Schedule

Bechtel Mall

Casual ice-breaker event with music, appetizers, and drinks on Bechtel Mall outside Arms.

Separate RSVP required. Learn more about GPS Centennial events here.

Beckman Auditorium

Join a series of invited talks looking back through the last 100 years of GPS. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be served, along with a cake cutting and group photo.

Separate RSVP required. Learn more about GPS Centennial events here.

Beckman Auditorium

Join continued talks in the morning followed by lunch.

Optional field trip in the afternoon/early evening, from approximately 1:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m. Participation is limited to 50 people and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Confirmation emails will be sent to those who secure a spot.

Join us for a local half-day field trip to the base of the San Gabriel Mountains to observe evidence of movement along the Sierra Madre fault, the bedrock geology of the San Gabriels, and the impacts of post-wildfire debris flows and erosion.

Separate RSVP required. Learn more about GPS Centennial events here.

Alumni House (345 S. Hill Avenue)

Your first stop for a great weekend. Come to the Caltech Alumni House and pick up your program and access badge for your registered events. Stop by throughout the day if you need a quick rest, refreshments, a place to meet friends, or have questions. 

Meet in front of Beckman Auditorium 

Join Caltech History and Architectural Tour Service (CHATS) docents and revisit your lecture halls, tour dramatically renovated buildings, and see the award-winning new campus buildings, thoughtfully designed to promote innovative scientific inquiry and noted for their architectural impact. 

Beckman Institute, Suite B215

Explore Caltech’s history at the Caltech Archives and Special Collections. The Archives will display photographs from Caltech’s research in astronomy and particle physics; Drosophila drawings by Edith Wallace; original letters and notes of Caltech faculty such as Feynman, Richter, and von Kármán; and rare books dating back to the Scientific Revolution. The Archives will also offer behind-the-scenes tours of collection storage for a sense of the full scope of the Caltech Archives.

Center for Student Services

Join Joseph Greenwell, the inaugural associate vice president for Student Life and chief student affairs officer, as he takes you on a personal student life tour of campus. He will highlight some of the many services Caltech provides to support the academic, social, and emotional well-being of our students.

Location TBD

Join a panel of experts to learn practical strategies for protecting the people you care about, avoiding costly mistakes, and putting the right estate and financial planning tools in place, regardless of your age or stage of life. For questions and to learn more, please contact Diana Saa at (626) 395-2927 or ogpevents@caltech.edu.

Steele and Watson Laboratories

Join the department of Applied Physics and Materials Science and the Kavli Nanoscience Institute for an afternoon packed with exciting activities, including welcome remarks by leadership; lunch with alumni, students, and faculty; lab tours of the KNI cleanroom and individual research groups; the unveiling of the KNI historical display, and a poster session with wine and beer reception.

For more information, please contact kni@caltech.edu and visit kni.caltech.edu.

Dabney Gardens

Join the Caltech Postdoc Association for drinks, appetizers, networking, and connections over shared experiences with current and former postdocs.

Meet at the Alumni House

Inspired by the spirit of Ditch Day, join the hunt as Techers test their knowledge of Caltech’s campus highlights and hidden gems.

Limited to the first 50 participants on site. Learn more about Watson Adventures scavenger hunts here. 

The Rathskeller Lounge at the Athenaeum

Classes of 2016–2026 are invited to reconnect and reminisce over craft bar bites, pub games, and a night of astronomy at the newly renovated Rathskeller Lounge in the Athenaeum.

This year’s party marks the 10th anniversary of Caltech Astronomy Outreach’s Astronomy on Tap. The evening features short science talks from Caltech faculty and PhD students, audience Q&A, astronomy trivia with prizes, and telescope viewing of the night sky.

Gregg Hallinan, professor of astronomy and director of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, will share “Building the World’s Most Powerful Radio Telescope,” a look at the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA), a Caltech-led radio telescope being built in the Nevada desert that, once complete, will be the most powerful of its kind in the world.

Delina Levine, a PhD candidate in astronomy, will share “Gamma-Ray Bursts: The Universe’s Most Energetic Explosions,” a talk on the most energetic explosions in the cosmos and what they reveal about how the universe works.

Alumni House (345 S. Hill Ave.)

For those just arriving, be sure to stop by the Caltech Alumni House and pick up your program and name badge for your registered events.  

Dabney Gardens

Mix, mingle, and enjoy a breakfast gathering for all alumni before the JPL at 90 panel in Ramo Auditorium.

Ramo Auditorium

Ninety years ago, a band of Caltech students and self-taught rocketeers, known on campus as the Suicide Squad, hauled a rocket motor into the Arroyo Seco and lit it. That work grew into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a Caltech enterprise that predated NASA itself. The partnership between campus and Lab that those students began has driven much of what we know about the solar system: Explorer 1, the first US satellite; the Ranger and Surveyor missions that paved the way for Apollo; Voyager, still traveling beyond the solar system nearly 50 years after launch; the Mars rovers; and Europa Clipper, now on its way to a moon that may hide an ocean. Work that moved between campus and Lab also reshaped life on Earth, from the image sensor behind the camera in your phone to the elevation data behind digital maps like Google Earth.

That work continues. Perseverance is caching rock cores on Mars for a future mission to bring home. SPHEREx, launched in 2025, has begun mapping hundreds of millions of galaxies to study how the universe began. The next generation of missions depends on instruments still being invented where campus and Lab meet.

This panel marks JPL’s 90th anniversary through three perspectives: the leadership that guided the Lab, the engineering that flies its missions today, and the technology shaping what comes next.

Panelists:
Charles Elachi (MS ’69, PhD ’71), professor of electrical engineering and planetary science, emeritus, and director of JPL from 2001 to 2016
Nagin Cox, systems engineer at JPL, with missions spanning Galileo, the Mars rovers, and Europa Clipper
Shouleh Nikzad (MS ’84, PhD ’90), chief technologist at JPL, senior faculty associate in physics at Caltech, and 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Moderator to be announced.

Feynman Lecture Hall 

As the inaugural recipient of the KNI-Wheatley Scholarship in Nanoscience in 2016, Dr. Faraon is giving a special lecture that highlights his group’s advancements over the last decade and the impact that the scholarship has had on his trajectory from assistant to full professor and his current role as the director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute. Join us for a small reception from 10:00-10:30 am, followed by the lecture from 10:30-11:30 am.

For more information, please contact kni@caltech.edu or visit  kni.caltech.edu/events.

Learn about the cutting-edge research happening at Caltech. At SURF/SFP Seminar Day, undergraduate researchers present their project findings during speaking presentations throughout the day.

For information about SURF, contact 626-395-2885 or sfp@caltech.edu.

Ramo Auditorium

Enjoy a lively panel discussion featuring the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award (DAA) recipients Shouleh Nikzad (MS ’84, PhD ’90), Leonidas Guibas (BS ’71, MS ’71), Eddy W. Hartenstein (MS ’74), and David Van Essen (BS ’67) in conversation with 2001 DAA recipient Sandra Tsing Loh, MFA (BS ’83).

Learn more about this year’s recipients.

North Field 

Beckman Mall

Enjoy lunch and hear about today’s student life from Joseph Greenwell, associate vice president for Student Life and chief student affairs officer, and current student leaders from groups like ASCIT, IHC, the Caltech Y, and more. Visit with representatives from various student clubs.

Invitation only. A separate invitation will be sent directly to all DAA recipients.

Immediately following the panel, all Distinguished Alumni Award honorees, past and present, and their guests are invited to a luncheon celebrating their contributions to the Institute and to the world. Hosted by President Jayawardhana, this is an exclusive invitation for Distinguished Alumni Award (DAA) recipients who have left indelible marks, shaping Caltech’s legacy, leading science and society.

Sherman Fairchild Library Amphitheater

Separate registration required.

Join MCE faculty and students to hear about new research and educational projects, followed by lab tours.

To RSVP, please contact: Lynn Seymour at lynnb@caltech.edu.

TACIT House (275 S. Hill Ave.)

Reconnect with fellow Techers who found their voice on stage in theater, improv, or through storytelling during their time at Caltech. Join Brian Brophy, Director of Theater Arts at Caltech, for an afternoon of conversation with fellow alumni. Hear how theater and storytelling continue to play a vital role in student life at the Institute, and meet current students carrying the tradition forward.

Dabney Gardens

Participants of the previous Student Summer Program (SSP), Bridge Program, and the Freshmen Summer Institute (FSI) are invited to come connect with each other and current students in the First-Year Success Research Institute (FSRI) as FSRI works to establish an active alumni network. SSP, Bridge, and FSI are earlier iterations of the current FSRI program.

All are welcome to join! Learn more about FSRI or email fsri@caltech.edu, for more information.

Braun Athletic Center and North Field

Come cheer on Women’s Soccer as they take on Chapman and Women’s Volleyball as they battle against Azusa Pacific University! Enjoy frozen treats, lawn games, family-friendly activities, tour the upgraded gym facilities, see Bernoulli the Beaver, and learn about the alumni Beaver Varsity Club and ways to stay engaged as a former Caltech athlete.

All alumni and families are welcome to join and support!  A free gift for all attendees while supplies last.

Learn more about Caltech Athletics or contact Heather Morgan at hmorgans@caltech.edu.

North Field 

Braun Gym 

Caltech Hall North and South Plazas

Don’t miss this reception with all six divisions in one place! Enjoy wine, hors d’oeuvres, and hear the latest about your division(s) from faculty, staff, students, and take the time network with fellow alumni and former postdocs. Provost David Tirrell will share updates on current research and initiatives across the Institute.

Tirrell is the Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Caltech’s 10th Provost, and holder of the Carl and Shirley Larson Provostial Chair.

Location TBD

Since 1979, SURF students have had the opportunity to conduct research under the guidance of experienced mentors working at the frontier of their fields. Browse the gallery of innovative student research during this afternoon of poster presentations.

For information about SURF, contact 626-395-2885 or sfp@caltech.edu.

Avery, Blacker, Dabney, Fleming, Lloyd, Page, Ricketts, and Venerable Houses

Take a stroll down memory lane on Olive and Moore Walk as you join classmates from your House and current student residents during this fun afternoon happy hour. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres and toast to great stories, memories, and House traditions. 

Beckman Mall

Celebrate with fellow alumni at this weekend’s signature event and hear from new Caltech President and renowned astrophysicist, Ray Jayawardhana. He will share updates from the Institute and discuss his work exploring the origin and evolution of planetary systems, including how he and his group use the largest telescopes on the ground and in space to do ‘remote sensing’ of exoplanets, with a view to investigating prospects for life in the universe.

Learn more about President Jayawardhana.

The event will feature food stations, drinks, presentations, and audience Q&A.

Meet at the Caltech Y (505 S. Wilson Ave.)

Shuttle transportation will be provided.

Join the Caltech Y for a morning hike at the Lower Arroyo Seco as we explore a beautiful local trail only minutes from Caltech. Enjoy a short 3.2-mile loop with easy terrain and 177 feet of elevation gain. The hike may still be challenging for some participants.

Meet at the Caltech Y for a light pre-hike snack and to board the shuttle. Please come prepared with sturdy shoes, sun protection, water, and insect repellent.

Annenberg Center

CAMP on Campus is the flagship event of the Caltech Alumni Mentorship Program (CAMP): two days of 45-minute, two-on-one mentoring sessions between current students and alumni mentors. Students come with the decisions they’re weighing: choosing between SURF and an internship, comparing academia and industry, planning life after Caltech. Each session gives them direct guidance from alumni who’ve made those same calls.

Sessions run Sunday, October 18, and Monday, October 19. Sunday closes with an optional dinner in Pasadena; Monday runs 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Come for both days or whatever fits your schedule.