records

OCTOBER 13, 2003.~----- -------

NEWS

for

By ERNIE TRETKOFF

In trying to predict where earth­quakes will occur, few peoplewould think to look at Earth's grav­ity field. What does the force thatcauses objects to fall to the groundand the moon to orbit around theearth have to do with the unpredict­able ground trembling of an earth­quake?

Now, researchers at the Califor­nia Institute of Technology havefound thatwithin subduction zones,the regions where one of the earth'splates slips below another, areaswhere the attFaction due to gravityis relatively high are less likely toexperience large earthquakes thanareas where the gravitational forceis relatively low.

The study, by Caltech graduatestudent Teh-Ru Alex Song and As­sociate Professor of GeophysicsMark Simons, appeared in the Au­gust 1 issue of the journal Science.

Until now, says Simons, research­ers studying earthquake behaviorgenerally took one of four ap­proaches: 1) analyzing seismo­grams generated by earthquakes, 2)studying frictional properties ofvarious types of rock in the labora­tory or in the field, 3) measuring theslow accumulation of strain be­tween earthquakes with surveytechniques, and 4) large-scale dy­namic models of earthquakes andtectonics.

Instead of using one of these ap­proaches, Song and Simons consid­ered variations in the gravity fieldas a predictor of seismic behavior.A gravity anomaly occurs whengravity is stronger or weaker thanthe regional average. For example,a mountain or an especially denserock would tend to increase thenearby gravity field, creating a posi­tive anomaly. Likewise, a valleywould tend to create a negativeanomaly.

Song and Simons examined ex­isting data from satellite-derivedobservations of the gravity field in

~be (!California ~etb

Caltech 40-58Pasadena, CA 91126

Song and Simons Study Variations InGravity Field as Earthquake Predictor

subduction zones. Comparing corresponded well to areas with lowvariations in gravity along the gravity and high seismic activity.trenches with earthquake data from So why would gravity and topog­two different catalogs going back raphy be related to seismic activ­100 years, the team found that, ity? One possible link is via the fric­within a given subduction zone, ar- tional behavior of the fault. Wheneas with negative gravity anomalies two plates rub up against each other,correlated with increased large friction between the plates makesearthquake activity. Areas with rela- it harder for them to slide. If the fric­tively high gravity anomalies expe- tion is great enough, the plates willrienced fewer large earthquakes. In stick Over long periods of time, asaddition, most of the energy re- the stuck plates push against eachleased in earthquakes was in areas other, they may deform, creatingof low gravity. spatial variations in topography and

The team looked at subduction gravity.zone earthquakes with magnitude . In addition to deforming thegreater than 7.5 since 1976. They plates; friction causes stress to buildfound that of the total energy re- up. Wh.en too much stress builds up,leased in those earthquakes, 44 per- the plates will suddenly jump, re­cent came from regions with the leasing the strain in the sometimesmost strongly negative gravity violent shaking of an earthquake.anomalies, though these regions Ifthere were no friction between themade up only 14 percent of the to- plates, they would just slide righttal area. by each other smoothly, without

Song and Simons also compared bending or building up the strainthe location of large earthquakes that eventually results in earth­with the topography of the subduc- quakes. So in subduction zones,tion zones, finding that areas oflow areas under high stress are likely totopography (such as basins) also Continued on Page 7, Column 3

This historical California recall isthe first time that a recall proposalhas ever succeeded. Election offi­cials reported heavy turnoutthroughout the day, in addition to2.2 million previously cast absen­tee votes. Davis was highly dis­proved of and Schwarzenegger eas­ily led the rest of the other candi­dates. Moreover, people also indi­cated their opinions on matters suchas Proposition 54, California'seconomy, and whether they "ap­prove or disapprove the way G. W.Bush is handling his job as a presi­dent."

"This is a great day for Califor­nia," Governor Davis said, after hecon<::eded to Schwarzenegger whenthe election had closed, "On thisday, in response to a common dan­ger, the people of California roseto their duties as citizens."

would say of the experience was "Iloved it!"

His fans adore him because ofhisgrand imagination and honest as­tuteness at describing life.

Caltech student, Kim Popendorf'06 shares her admiration for Gar­rison Keillor, "He's such a greatwriter. I've seriously laughed andcried till my sides ached at the samestory."

Other books by Garrison Keillorinclude Happy to Be Here (1985),Lake Wobegone Days (1985) andLeaving Home: A Collection ofLake Wobegone Stories (1987). Heis 55-years-old and married to vio­linist Jenny Lind Nilsson.

candidate by paying a $3,500 fil­ing fee, or submitting 10,000 sig­natures. There can be as many can­didates as possible.If Davis gets recalled (which he

did), he would be immediately re­moved from office and replaced bythe winner, who serves out the re­mainder ofhis term. If it fails, Davisis reimbursed for his election costsand there cannot be another recallelection for six months.

THE CALIFORNIA TECH

Rotation Ends: Freshman finish their first week atCaltech by finding out what house they end up in. Theyfind an unanticipated twist when they arrive at somehouses.

World Series: With the loss of the Oakland Athletics tothe Boston Red Sox, California's hopes of a World Seriestitle get put on hold until next year.

California Recall: Arnold Schwarzenegger terminatesGray Davis' second term as governor with his special elec­tion victory.

8

by focusing on celebrities and com­mercialism. He liked articles thatreaders fall upon unexpectedlyrather than feature stories thatpromised big inside secrets aboutfamous people. He returned fromDenmark because he realized hisheart in America and the Americanphilosophy.

His advice to aspiring writers wasto write about subjects first-hand.Experience life and write about it,do not write about what othersknow. His faith in writing stemsfrom his belief that the "writers getthe last laugh." He wamed however,that writing is "a very lonely job."

The night was a grand success.The only words an old woman

D. Korta/The California Tech

Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor draws a laugh fromthe audieuce while relating one of his many anecdotes.

eillor dvises Aspiringriters: Experience Life

Continuedfrom Page 1, Column 2$30 million.

On the election day, the recallballot would have two sections. Inthe first the voters vote yes or noon recalling Davis. If the voter votesyes, then he or she can proceed onthe next page to vote for the newgovernor who will take Davis'place. Only a majority of "yes" onthe first part will get Davis recalled.Typically, anyone can bec.ome. a