Caltech

A Great End to a Great Trip

Hi,
On the last day we had to get up really early, pack, and bring our things down the first floor. We then headed out to catch the metro to go to Bethesda, Maryland, the location of the NIH!  

At Union Station, there was a really big tree. It was humongous! But yeah, we hurried up and rushed onto the metro.

After riding for a while, we finally arrived in Bethesda. So, for those of you that don't know, the National Institutes of Health is a government agency which provides funding for medical research. At the actual institute, they have many divisions that encompass different disorders and body systems. The NIH is actually the world largest medical funding source, so it's extremely important in the advancement of medicine and it's helped with many modern medical discoveries.

Here, we heard from James Battey. He's the director of the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. He was also on a committee that helped write the current guidelines for stem cell research. Under the Bush administration, an executive order was issued that stated any stem cell line created after 9pm on August 1st, 2001 could not receive federal funds for research. This greatly limited the amount of research for obvious monetary reasons. But, on March 9th, 2009, Obama removed this barrier and stated that federal funds could be used for any federally approved stem cell line. To further decide the specifics and guidelines of what should be "federally approved," a committee was created. Battey was on this committee, so he has held an important role in the progress of stem cell research in the US.

His presentation was about the basics of stem cells, current progress in research, and how stem cell policy affects this progress. Like always, we had a nice Q&A. We learned that although the many more cell lines were eligible for funding, progress hasn't changed made any huge leaps. With that being said, research is still progressing and the future looks hopeful!


And yeah. Here's the require pic of me in front of the building/logo.


And this was one of the last escalators that I saw in DC. I became a pro of the dynamics and it was a cool experience. From the NIH, we headed back to DC to go get some food at a restaurant that someone recommended to us.


On the first night, when we were looking for somewhere to eat, we asked some of the Caltech alums if there were any good, decent priced places near us. They told us that there was a place right next to Sonoma (the restaurant where the reception was held) that had great burgers and shakes. When we got back to DC, we went to this restaurant: the Good Stuff Eatery. Since the alums recommended the shake, I decided to get one!...even though it was really cold outside! I ordered a small size, but then ended up giving me the larger size since they made extra. But yeah, you can't tell me that doesn't look delicious! And it was! 


I don't know about you, but I thought this was pretty awesome. There were like four different kinds of mayo! I ended up getting a chicken burger and I thought initially that it was small. But, by the end of the burger I was super full! Overall it was great and I recommend it to anyone in the DC area. :)

After lunch we headed back to William Penn House, got our stuff and headed back to the airport. 

Here's my first pic sitting at the window seat! Bye DC.
So now the trip has come to end and I've learned a lot. Initially, I went on this trip to help as a leader for the Caltech Y. But, as the trip progressed and I heard from different speakers, I learned that there are so many opportunities for someone with a Ph.D. I never even considered the possibility of lobbying or getting a science policy fellowship.

I think the talk that had the largest impact on me was the one by James Battey at the NIH. As a non-premed biologist, I've known that research is the path for me. However, I'm pretty sure I don't want to go into academia. So, this leaves industry. But, after hearing from Battey and learning about some of the opportunities at the NIH, I've learned that there are tons of other options. Battey made his career at the NIH and achieved much success. This gave me lots of hope and I'm extremely I got to talk to someone who's been successful. 

Overall, the trip was amazing and for any of your future Techers, I would highly recommend applying and attending the trip. You'll learn a bunch and gain a stronger appreciation for the scientists in DC. And for those of you who don't go on this specific trip, I would recommend learning about science policy!

Okay, it was nice blogging for you guys again and good luck with all your college admissions! Hope to see you guys here for Prefrosh weekend!

-Mario 

Nerdy Places Make Me Happy

Hello,
So yeah, I will elaborate a bit more on the title when the time comes in. But first let me start talking about how we got to these "nerdy places" and saw lots of important people. This day was packed with these important people and it was actually pretty amazing. Anyways, we started out the day by walking four blocks down to the Capitol to take a group photo. We were all bundled up and trying to keep warm! 


Yeah, so here's the group. Like I've commented before, the pictures are deceiving. Most of us were really really cold, but we had to put on these smiles :). Ha.


And here's a pic of us infront of the Supreme Court building. All we actually did was walk like 20 feet. From here, we decided to walk down to the Department of Energy. On our way walking, I noticed patches of snow. It had snowed in the morning before we got up. I've never seen snow fall nor touched freshly fallen snow. It brought me an unusual amount of pleasure picking up some the snow and making a snowball. Ha. Also, every time there was snow below the curb, I decided to step into it because it was so soft and fluffy! (:


We eventually made out way to the Department of Energy. Something really cool is that we were able to check into the VIP desk and received "Distinguished Visitor" passes. After checking in, we got to skip security and go straight up the floor where the secretaries offices and conference rooms were held.


We heard from quite a few people here at the DoE. First, we heard from Asa Hopkins, who happens to be a Science and Technology Policy AAAS Fellow. He's doing his fellowship here at the DoE as an assistant to undersecretary Steve Koonin. Asa talked a bit about his role and how he prepares a lot of first drafts for Koonin. He also taked about how, as a scientist, he can provide a stronger draft than say, a non-scientist. Our second speaker was Karina Edmonds. She was in charge of Technology Transfer at DoE. After graduating from Caltech, she went on to be the director of technology transfer at JPL. She worked there up until being offered this new position in DC. The DoE and the government labs don't get many patents issued in comparison to Caltech or several other top universities. Thus, the DoE wanted to structure their own technology transfer after a university. So, they brought in Karina to develop a method in which the DoE and it's laboratories can begin to issue more patents.

Our final speaker was Steve Koonin, the undersecretary of science at the Department of Energy. He was pretty legit. He had quite the career trajectory. He was a student at Caltech, a professor at Caltech, provost at Caltech, chief scientist at BP, and then his current position as undersecretary. His session was largly a Q&A, but he answered everything honestly and seemed extremely down to earth.


Here's the "Distinguished Visitor" pass that I mentioned. It made us feel special. Too bad we didn't get to keep them!

After the Department of Energy, we headed to go hear a talk from Regina Dugan, director of DARPA. We didn't actually meet at the DARPA building, but we still were able to hear a lot about the organization. DARPA is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and they're responsible for most of the technology that the military uses. Regina Dugan, like most of our other speakers, was a Caltech alum. She was a great speaker, in that she was very motivational. She's one of those people that make you want to get off your butt and do something. At DARPA, she said, people are given the opportunity to fail. She went on to explain that program managers were given full control over their programs and that it's okay for them to fail. 

So this is a pretty horrible picture, but the name of the building is the National Museum of American History. Bascially, it's another Smithsonian museum that's right across the street from the Natural History one. We wanted to choose somewhere that wouldn't require that much walking, so we chose this one!


Here are a few random pictures that I took as I was going through the exhibits. 


War propaganda! Woooo!


Other than there being a lot of tv's, I'm not quite sure what this was for. :)


This was pretty awesome. There were all the presidents on top, and on the bottom there was a timeline of other important things. "Important things" also included the start of Youtube!


This doesn't really have to do with anything. The Environmental Protection Agency was across the street from the Museum of Natural History and I thought it warranted a picture. Just goes to show how amazing DC architecture is! From here, we headed to the National Academies of Science(NAS).


First off, the NAS "is an honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare." If someone on the Hill wants a further study of something, the NAS takes care of this. These studies provide advice on their decisions about passing a bill or not. The NAS building, itself, was pretty awesome. From the moment you walk in, you see tons of science-related stuff on the walls and the floor. On one wall, there were Darwin's finches. And as you can see on this wall, there were things from all science disciplines. As a biologist, I do like the heart, body, and brain scan diagrams. :) But, I mean, all sciences are good. (:

This place was great! Along the floor, they had tons of scientific equations. It was like a nerd paradise. The sad part about it, is that I only knew like 3 or 4 equations out of the 12 or so. 

We headed up to one of the conference rooms and heard from several speakers. The first one was Mike Nelson, who served as the science advisor to Al Gore. Mike's talk focused a lot about how to make it in DC. Over the years he had developed a list of things to do and not to do. Obviously, they worked well for him and it was nice hearing about he began as a science advisor to Gore when he was a governor and was brought to DC once he became Vice President. After him, we got to hear from William Colglazier. He is currently the executive officer at the NAS. He basically went over what the NAS does and it's role in DC and the US. He also went over several of the report titles to give us a general scope of the NAS. Finally, we heard from John Andelin. He worked in the government as the assistant director of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. His talk was more about things just kind of have to fall into place and that's how you get somewhere. His story was one of lots of coincidences, but ended up leading him to a great education and career.


This is the view from outside the conference room. Yeah, I realize that the light is kind of weird, but it was great view. After we heard from the speakers, we made our way back to either William Penn House, or around DC to explore. 

I know I should have gone to go see the monuments, but it was really cold and I was still very tired. Something about all the activities during the day tired me out a lot. So, by the end of the days all I wanted to so was just pass out. And that's basically what I did. I got back, took a shower then slept.
I was thouroughly excited for our last day though. We would be heading to the National Institute of Health! I'll tell you about this and what I got from this trip in the final post. 

Until then,
Mario 

Off to DC!

Hey,
So I'm back. Yay...ha. Anyways, this time I'm going to have a shorter blog that will cover the next few days. For those of you that read my other blog, sorry for not finishing it up. This summer/first term, I ended up being a lot busier than I initially expected. Anyways, now time to start this blog! In the early hours of Sunday morning, I left to the nation's capital to go on the Caltech Y, Science Policy Trip! In the next few posts I'm going to tell you a bit about my experience at the capital!

Let me first start off by talking about the Caltech Y. There are tons of interesting clubs/organizations on campus, but I personally think the Caltech Y is one of the best. The Caltech Y was founded in 1916 by and for students, as an opportunity to develop leadership. Today the Y exists "to enrich student life and to provide opportunities that will challenge students to become engaged responsible citizens of the world."

Coming into Tech, I really wanted to continue doing community service. Initially I looked for Circle K(since I was involved in Key Club in high school), but found out that the Caltech campus had something else...they had the Caltech Y. So, I joined. As my freshman year went by, I was play an active role in what the Y did. I also learned that apart from community service events, the Caltech Y also branched out to: outdoor adventures, social activities, activism and leadership, and cultural events. Some of the events are shown below.  Every spring break, the Y puts something on called Alternative Spring Break. Basically, they take a group of students to some location and perform some sort of community service. This last year, there were two groups. One of them headed to Yosemite and helped build tables for the park and another group went to Wildlife Waystation. The Wildlife Waystation is an animal rehabilitation facility for wild and exotic wildlife. The group that went there helped out with the animals. In past years, groups have gone to places like San Francisco, San Diego, and Mexico. Having gone to the Yosemite trip last year, I thought it was really rewarding and a great way to spend my break!

Anther big event is Make a Difference Day. This is the biggest community service event put on by the Y. For this event, the Y helps to organize volunteer sites at about 20 locations. We take sign ups and any student, faculty, or staff member can come out, get a free shirt, and do some community service. In the pic above, you see some people doing some trail clean up at Eaton Canyon. We also had groups at old folks homes, the Boys and Girls Club, beach clean-up, schools, as well as many other places. Everyone has a good time and it's great to give back!

Now for a bit about the DC Science and Policy Trip. The point of the trip is to advance political understanding and promote engaged responsible citizenship by providing students an opportunity to hear perspectives - from science advisors, policy makers, and lobbyists - on the creation and implementation of science policy. In short, to introduce students to how science and science policy are meshed together in DC and what other opportunities there are for people with Ph.D.'s.This year was the the 5th annual trip and we had 13 grads and 10 undergrads. They came from all majors, with policy interests spanning the entire map...from health care to renewable energy to education. It was a great group.

For the trip we were able to meet tons of influential people in DC, including Steve Koonin, Regina Dugan, and James Battey. They serve as the the undersecretary of science at the Department of Energy, the Director of DARPA(Defense Advancement Research Projects Agency), and the Director for the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders at the National Institute of Health, respectively. They, as well as all the other speakers that I'll mention were great and made the trip very valuable.

Okay, let me start off with Sunday morning. :) 

 
At around 2:30 am I decided that I should pack, so here's my suitcase. We were leaving Tech at 4:30 am and I was still working on a research assignment for Genetics. I was going to turn in an incomplete copy when it was due on Friday, but as I handed it into the the prof, he offered me an extension. I took it, didn't do that much work on Saturday, and had to cram all of it on Saturday night-early Sunday morning. I ended up finishing the assignment! BUT, it was a super stressful experience! I printed it out at like 4:12, had to run across campus to turn it in, run to Lloyd(my house) to drop something off, and then run to Braun (where I live) to get ready. I essentially had like 4 minutes to get ready. I did it though! Yay for being able to sprint! (: We loaded the Super Shuttles and made our way to LAX.


Let me make a disclaimer that I was really tired all throughout the trip. So, if I look out of it in any of the pics, I probably am. Ha. Anyways, as I walked through the doors of LAX, I walked into my first airport. Yes, you read that right. I've been deprived. Putting two and two together, you can figure out that this was my first flight! I wasn't too too excited, but it was still nice finally be like a normal person. (: On a slight side note...I find it interesting that in the picture above, my retainer has a glare. Ha. Oh well.


So, I have to admit that seeing an airplane this close was pretty cool. Since my seat was a middle side, I wasn't able to see through the window. Therefore, I stole some of these pics from my friend Stephanie. Thanks Stephanie for letting me bum pictures from you! :) On my first flight, I was pleasantly surprised since Virgin America is apparently much more legit than other airlines.

 
Like I just said, this plane was really nice. I didn't have anything to compare it to, but I could still tell that it was pretty legit. So, look at these lights. Haha. Pretty sweet if you ask me. They provided a pretty nice atmosphere.
  

And on the back of all the seats (leather seats, by the way) were cool little touch screen tvs. They had free tv, games, music, and chatting. On top of that, there was free wi-fi! This is actually how I'm typing up this blog right now! So for being my first flight, I wasn't too disappointed! 


Here's Stephanie, Matt, and Raj right after we got off our flight at Dulles airport. They're undergrads majoring in biology, chemistry and math, and physics. Even though we came from all realms of science, we all thought the trip was great.  


As we left Dulles airport, we boarded a shuttle that took us over to DC. So, after an half hour of so of travelling to D.C., we made our way to the hostel-like house (except it was a lot nicer!) and brought an end to our traveling for the day. At the time it was raining a bunch and was cold. Or, at the time I thought it was cold. I learned what cold was the next day when I regretted not bringing a scarf and thermal pants! Haha. Okay, I'll talk a bit about the dinner alumni reception in the next post. 
Until then, have a good day!

-Mario

P.S. Congrats to everyone that got in! I remember when I got in early two years ago. I was super excited! I'm sure a lot of you also got into/will get into MIT and other top schools, but definitely keep Caltech as one your options. Visit us for Prefrosh Weekend. And if you can't do that(you'll learn about the date as it come closer to it..it's usually towards the end of March I think..?), there are tons of other opportunities for you to visit. Also, even though you're going to have to wait until April 1st for the other decisions to come out, at least you know that you've gotten in somewhere! Wooo.

And for those of you that were waitlisted, keep trying! Send in more recs, and show admissions that you're really interested in coming! I know that people make it off the waitlist most years. So gogogo. And for everyone that's in the process of applying, good luck!