twin rover, headed for the oppositeside of Mars.

Dr. Charles Elachi, JPL director,said, "To achieve this mission, wehave assembled the best team ofyoung women and men this coun­try can put together. Essential workwas done by other NASA centersand by our industrial and academicpartners.

Spirit stopped rolling with its basepetal down, though that favorableposition could change as airbagsdeflate, said JPL's Rob Manning,development manager for therover's descent through Mars' at­mosphere and landing on the sur­face.

Continued on Page 7, Column 1

By LEA HILDEBRANDT

On Sunday, November 23, 2003, The audience, enjoying a great se-MusicaAntiqua Koeln initiated this lection ofmusic and exemplary per­year's Coleman Chamber Music formance, thanked the artists withconcert series. The concert, starting plentiful applause. One member ofat 3.30pm was held inCaltech's the audience remarked after thesold-out Beckman Auditorium. concert that "this was a memorable

The program included Antionio afternoon." I am sure that manyCaldara's "Sinfonia Concertata in more members of the audienceC Major," one of the first works to agreed.be given such a title and a hybrid Unfortunately, this concert, espe­form that draws from the sinfonia cially the pieces by Vivaldi (forand sonata as well as the concerto. Soprano and orchestra) and the

This piece was followed by piece by Pergolesi (for Soprano,Tomaso Albinoni's Sinfonia in C Alto and orchestra) was also a re­Major and his Sinfonia in G minor, minder that Beckman Auditoriumpublished by his biographer Remo is a lecture hall- not a concert hall.Giazotti and allegedly recon- The wonderful sounds producedstructed from a fragment of a lost by the artists could not resound be­trio sonata by Albinoni found in a fore they were absorbed in the wallsDresden library in the 1940s. of the auditorium. While the con-

Next was Antonio Vivaldi's "In cert was certainly enjoyable, thefurore guistissimjae irae," which skill of the musicians could not behas an operatic style and links two fully appreciated because of theda capo arias of contrasting tempo acoustical limitations of Beckmanwith a short plaintive recitative. auditorium.

After the intermission, the orches- Musica Antiqua Koeln wastra, accompanied Soprano Nancy founded as an ensemble in 1973 byArgenta and Contralto Nathalie Reinhard Goebel and was expandedStutzmann in Giovanni Battista ten years later to form a BaroquePergolesi's "Stabat Mater." This orchestra. The ensemble's interna­piece, composed by Pergolesi in his tional breakthrough came in 1979final days, has been used in many with its debut performances atmovies including "Amadeus," London'sQueenElizabethHallandwhere it accompanied Salieri'srec- at the Holland Festival.ollections of attending church as a Since thattime, Musica Antiquachild. Koeln, with Goebel as concertmas-

Continued on Page 8, Column 1

learned that NASA's Deep SpaceNetwork had received a post-land­ing signal from Spirit. The cheer­ing resumed about three hours laterwhen the rover transmitted its firstimages to Earth, relaying themthrough NASA's Mars Odyssey or­biter.

"We've got many steps to go be­fore this mission is over, but we'veretired a lot of risk with this land­ing," said JPL's Pete Theisinger,project manager for the Mars Ex­ploration Rover Project.

Deputy project manager for therovers, JPL's Richard Cook, said,"We're certainly looking forward toOpportunity landing three weeksfrom now." Opportunity is Spirit's

,rUtaalit

A traveling robotic geologist fromNASA has landed on Mars and re­turned stunning images of the areaaround its landing site in GusevCrater.

Mars Exploration Rover Spiritsuccessfully sent a radio signal af­ter the spacecraft had bounced androlled for several minutes follow­ing its initial impact at 11 :35 p.m.EST (8:35 p.m. Pacific StandardTime) on January 3.

"This is a big night for NASA,"said NASA Administrator SeanO'Keefe. "We're back. lam very,very proud of this team and we'reon Mars."

Members of the mission's flightteam at NASA's Jet PropulsionLaboratory, Pasadena, Calif.,cheered and clapped when they

By GUY WEBSTER andFRANKLIN O'DONNELL

out on a limb and supported her po­sition; the license, he argued, shouldbe a certification of driving abilityrather than a means of identifica­tion. Callers excoriated him, butWendell held firm.

Nor were many listeners toopleased when Wendell came outunequivocally against the Iraq war."Americans have no idea what theGolden Rule means anymore," hesaid. "Psychopaths take down twobuildings. and now that's a licenseto brutalize anyone and everyone?Why do these guys hate humanityso much? Iraq had nothing in forus."

It's music to the ears ofWendell'sL.A. Weekly crowd, perhaps, butmore like nails on a chalkboard foran audience accustomed to 24­seven applause for White Houseforeign policy.

But Wendell has a certain flair forhandling those who'd "like to cutmy head off." At least that's whatKFl booster Jeff Cabot saw whenhe first invited the Weekly's ac­claimed "Johnny Angel," knownthen for his investigation of SecretService intimidation of Bush's op­ponents, over to the station's

Continued on Page 8, Column 1

January 4

• • •<- ._ • • Courtesy of marsrovers.jpl.nasa.govThIS Image of the Mars landscape from the lander SpIrIt IS one of the first color images ever transmittedfrom the surface of the red planet.

JPL, NASA Triumphant After SpiritSuccessfully Makes Planetfall on Mars

Ii

oonlnProvost

tion of provost, he said, "Caltech isabout extraordinary people doingextraordinary things. The opportu­nity to foster that process is one ofthe main attractions of the job. Thebiggest challenge facing Caltech isto continue to have exceptional ef­fects on science, technology andeducation, as we have in the past."

During his nine years as provost,Koonin has had a chance to tacklehis challenge and enjoy fosteringCaltech's extraordinary work. Onceasked about what he hoped hislegacy as provost would be, he re­sponded, "I think having helped tohire good faculty and energizingand facilitating life for faculty andothers on campus would certainlybe one of the prime things." At thesame time, the "identification andhiring and nurturing ofnew faculty"has been one of the joys he's had inthe job. Since becoming provost,Koonin has hired 30% of the cur­rent faculty, by his own estimate.

Undertaking large projects hasbeen another ofhis delights. Amonghis favorites was the BiologicalSciences Initiative that he spear­headed, beginning in 1998. Thisinitiative was a three year effort that

By KEVIN BARTZ

VOLUME CV, NUMBER 11

Detractors call him talk radio'sversion of affirmative action. Sup­porters call him a nun in a whore­house. Local 50,000-watt power­house KFI-AM 640 has among itsranks a traitor-a leftie amidst afield that's been chock full ofrighties ever since the Federal Com­munications Commissioncanned the Fairness Doctrine in1987.

He's Johnny Wendell, televisionactor, bar bouncer, L.A. Weeklycrime-beat writer, rock 'n' roll afi­cionado. And now, he's KFl's self­proclaimed "master blaster ofdisas­ter, the raw power, the fullflower"-radio's top-rated talkerSunday evenings from five toseven.

"My goal is to not get complacent,to be as much of a contrarian aspossible," said Wendell. "It's funnythat it's usually those hosts obeisantto the Republican party that talkabout being independent. Don't youunderstand you can't be a satiristand suck up at the same time?"

Wendell, for his part, has spent hisradio career running against thegrain. Modem talk radio, as he puts

Continued on Page 2, Column 1

By MATTHEW WALKERPresident Baltimore announced to

the campus in a Friday afternoone-mail that Professor StevenKoonin would be stepping down asCaltech's seventh Provost after nineyears on the job. Dr. Koonin willalso be taking a leave of absencefrom his professorship to pursue acareer in industry.

The Brooklyn native first came toCaltech as a member of the class of'72. He successfully completed hisdegree in physics and moved on toMIT where he received his PhD inphysics in 1975. Koonin then re­turned to Caltech to join the faculty.After only a year on the job, he wasawarded the Caltech AssociatedStudents Teaching Award. He alsoreceived the Humboldt Senior Sci­entist Award in 1985 and the E.O.Lawrence Award in Physics in 1999from the Department of Energy.

In 1981, Koonin became a fullprofessor of physics. He served asthe Chairman of the Faculty from1989 to 1991 before he began hisstint as vice president and provoston February 20, 1995. At nearlynine years, Koonin is one ofCaltech's longest serving provosts.

When Koonin accepted the posi-

Heavy------==-------- it, "is just one GQRbutt-l<isser af-

ter another. It just can't be taken se­riously."

Indeed, the obstacles are many fora progressive talker. A recent Pewpoll pegged talk's audience atnearly 70% conservative and atClear Channel-owned KFI, everyweekday host is a Republican.Wendell still remembers one of hisfirst callers, an old man dribbling"Commie, commie-youcommie!" who said nothing else.

In a lineup dominated by the likesof Limbaugh and Laura, Wendellhas his work cut out for him. "It'sabout security. These people wantto be reassured that they're right,"explained WendelL "Their politicsare based so much on paranoia andfear that there's no equanimity atalL" In part to break such molds,Wendell makes a point of empha­sizing his disagreement-evenwhen his is the less popular posi­tion.

Take Sultaana Freeman, theFlorida Muslim who refused to re­move her veil for a driver's licensephoto. According to a Gallup poll,90% of Americans sided with thecourt's decision to force Freemanto bare her face, but Wendell went

2 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS JANUARY 12, 2004

oonins Goals Included aintainingAcademic Quality, urturing Faculty

Courtesy of www.gps.calteckedu

Professor Ed Stopler will serve as Interim Provost while a searchcommittee fmds a suitable replacement for Provost Koonin.

A Word From Interim Provost Ed Stolper

L.TranfThe California Tech

Provost Koonin will work with Professor Stolper until he steps downFebruary 2 to ensure a smootb transition.

Palomar Operator DiesBy ROBERT TINDOL

PALOMARMOUNTAIN,Calif.- Observatory in 1969, eventually-Juan Carrasco, who for years was becoming senior night assistant forthe night operator of Palomar the 200-inch Hale Telescope, whichObservatory's historic 200-inch at the time was the world's largestHale Telescope, died January 3 af- and foremost telescope.ter a long illness. For 27 years, until his retirement

A West Texas native, Carrasco's in 1996, he nightly guided the gi­early history provides little clue to ant telescope for some of the mosthis eventual choice of profeSsion. notable astronomers of the time.He dropped out of high school in Together they pushed back the fron­the ninth grade to get a job work- tiers of the known universe. Hising for the Texas Highway Depart- care and skill in operating the tele­ment, ultimately completing his scope was featured in the bookFirstdegree by correspondence. Light by Richard Preston.

After serving in the U.S. Army Carrasco was honored by the as-during the Korean War, he became tronomical community by havinga barber for two years and gave up an asteroid. named for him--4171the profession in 1956 after he mar- Carrasco.ried and found a more lucrative Carrasco is survived by Lilly, hisposition as night assistant at the wife of 47 years, two daughters,McDonald Observatory near Fort Vera and Peggy, and two grandchil­Davis, Texas. There, he operated the dren, Stephen and Katie.82-inch reflector telescope, and af- At his family's request, memorialter eight years moved to San Diego donations may be made to thewith his wife, Lilly, to take ajob as UCSD Cancer Center Foundation,a lab technician at UCSD. 9500 Gilman Drive, #0658, La

Carrasco joined the California Jolla, California 92093-0658.Institute of Technology's Palomar

more succeeded Thomas Everhartin 1997. Implementation of theOracle business systems was an­other project that the provost en­joyed.

Several of the projects that theprovost has worked on are still inprogress, but he hopes that they willcontinue to fruition. One thatKoonin helped to get off the groundis the 30 meter telescope. With re­cently obtained funds, he hopes thatconstruction will be completed in12 years as planned. He has highhopes for other programs seeded bythe Moore foundation, including thebrain imaging center and the tec­tonics observation program.

Having played such a large rolein the Institute's aeademic pro­grams, Koonin has gotten to know"practically all 280 of my facultycolleagues on a very close, first­name basis." One of the things he'llmiss is the most is the interactionhe has with the faculty. He'll alsomiss the "overview of science andengineering [being provost] givesyou."

Asked what made him decide toleave the post, Koonin responded,"Nine years is a long time to dothese jobs. It's healthy for me andthe institution [if I] do somethingelse." With over thirty years atCaltech under his belt, he certainlydeserves a break. He took his lastmajor sabbatical 15 years ago;Caltech faculty members tradition­ally take a break every seven years.

The "provost is central to aca­demic enterprise," according toKoonin. He has worked "hard tomaintain the standards of the Insti­tute." The goals of upholding thequality of research and educatingthe very best students are ones hehas reached for and hopes the nextprovost will sustain.

search committee does its job.Over the next few weeks, I will

be learning as much as a I can fromSteve.about the job, from the otherdivision chairs about how, even inthe short time I will be on the job, Ican help them help their divisionsachieve their ambitions in teachingand research and to encourage stu­dents, staff and faculty with mydeeply held convictionthat Caltechis and must continue to be a distinc­tive and special place to learn andwork.

fellowships and research programs.Koonin also enjoyed the roll he

played in the capital campaign thatkicked off last year to raise $1.4billion to upgrade campus facilities.He found a challenge in "bridgingthe transition between two finepresidents," when President Balti-

Steve Koonin is a close friend; heis an outstanding provost and tohave done thejob so well for9 yearswith such focus and intensity is aremarkable achievement.

Finding a new provost is an im­portant job that will require carefuldeliberation by the faculty searchcommittee appointed by the presi­dent. I see my primary job as act­ing provost to work to keep theInstitute's academic programs ­both teaching and research - asstrong as they can be while the

Continuedfrom Page 1, Column 2

raised $111 inillion for the biologi­cal sciences. The focus of theproject became the construction ofthe Broad Center, designed byJames Freed. The initiative alsoprocured funds for eight new pro­fessorships, as well as a variety of

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3

Caltech 37BETHANY 101

Women's Basketball

Caltech 25WHITWORTH 101

Anna SczanieckaASCIT Secretary

Meeting adjourned at 12:48 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

8. The first draft on HousingRenovations will be completed byThursday, January 15th.

9. Joe Jewell is the new ElectionChair.

10. Jason Schadewald has steppeddown as Ruddock president andBarrett Heyneman has taken hisplace.

themselves. Sophomore Guard DayIvy has lead the team in rebound­ing 7 times in the last 9 games, andhave 5 steals for the week. SeniorGuard Kenny Ly came back aftermissing 7 games to score a team­high 13 points against Cabrini Col­lege. Junior Guard ChristianGutierrez had team and season high11 points against Manchester. Jun­ior Forward Jeffery Lamb cameback from an injury two games be­fore to score 11 points with 5 re­bounds against Cabrini. The teamopens its conference scheduleWednesday January 14th at Occi­dental College.

Swimming/DivingThe Swimming and Diving pro­

gram had a strong performance atthe 2003 Claremont-Mudd-ScrippsInvitational. In addition to JasonLee's AOW performance, sopho­more Ashley Grant were amongCaltech's best, wowing the coach­ing staff with 118.98 in the 100Breaststroke. Preetha Seena had a2: 10.28 in the 200 Free, and JackiWilbur had a 1:05.98 in the Back­stroke and a :25.90 in the 50 Free.

The California Tech archives

Jasou Lee '05 (top) and Scott Davies '06are the Athletes of the Week for the pasttwo academic,weeks for their great ath­letic performauces.

Month in Review

By MIKE RUPP

ity Statements, so that the transitionwith the new BoD will go smoothly.

5. The BoC is putting together anHonor Code survey for undergradu­ates. 6. The Bookmart is back up athttp://donut.caltech.edu and thenew DVD scanner is up and mn­ning. $1000 worth of new DVD'sfor the Coffeehouse will be pur­chased shortly.

7. Senior class co-president RumiChunara requested $100. Themoney will go towards a prize thatwill be given to the house that hasthe largest percentage of peoplecontribute to the senior gift.

Athlete of the WeekAthlete of the Week for the

Week of December 8th wasJason Lee of Men's Swim­ming. The junior fromGardena, CA had one of thebest performances for theCaltech Swim Program at the2003 Claremont-Mudd­Scripps Swim Invitational.Lee swam the 100 Fly in animpressive :57.49, and thenfollowed up with an equallyimpressive time in the 100Backstroke, coming in at1:01.19. Further demonstrat­ing his versatility, Lee addeda 2: 14.84 time in the 200 1M."Jason usually doesn't getthis fast until late in the sea­son," stated Head CoachClint Dodd.

For the week of January5th, Scott Davies of Men'sBasketbal is the Athlete oftheWeek. The sophomore guardfrom San Diego, CA had thebest overall performance dur­ing Caltech's back-to-backhome tournaments this pastweek. Davies lead the teamin scoring over that four gamestretch (34 points/8.5 ppg),and lead the rebounding (2.3rpg) and steals (4), and had 1of 2 blocks for Caltech overthe four game span. For theseason, Davies leads the teamin scoring, assists, free~throwpercentage and blocks. Heand the rest ofthe Men's Bas­ketball team will open theirconference schedule Wednes­day, January 14th at Occiden­tal College.

Swimming Showing StrongBasketball Teams Improving

JANUARY 12, 2004

Men's Basketball (0-10)The Men's Basketball Team

hosted back-to-back home tourna­ments last week, with teams fromBabson, Benedictine, Manchester,Cabrini, UC Santa Cruz; andWhitworth all participating. TheBraun Center saw some great bas­ketball during both tournaments,which resulted in Manchester andCabrini winning tournament cham­pionships. In addition to ScottDavies' performance, a number ofother Caltech players distinguished

s

Meeting adjourned at 12:38 PM.

Present: Joanna Cohen, AbeFetterman, Tom Fletcher, KathrynHsu, Galen Loram,' Jeremy Pitts,Anna Sczaniecka, AndreaVasconcellos, & CorinnaZygourakis.

Guests: Rumi Chunara, WillCoulter, & Matt Walker

January 7th, 2004, 12:04 PM,Olive Walk

Agenda1. Call to Order2. Andrea Vasconcellos is back

and will take over as UDAL.3. Signups for BoC Chair and

ASCIT president will go up onWednesday, January 14th.

4. The current members of theBoD are working on their Continu-

moved out of Steele within the nextsix months to a year. The commit­tee needs more information aboutwhich computer resources students ,currently use in order to detennine Women s ~asketball (0-9)anew location (orlocations) for the Th.e Wome?s Baske~bal} teamlab. A pan will go up on http:// I c~ntmued,to r~prove ':'11th Its per:donut.caltech.edu shortly. fcrmances agamst Whitworth ana

8. Parth Venkat came and spoke Bethany College~. Against Div. IIIon the behalf of the Athletics De- powerhouse Whrtworth College,partment. He presented the BoD the te~ scored a then-season highwith the exact cost ofjackets, blan- 25 porn~s, lea;! by. fresh~an For­kets and The current bud- ward Kristen Ward's 14 pomt, 6 re­get deficit prevents the BoD from bound: 2. steal effort. Comir;,g backallotting any more money to from~ lllJury, sophon;rore ~helbyletterman jackets at this time. Montague added 6 P?rnts and 5,re-

9. The BoD will have lunch with bounds. The team would top tnatMargo Marshak on Thursday, De- output the r:-ext day against Bethanycember lIth. co~lege wrth a team total of 37

lO, The BoC and BoD have both po~nts, again lead by Ward with 13expressed concern over the GSC pomts and 12 rebounds. Junior ~n­survey, in particular the results in drea. would add a sea~on h,rghregards to cheating among gradu- 12 p~mts. ~~ntag~e contrn1!ea t~ate students. The BoC will to put contnbute. rnsrde wrth 10 pomts, ,together a survey about the Honor rebounds and 1 block.Code and cheating for undergradu­ate students shortly.

11. A lot ofclubs have posted tJ.jeirevents on the calendar on http://donut.caltech.edu. Good workguys! '

12. The little thas yet to publishits corrections sheet.

Western Cape dming SouthAfrica'sfirst democratic elections in 1994and was chairman of the Green Pa­per Task Team on International Mi­gration. James was also a memberof the White Paper Task Team onImmigration and project leader ofthe Values in Education Initiativein the Ministry of Education.

James holds a doctorate in soci­ology from the University of Wis­consin at Madison. He has also heldvisiting positions at Yale University,Indiana University, the AmericanBar Foundation and served as anassociate editor of the Cape Argus.

The lecture is part of thePresident's Lecture Series onAchieving Diversity in Science,Math and Engineering. The serieswas established to bring to campusspeakers who have had highly suc­cessful experiences in promotingwomen and underrepresented mi­norities in science and technology.The event is sponsored by the Of­fice of the President, the Office ofMinority Student Education, Offic­ers of the Faculty and the Divisionof the Humanities and Social Sci­ences.

No tickets or reservations are re­quired. Free parking will be avail­able in the parking strncture at 370South Holliston Avenue, where di­rections to the auditorium will beprovided.

2003, 12:01 PM,

SCIT Minutes Dec. 9,

DecemberOlive Walk

Present: Joanna Cohen, WillCoulter, Abe Fetterman, TomFletcher, Kathryn Hsu, GalenLoram, Jeremy Pitts, AnnaSczaniecka, & Corinna Zygourakis.

Guests: Joe Johnson, CandaceSeu, Vi Tran, Parth Venkat, & MattWalker.

cent advances in nanoscience andtechnology, it may be possible tocarry out a systems biology analy­sis at the level of a single cell andin real time. However, the experi­mental challenges are daunting. Inresponse, says Heath, severalgroups from Caltech, UCLA andthe Institute for Systems Biology inSeattle, have come together to formthe NanoSystems Biology Allianceto work on such problems.

Heath's lecture will take place inBeckman Auditorium, near Michi­ganAvenue south of Del Mar Bou­levard, on Caltech's campus inPasadena. Seating is available on afree, no-ticket-required, first-come,first-served basis. Caltech has of­fered the Watson Lecture Seriessince 1922, when it was conceivedby the late Caltech physicist Ear­nest Watson as a way to explainscience to the local community.

Agenda1. Call to Order2. There will be Midnight Donuts

Wednesday3. Interviews for Election Chair

will take place Sunday night at 9pm.

4. Hawaiian Club requested $200for Hula Lessons, which will beopen to the entire Caltech commu"nity. Vote: 5-0-0, approved.

5. Anita Choi and Jason Quimbywant to take Professor Camerer outto lunch. Vote: 5-0-0, approved.

6. Broomball with Ruddock andRicketts went well. Over 40 peopleshowed up from both houses.

7. Joe Johnson came to talk to theBoD on behalf of the ComputerAdvisory Committee. ITS will be

Some Notes on the Evolution ofHuman Diversity." He will talkabout the implications of the humangenome sequencing effort for re­search and development in Africa,the need for partnerships with glo­bal science institutions and freshapproaches to diversity.

Ja.'11es is currently the Moore Vis­iting Professor of History and So­ciology at Caltech and is conduct­ing research at Caltech on the hu­man genome sequencing effort.

James is the author, coauthor, oreditor of 14 books, including What

Holds Us Together: So­cial Cohesion in SouthAfrica; Nelson Mandela:From Freedom to theFuture; and Spirit of theNation: Reflections onSouth Africa's Educa­tional Ethos. He is aformer dean of humani­ties at the University ofCape Town and is cur­rently a tmstee and com­mittee chairman of theeducation, media, artsand culture global portfo­lio of the Ford Founda­tion of New York. He isalso chairman of theSouth Africangovernment's Immigra­tion Advisory Board.

He was head of elec­toral information for the

By ROBERT TINDOL

NANOSYSTEMS

WATSON LECTURE BY DR, HEATH

The California Tech archives

Dr. Wilmot is currently a visiting professorat Caltech. His leCture on humau diversityaud geuomics takes place this Thursday.

By ROBERT TINDOLPerhaps the earliest introduction

of "nanotechnology" to the generalpublic was the 1966 movie Fantas­tic Voyage, in which an entire sub­marine and crew were reduced tomicroscopic size and intoa man's bloodstream order todestroy a life-threatening bloodclot.

While the idea of shrinking a sub­marine remains firmly grounded inscience fiction, nanotechnology­manipulating single atoms to some­day create useful molecular de­vices-:-is a science whose time isabout to come.

For example, in the area of diag­nosing disease, a new wave ofnanotechnologies is being devel­oped that will revolutionize virtu­ally every aspect of medicine. OnWednesday, January 14, at 8:00p.m., James Heath, the Elizabeth W.Gilloon professor and professor ofchemistry at Caltech and a leadingnanosystems researcher, willpresent the background, the earlysuccesses and some of the chal­lenges that will be undertaken overthe next couple of years. His talk,"Nanosystems Biology," is part ofthe 2003-2004 Earnest C. WatsonLecture Series at Caltech.

Imagine that a complete molecu­lar-based diagnosis of, say, cancer,could be accomplished using just afew cells, at low cost, within sec­onds. With a drop of blood or witha low-risk outpatient biopsy proce­dure, a cancer patient could be cor­rectly diagnosed, even in the veryearly stages of the disease, withinminutes. This could literally revo­lutionize dmg discovery and clini­cal treatment.

Such a breakthrough will comeonly when scientists coordinate thefields of nanotechnology withmicrofluidics and systems biology­in which a biological system is stud­ied as a single unit. By merging re-

THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY._-----------~------------=-

Wilmot to Speak on Evolution ofDiversity, Genomic Science, Africa

Wilmot James, executive directorof the Human Sciences ResearchCouncil in Cape Town, South Af­rica and cofounder ofthe Africa Hu­man Genome Initiative, will speakat the California Institute of Tech­nology on Thursday, January 15, at4 p.m. The event will be held inRamo Auditorium in the center ofcampus and is free and open to thepublic.

The title of James's lecture is"Africa, Genomic Science and

4 THE CALIFORNIA TECH FEATURES JANUARY 12, 2004

name to student dis­and bought tick­

ets for the week night parties,mcludlmg the semi-formal Fresher'sBall. of course, I signed up forthe Christian Union. This was goingto be lot of fun. I was set.

But circumstances began to removeone by one those things I had consid­ered pursuing. I did not make it intothe drama club, could not attend theconcerts and shows, could not partici­pate in Lacrosse, and had a conflictwith the Fresher's ball. This was dis­appointing at first'Dut soon new av­enues opened up. I joined cross-coun"try. There, I met fun people, and theteam organized weekly socials, whereI could develop new friendships. I alsogot more involved in the ChristianUnion, and discovered a variety of dif­ferent London-wide events and trips.In addition, there were opportunitiesto travel on the weekends. So far, Ihave been able to visit the towns ofBath, Cambridge, Oxford, and Battle,spend some time in English country­side, and make a trip to the near~by

cities of Paris and Brussels. I've alsoseen all the tourist attractions in Lon­don. UCL is situated in the heart ofthe big city, close to everything, in­cluding museums, parks, and shops.

So although this has not been theexact exchange adventure that I ex­pected or planned, it has been a worth­while experience. I have really en­joyed my classes. I have met a lot offun British and international students.I have used the additional free time totravel. I will leave London more adapt­able and thankful for what it has tooffer. And I will return to Caltech witha greater appreciation for all that isthere.

ANDREA VASCONCELLOS '05

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When I got the opportunity toa.broad, it was a dream come true.love to travel and meet newand I wanted to experience sOlnethll1lgdifferent from Caltech. In thepreceding my flight to London, Ito imagine what it would be like, whatactivities to do, what places to visit. Iresolved to get involved in a varietyof new activities, clubs, societies, andsports. At Caltech, I participated in theCaltech Christian Fellowship, ASCIT,and cross-country. My plans for Lon­don were to join a Christian club, trya new sport, audition for a part in theschool theater production, play in theorchestra, go clubbing, attend parties,see many musicals and cop.certs, and!or anything else that would grab myattention while I was there.

But the need to be open to the unex­pected was a significant lessonlearned. It started by experiencingslight culture shock. The lack of a lan­guage barrier was deceiving--so muchwas different. The beginning weekswere much tougher than I thought theywould be. I missed everyone and ev­erything at Caltech. Although I hadtraveled before, there was never thisfeeling of homesickness and I startedto more fully appreciate life in Cali­fornia. Being in England was outsidemy comfort zone, from the coldweather to the food to the manner ofliving. This was not necessarily a badthing; in fact, it turned out to be ablessing.

I was still interested in doing a lotof activities, and so had great fun atthe "Fresher's Fayre," the Britishequivalent of a club fair. I picked up amillion pamphlets, decided that the"new sport" would be Lacrosse ,signed up for drama club auditions, gota schedule of all the upcoming con-__fIIIIIiIII ...

Andrea found the busy environment of London a stiJillUhWing eXlpeI'ieIIceand used her free time to travel around the COlllI:lj·rv.

gets over one thousand international students ev­ery year, many courses in science as well as hu­manities are taught in English. Copenhagen seemeddifferent enough to be the new experience I waslooking for, but similar enough to still be comfort­able and sensible academically.

The exchange has lived up to its promise. Dur­ing the first few weeks of the optional summer lan­guage course I met a wild a crazy group of'inter­national students from Australia, Germany, Poland,France, and Holland. The warm summer days werespent at waterside bars (the drinking age is 16),swimming, and exploring Copenhagen. The nightswere much of the same: bars, dance clubs, or justsitting and talking in the town squares. The Danishstudents in the private dorm I moved into were im­mediqtely and In the first weekIwasayear

Once academicdown a bit. While the

science majorI had made to never have work to

do and their weekend on Wednesdays, I wasonly able to join them once or twice a week. Thecultural experiences continued though, with weeklylectures on Danish history and culture offered ex­clusively to international students and field trips toattractions such as museums, castles, and film fes­tivals.

Coming to Copenhagen for a term turned out tobe a great decision. I've met lots of new people,seen many interesting sights, experienced a differ­ent culture, and had opportunities to get out and havefun that I would not have had at Caltech. If you toohave been thinking that your college experience hasnot been all you hoped it would be thus far, maybea term in Copenhagen will be the adventure youseek, as it was for me.

The California Tech archives

Julian Greene '05 (above)and Andrea Vasconcellos'05 both cited their ex­change experiences as ex­citing and worthwhile.

Courtesy of www. .

Copenhagen University offered Julian avariety of interesting classes, all withinits historic huildin s.

Let's face it: Caltech is definitely not the typicalAmerican college experience. There are no footballrivalry games, no frat parties, classes are hard, thereis almost always work to do, and many people cancount the times they get further off campus than OldTown in a month on one hand. Then again, theAmerican college experience is not the only kind inthe world, nor the best as some would argue. In manyplaces, there is no such thing as a board plan, on­campus dorms, or maid service for students. Someuniversities don't rely on drudging through weeklyproblem sets and four hour exams to impart knowl­edge. There are even institutions where just goingto class every day students are exposed to culture,architecture, and artwork that has existed for thebetter part of a millennium. Copenhagen Univer­sity (KU) is one of these.

They say variety is the spice of life, and I've al­ways agreed with that sentiment. My college yearswere supposed to be some of the most exciting andtumultuous years of my life. While arguably one ofthe best research institutions in the world, Caltechdoes not offer much excitement aside from academ­ics. The infamous workload often conflicts with theability to go out to such an extent that proximity tothe LA metropolis may seem taunting rather thanalluring. These considerations and more weighedheavily on my mind freshman and sophomore year,and contributed greatly to my decision to pursue aterm of studying abroad.

A change of setting seemed the natural way to ex­perience something completely new. I decided toapply for Copenhagen rather than the various pro­grams in England because it was the furthest I couldget away from Caltech and American lifestyle whilestill being able to navigate in society and progressin my physics option. I did not speak a word ofDanish, but was assured (correctly) that nearly ev-

eryone in Denmark speaks English. Also, sin~c~e~K~U~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taking Full Advantage Q£the College Experience: ExchangePrograms and What They Offer

Copehnage Exchange: An Opportunityfor an Adventure

By JULIAN GREENE, '05

THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY JANUARY 12, 2004 5

By TOM FLETCHER

Ironing Out the HonorCode, Elections Approach

lar, his character's gradual transfor­mation is startling. It is often hardto digest the great battles when theaction moves so swiftly, but thebrawls at Helm's Deep and thePelennor Fields are simply mind­boggling.

Although trilogies have a historyof ending miserably (The MatrixRevolutions, for example, is one ofthe worst films I've ever seen),LOTR magically bucks this trend.The Return of the King is far andaway the best entry in the Middle­Earth adventures and the cast andcrew should be very proud of theirefforts. Still, I would have to rateThe Lord of the Rings as the sec­ond best trilogy ever, comparableto the original Star Wars triplet, butinferior to the fantastic GodfatherSaga. While the Godfather; PartIII is a weak, distracting conclusionto a stupendous series, The TwoTowers is just as disappointing. Be­sides, the first two parts of the God­father trilogy are the finest ex­amples of modern American cin­ema, and far outweigh the goodFellowship of the Ring and greatReturn ofthe King. Regardless, TheLord of the Rings, impact is indis­putable. Much like Star Wars andThe Godfather, LOTR must be in­cluded in any discussion of the pre­mier movie series. And fifty yearsfrom now, it will be the most talkedabout picture from this decade.

manner, but The Two Towers hassome incredibly awkward mo­ments, including a horribly mis­placed dream sequence involvingthe superfluous romance betweenArwen and Aragorn. In addition,Peter Jackson alters some of themost important characters, notablyFaramir, thereby misinterpretingmajor themes of the books. TheHobbits are never more detestablethan during the scenes in the forestwith the preposterous looking Ents,and Gimli the amiable dwarf ismade into painfully unfunny comicrelief. The Two Towers is overlylong but there is very little sub­stance, as the entire film could havelasted two hours. Because Jacksonfills the film with so much fluff, heends the film without a cliffhangerand has to save scenes for The Re­turn of the King, which in its ownturn, is 201 minutes long.

Nonetheless, LOTR still standsout as one of the finest pieces ofmotion picture art ever created.Andy Serkis's unforgettable por­trayal of the tortured Gollum is thepicture's finest development and isthe greatest computer-enhancedrole ever. Sean Astin and IanMcKellan, as Sam and Gandalf re­spectively, give tremendous perfor­mances throughout and thrust usinto their world. The other charac­ters are more than adequate, andwhile Elijah Wood is less than stel-

By HARRISON STEIN

Millions of fans rejoiced as thetriumphant Return ofthe King con­cluded the most commercially suc­cessful trilogy in movie history. Buteven after the thrilling finale, thereare questions about The Lord oftheRings' place in history. Sure, ifyouask the fans that vote on the InternetMovie Database, LOTR is the great­est thing since Al Gore invented theInternet (users have voted the threefilms as the 4th, 5th, and 8th bestever, ahead of such classics as StarWars, Citizen Kane and Dr.Strangelove), but is it even the besttrilogy of our time?

In my humble opinion, the answeris a resounding "No." At the sametime, it is impossible to ignore thegravity of director Peter Jackson'saccomplishments. He has done theunthinkable by converting one ofthe best loved book series into adaring, captivating epic film series.The action scenes are among thebest ever filmed and the plot oftenglides through its nine+ hourruntime. In addition, Jacksonsomehow manages to create an in­teresting world that mailltains theintegrity and spirit •of J.R.R.Tolkien's fantastic novels.

Unfortunately, LOTR also has itswarts, mostly in its forgettable sec­ond leg, The Two Towers. All threefilms are made in precisely the same

Whom I Met With ThisWeek

This past week was ratherslow as got their

schedules set up. week-end, Galen attended <lUrWlHU.IU ,n.0­

sociation meeting in myto prior cormnitments. com­ing week will see me meeting withthe BoD, Margo Marshak, and aworking group of the career centerdeveloping a leadership program.

The news of the provost's resig­nation arrived during the writing ofthis column has caught a lot of usoff guard. I am personally not sureof the ramifications yet at present,though I am concerned that thiscould slow getting funding for thenew student houses. I do wish Pro­vost Koonin the best of luck in thenew opportunity, and welcome .Pro­fessor Stolper to the position.

And that's all for this week folks.Good luck this term, and I will havea lot more information to share nextweek.

Peace out,Tom Fletcher

the next President will have tohandle include: relocating both theUGCS and ITS labs to new loca­tions while not decreasing the levelof service Caltech students receive,keeping the fundraising process fornew student houses alive, laying thegroundwork the next Student-Fac­ulty Conference, dealing with theresults of the honor code survey wewill conduct, be good or bad,supporting the CUE and the con­tinual improvement of Caltech edu­cation, and doing all the regularbusiness as well. If of theseparticularly interest you, encour­age you to run, as you will be in­strumental in solving them. Thenext president will also most likelybe responsible for to find anew provost, as well as a few stu··dent affairs positions.

On Wednesday, at 8 AM, Sll?Jl-UlJS

for BOC Chair anddent will be posted 1 encouragemany of you to run to ensure a largefield with a lot of competition.Posted along with sign-ups will bedescriptions of the offices and theresponsibilities they entail so youcan know what you will be gettinginto. If you are interested in eitherposition and have any questions,talk to Galen or me. Ifyou sign upfor president, I ask that you contactme so that I can start "taking youon my rounds" and introduce youto all the administrators and facultyyou will need to work with nextyear.

If you are thinking about it, butnot sure, let me assure you that itwas worth it. While there will belong hours of driving to Glendora,and an occasional infuriating meet­ing, there is a lot for the nextASCITPresident to do and how well theydo it will greatly impact studentquality of life. Some of the issues

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Email vitran@its.caltech.edu for more information.Heavy guy seeks partners for non-competitive/non-scoring racquetball at the Caltech gym, any

night after 6 pm. I just want to hit the ballaround. The gym provides all equipment.

Interested? E-mail bradt@alumni.caltech.eduif you'd like to play.

UpcOlnil.1l~ Elections!

Honor Code Survey

http://www.its.caltech.edu/-sur­veyldocslHonor_CQde.pdf

The graduate students have donea wide-ranging survey on quality oflife. They presented the results atthe faculty board meeting in De­cember, with the most interesting,and frightening results relating tothe honor code. The survey showedthat around one quarter of graduatestudents had violated the honorcode at some point in their time at

and that the graduate studentsbelieved that honor code violationswere more prevalent among the un­dergraduates.

In an attempt to examine the situ­ation and defend the honor of theundergraduate student body, wewill be hosting a parallel survey.Participation is impOliant,and 1ask that you all do soto ensure good coverage.

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6 THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY JANUARY 12, 2004---=--------_~_-----

Join Caltech Ballroom Dance Club tomaster West Coast Swing! West Coast Swingis a hip fun dance that is ever-popular at clubsand parties. This class is taught by professionalinstructor Michael Eads for five weeks, start­ing Jan 5 (7:30 - 9:00 pm in Winnett Lounge).Though the class is open to everyone, danc­ers should have some previous west coastswing experience. Cost for students is $6/classor $25 for the 5 week series. For everyoneelse, the cost is$8/class or $35 for series. Re­freshments will be served. No partner neces­sary!

Learn the basics ofthe quintessential ball­room dance with CBDC. Beginning waltzwill be taught by CBDC members KiriWagstaff and Eric Peterson. The class will beheld on 4 Thursdays, starting Jan 15. (7:30 ­9:00 pm in Winnett Lounge) Cost for every­one is just $l/class. Refreshments will beserved. No experience or partner necessary!

Dance ClassesLearn the sexy Latin Samba with CDBC

members Marcel Gavriliu and Sharon Liu. Theclass is in Braun Gym from 9 to 10 pm forfive Tuesday nights starting Jan 6. Cost: Free!(However, there is a $5 Braun gym entrancefee without a Caltech ID.) Both beginners andmore advanced dancers welcome. This classwill be more routine based; i.e they'll teach aroutine probably covering a range of begin­ning to advanced moves. They also focus ontechnique. No experience is expected, butsince some of the moves are higher level thenmore experienced dancers can also benefit. Asalways, no partner necessary!

Try competitive style Cha-cha and Waltzclasses taught by Michael and Alice Cho, oneof the top amateur lO-dance couples in thecountry! Ifyou came to the CBDC Intro Nightlast fall, they danced for our showcase. NineSunday evenings, Jan 11 - March 7 held inWinnett lounge. Intl Cha-cha is from 4:30­5:30 pm, andlntl Waltz is from 5:30-6:30 pm.Cost is $25 for one 9-week series (i.e. chachaor waltz). Both beginners and more advanceddancers welcome. Refreshments will beserved!

Hixon Center. Want a soundingboard for an essay or report that you're writ­ing? Need advice about a statement for aresearch proposal or a grad school applica­tion? Visit the Hixon Writing Center for afree conference with a peer writing consult­ant. Conferences can benefit writers at alllevels of ability. Consultants offer usefulfeedback at any stage of the writing processfrom brainstorming and drafting, to editingand revising. This is not a proofreading ser­vice, but a chance to develop strategies forimproving your own work. Where: SACClub Room A. When: Sunday-Thursday,4:30-6 PM & 8:30-10 PM. Other times byappointment: emailwritinghelp@caltech.edu. For more infor­mation, go to http://writing.caltech.edu/

On March 12 and 13, the DanceTroupe willpresent the first ever Caltech Dance Showpresenting the dance talents of the Caltechcommunity. We are eager for a wide varietyof dance styles; so, auditions will be opento all members of the community.The first part of the process will consist of

a written proposal. Choreographerswill submit information describingtheir intended piece's music, theme,style (country of origin if appli­cable), and staging (likely numberof dancers, lighting concepts, etc).The point of the proposals is to getpeople to start working on theirdance pieces. Proposals will be dueon November 17 and are availableathttp://troupe.caltech.edu.There will be an audition in earlyWinter quarter where the dancersfor each piece will perform; cos­tumes will not be required at thisstage. For more information, con­tact Robin Deis(deis@its.caltech.edu). More de­tails will be provided as the yearprogresses. We look forward to giv­ing Caltech a chance to showcaseits dancing talent.

Your

sperm can

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The Monticello Foundation and Robertand Delpha Noland Summer Internships2004. The Deans' Office is accepting propos­als for the Monticello Foundation and the Rob­ert and Delpha Noland Summer Internships.Three to five Caltech undergraduate women(current freshmen, sophomores and juniors)will be given an opportunity to participate inresearch projects outside the Caltech-JPLcommunity for ten weeks during the summer.Each student will receive a $5,000 stipend.Applicants are required to identify the projectsin which they wish to participate. All arrange­ments with the principal researcher will be theresponsibility of the student.

Interested? Identify a sponsor for your ex­perience at a research facility for a ten-weekperiod. In a short essay, describe your project,and submit it to the Deans' Office, 210 Centerfor Student Services, along with two facultyrecommendations.

PROPOSALS ARE DUE MONDAY,MARCH 1, 2004.

Congressional Research Awards. DEAD­LINE: Proposals must be postmarked no laterthan February 1,2004. The Dirksen Congres­sional Center invites applications for grantstotaling $35,000 in 2004 to fund research oncongressional leadership and the U.S. Con­gress. The competition is open to individualswith a serious interest in studying Congress.Political scientists, historians, biographers,scholars of public administration or Ameri­can studies, and journalists are among thoseeligible. The Center encourages graduate stu­dents to apply and awards a significant por­tion of the funds for dissertation research. Un­dergraduate or pre-Ph.D. study, research teamsof two or more individuals, and organizationsare not eligible.

There is no standard application form. Ap­plicants are responsible for shOWing the rela­tionship between their work and the awardsprogram guidelines. Applications are acceptedat any time. All application materials must bepostmarked on or before February 1, 2004.Awards will be announced in March 2004.Complete infonnation about eligibility and ap­plication procedures may be found at TheCenter:s Web site: http://www.dirksencenter.org/grantcongresearchaward.htm FrankMackaman is the program officer mailto:finackaman@dirksencenter.org.

The Center, named for the late Senate Mi­nority Leader Everett M. Dirksen, is a private,nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educa­tional organization devoted to the study ofCongress and its leaders. Since 1978, the Con­gressional Research Awards (formerly theCongressional Research Grants) program haspaid out $585,500 to support 315 projects.

One Act Theater (OAT) has received fund­ing from MHF to produce of one actplays this tenn. We need directors, actors, tech­nical staff, and anyone who is interested inhelping. If you are interested, particularly indirecting (the play of your choosing), pleaseemail oat@its.caltech.edu and check thewebsite http://www.its.caltech.edu/-oat/.

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NASA's Spirit, the first of twoMars Exploration Rovers on themartian Surface, has stood up andextended its front wheels while con­tinuing to delight its human part­ners with new information about itsneighborhood within Mars' GusevCrater.

Traces. of carbonate mineralsshowed up in the rover's ftrst sur­vey of the site with its infrared sens­ing instrument, called the lniniaturethermal elnission spectrometer orMini-TES. Carbonates form in the

7

Continued Below

from the side facing west-northweston the planet - also the directionof an intriguing depression that sci­entists have dubbed Sleepy Hollow.

Current plans call for the rover tocomplete that tum in three steps,saidArthurAmador, one of the lnis­sion managers at NASA's Jet Pro­pulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Ca­lif. As currently envisioned, duringthe colning martian day engineerswill complete ground tests and ex­ecute dress rehearsals of the drive­off, or "egress."

On sol 10 - the night of Mon­day-Tuesday, Jan. 12~13, Californiatime -engineers expect to severthe umbilical cord that connects therover toits lander by firing a pyrodevice, the last of 126 pyro firingssince Spirit separated from its cruisestage shortly before landing on Jan.4 (Jan. 3 in U. S. time zones). Alsoon that day, the rover will executethe ftrst of three parts of its tumwhen· it moves clockwise (asviewed from above) about 45 de-

NASA's Spirit rover now has itsarm and<all six of its wheels freeand only a single cable must be cutbefore it can tum and roll off itslander onto the soil ofMars. As thatlnilestone is completed, scientistsare taking opportunities to take ex­tra pictures and other data.

During the past 24 hours therover's 8th martian day on theplanet, or "sol 8" - pyro deviceswere fired slicing cables to free therover's lniddle wheels and releas­ing pins that held in place its instru­mented arm. The arm was thenlocked onto a hook where it will bestowed when the rover is driving.

Because one airbag remains ad­jacent to the lander's forward ramp,the rover will tum about 120 de­grees to its rightand exit the lander

January 11

rocks from all over Earth for com­parison. "Send me your rocks andwe'll see if there are rocks in yourback yard that are silnilar to whatwe're seeing on Mars," he said.

Courtesy of marsrovers.jpl.nasa.govSpirit landed in this area to search for evidence that there was oncesurface water on Mars by analyzing carbonate levels.

JANUARY 12, 2004THE CALIFORNIA TECH

January 9

NEWS

Jubilant Staff Spirit ToExit Lander, Explore Surroundings

Continuedfrom Page 1 Column 5 . ., presence of water, but It'S too early ager. In the followmg hours, theNASA chose Spirit's landing site, to tell whether the amounts detected rover was raised by a lift mecha­

within Gusev Crater, based on evi- come from interaction with water nism under its belly and its frontdence from Mars orbiters that this vapor in Mars' atmosphere or are wheels were fully extended. Thencrater may have held a lake long evidence of a watery local environ- the rover was set back down, raisedago. A long, deep valley, apparently ment in the past, scientists empha- again and set down again to checkcarved by ancient flows of water, sized. whether suspension mechanismsleads into Gusev. The crater itself "We came looking for carbonates. had latched properly.isbasinthesizeofConnecticutcre- We have them. We're going to Pictures returned from the rover'sated by an asteroid or comet impact chase them," said Dr. Phil navigation camera and front haz­early in Mars' history. Spirit's task Christensen of Arizona State Uni- ard-identification camera, plusis to spend the next three months versity, Tempe, leader of the Mini- other data, confirmed success.exploring for clues in rocks and soil TES team. Previous infrared read- "We are very, very, very pleasedabout whether the past environment ings from Mars orbit have revealed to see the rover complete the mostat this part of Mars was ever wa- a low concentration of carbonates critical part of the stand-up pro­tery and suitable to sustain life. distributed globally. Christensen cess," Wallace said. Next steps in-

The flight team expects to spend has interpreted that as the result of clude retracting the lift mechanismmore than a week directing Spirit dust interaction with atmospheric and extending the rear wheels.through a series of steps in unfold- water. First indications are that the A tug on airbag tendons by theing, standing up and other prepara- carbonate concentration near Spirit airbag retraction motor Thursdaytions necessary before the rover may be higher than the Mars glo- evening did not lower puffed uprolls off of its lander platform to get bal average. portions of airbag material that areits wheels onto the ground. Mean- After the rover drives off its a potential obstacle to driving thewhile, Spirit's cameras and a lnin- lander platform, infrared measure- rover straight forward to exit theeral-identifying infrared instrument ments it takes as it explores the area lander. The most likely path forwill begin examining the surround- may allow scientists to judge driving off will be to tum 120 de­ing terrain. That information will whether the water indicated by the grees to the right before rolling off.help engineers and scientists decide nearby carbonates was in the air or "This is .something. we haveprac­which direction to send the rover in a suspected ancient lake. ticed many times. We are very comefirst. "The beauty is we know how to fortable doing it," Wallace said.

find out," said Dr. Steve Squyres of The earliest scenario for gettingCornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., the rover off the lander, if all goesprincipal investigator for the lnis- smoothly, is Spirit's 13th or 14thsion. "Is the carbonate concentrated day on Mars, Jan. 16 or 17.in fluffy dust? That lnight favor the "We're proceeding in a measured,atmospheric hypothesis. Is it con- temperate way," said JPL's Petercentrated in coarser material? That Theisinger, project manager for thelnight favor the water hypothesis." Mars Exploration Rover project.

Spirit accomplished a key step "This is a priceless asset. It is fullylate Thursday in preparing for roll- functioning. It is sitting in a beauti­ing off the lander. In anticipation, ful scientific target. We're not go­the flight team at NASA Jet Pro- ingto take any inappropriate risks."pulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, While preparing to learn moreCalif., played Bob Marley's "Get about what Mars rocks are made of,Up, Stand Up" as wake-up music Christensen announced an educa­for the sixth morning on Mars, said tional project to involve school chil­}PUs Matt Wallace, lnission man- dren and other people in getting

Continuedfrom Above

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grees.After taking and analyzing pictures to

verify the ftrst part of the tum, engineers an­ticipate completing it on sol 11 (night ofTues­day-Wednesday, Jan. 13-14). First, the roverwill tum an additional 50 degrees and stop totake pictures. Then, if all is well, it will tuma final 20 to 25 degrees to position it pre­cisely in front of one of its three exit ramps.

If no issues crop up as those steps are com­pleted, the rover could drive off onto themartian soil no earlier than sol 12 (night ofWednesday-Thursday, Jan. 14-15). "But weadjust our schedule every day, based on flightevents, so this remains an estimate," saidAmador.

The rover's status overall is "pretty darnperfect," said Amador. He described the com­munication link from Mars to Earth as ex­cellent, allowing the team to receive 170megabits of data during the past day. All sci­ence data stored on the rover has been sentto Earth. The rover is generating 900 watt­hours of power per day and using 750 watt­hours and its thermal condition is good, headded.

While engineers are completing and test­ing commands to execute the rover's tum andegress, the science team is enjoying an "un­expected dividend" of time to collect data,said Dr. John Callas, Mars ExplorationRoverscience manager at JPL.

Until now, all science observations havebeen planned far in advance, but the unfold­ing schedule ofrover activities gave the teamthe opportunity to do their first on-the-flyplanning for observations driven by previousresults, Callas explained. In doing so theysegued to a working style that they will prac­tice on a day to day basis as the rover rollsacross the surface of its landing site in GusevCrater, named the Columbia Memorial Sta­tion.

In the next 24 hours, the team will collect270 megabits of science data, considerablymore than on any previous martian day. Thiswill include a high-quality, 14-color mosaictaken by the panoralnic camera of a third ofthe horizon toward Sleepy Hollow, the direc­tion in which the rover will leave its lander.

In addition, they plan to complete two re­maining "octants" (each a pie slice showingan eighth of the horizon) with the rover'sminiature thermal elnission spectrometer.These areas will also be rephotographed withthe rover's panoramic camera in order to al­low the camera and spectrometer data to beco-registered. Plans also call for the spec­trometer to "stare" at three selected .sites tocollect very low-noise data, as well as cali­bration of another science instrument, thealpha particle X-ray spectrometer.

Spirit traveled 487 million kilometers(302.6 lnillion) lniles to reach Mars after itslaunch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Sta­tion, Fla., on June 10,2003. Its twin, MarsExploration Rover Opportunity, waslaunched July 7,2003 and is on course for alanding on the opposite side of Mars on Jan.25 (UniversalTime and EST; 9:05 p.m. onJan. 24, PST).

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8 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS JANUARY 12, 2004

"But when you're a researcher,you're happy to see this. You don'twant to work on a problem that'salready solved."

As for the reason ~yone wouldspend enough time on snowflakesfor an entire book, Rasmussen'safterword perhaps gives a clue:"For me, snow-crystal photographyis an escape from the stress ofmod­ern life into a sanctum ofbeauty andwonder and solitude. It's a treasurehunt. It's a photographic harvestfrom nature's bounty."

The Snowflake: Winter's SecretBeauty, is now available in book­stores and on the Web. The book ispublished by Voyageur Press.

cists who make it their business tocontrol the formation of crystals ofvarious materials.

A real-world application of re­search on crystals is the growth ofsemiconductors for our electronicgadgets, which are made possiblein part by painstakingly controllinghow certain substances condenseinto solid structures.

"In the case of snowflakes, thereare pieces to the puzzle that are notunderstood yet," Libbrecht says.

Courtesy of ligo.caltech.edu

Professor Keu Libbrecht creates designer snowflakes in his lab anduses them to study crystal formation.

added. "The pictures are substan­tially better than any snowflakeimages that have ever been capturedbefore."

In addition to the many stunningplates of snowflakes in dazzlingcolors, the book also contains anontechnical discussion of crystalformation in general, snow-crystalsymmetry, a "field guide to fallingsnow," and, of course, a detailedanswer to the perennial question ofwhether any two snowflakes are ex­actly alike.

"The short answer is yesand no," says Libbrecht. "Ifyou look closely enough,there will always be differ­ences, but sometimes youhave to look prettyclosely." In many cases,there are very clear differ­ences between snow crys­tals and what's more, thereare several very distinctforms the crystals can take.

In fact, this is one of theissues that Libbrecht ad­dresses when using the ex­perimental "cold cham­bers" in his Caltech phys­ics lab to create "designer"snowflakes. Dependingprimarily on very subtle changes intemperature and humidity, snowcrystals falling from the sky growinto different shapes-small platesjust below freezing, pencil-like col­umns of ice a few degrees colderand large, ornate plates at about ­15 C (5 F).

The ones most favored by pho­tographers have names like "stel­lar dendrites" and "sectored plates,"some possessing a near-perfectsymmetry that can put the best hu­man-made glass chandelier toshame.

Libbrecht can grow these differ­ent snowflake forms at will in hislab, but says there are still subtleissues that are of interest to physi-did it."

Part ofWendell's appeal lies in hisuniqueness. "Talk radio already hasthe angry white male!" he ex­claimed. The market saturated, he'sconfident he'll carve out his nichein L.A., where, he's quick to pointout, 71 % voted for AI Gore or RalphNader in 2000.

Web sites have sprung up encour­aging the sympathetic to supportWendell's show and even KFI man­agement acknowledged agroundswell of e-mail supportwhen it expanded Wendell's airtimelastsummeL

"You have to have something tosay," he explained. "The irony isthat you'd never talk this way tosomeone ifyou were sitting in frontofthem. It's like playing punk-rockguitar: anyone can play JohnnyRamone, but you didn't invent it.He did."

But could this radio Ramone bethe long-awaited Limbaugh of theleft? "If there is a liberalLimbaugh," he said, "it won't besomeone like Michael Moore or AlFranken. It'll be someone withknowledge of common people,someone who doesn't condescendand someone who's much brighterthan the dittoheads." Someone likeWendell?

Libbrecht and Photographer TeamTo Unveil The Secrets of

By ROBERT TINDOL

PASADENA, Calif.-Ifyou're stillshopping for a Christmas present togive to that flaky uncle, how aboutgiving him the flakiest book in sci­ence?

The Snowflake: Winter's SecretBeauty, by California Institute ofTechnology professor of physicsKen Libbrecht and Wisconsin pho­tographer Patricia Rasmussen,takes an elegant look at the humbleflake of snow, from the viewpointof the scientist as well as the artist.

Containing numerous full-colorphotographs, the book provides anin-depth look at a frozen phenom­enon of nature that is still, perhapssurprisingly, not completely under­stood.

Libbrecht believes the photo-mi­crographs in the book are the bestthat have ever been taken of snow­flakes. He began his collaborationwith Rasmussen by building her aspecial camera and hauling it half­way across the country to her stu­dio..She was already an avid snow­flake photographer before contact­ing Libbrecht-perhaps the world'sleading authority on snowflake for­mation-but was relying on conven­tional photography equipment,which Libbrecht says just isn't quitegood enough.

"Patty had the snow and the pho­tographic know-how and I had theoptical knowledge," said Libbrechtin a recent interview in his officeon the Caltech campus. "It was avery successful collaboration.""The proof is in the pudding," he

Wendell. "Talk radio? I'd never lis­tened to it, I can't understand it, Idon't know why people listened toit." But with a regular paycheck­a rarity for Weekly writers, laughsWendell-dangled before him, hetook the chance.

And before the first commercial,the verdict was in: "pure gold," inResnick's words. "Once you figureout how it's done, you either cando it or you can't," recalledWendell. "I saw I could do it and I

ano Trio (April 4) and Edgar Meyer(April 18).

The Coleman Chamber MusicAssociation was founded in 1904by Alice Coleman (later AliceColeman Batchelder). In addition tothis annual series of six chambermusic concerts in Caltech'sBeckman Auditorium, theassociation's activities also includea nationally recognized annualcompetition for young chambermusic performers. The winners ofthe 58th annual Competition willperform in Caltech's Ramo Audi­torium onApril 25, 2004 at 3.3Opm.In addition, each year the associa­tion also conducts sixty demonstra­tion performances for childrengrades K through 6 in San GabrielValley public schools.

Continuedfrom Page 1, Column 5

Courtesy of www.anl.gov

Musica Autiqua Koeln presented a well received concert in BeckmanAuditorium before winter break.

Beckman Limits Evident

K. Bart:zJThe California Tech

Talk radio personality Johnny Wendell has quickly become one ofLAs most popular hosts and has received lots of listener support.

Wendell Quick Study in Broadcasting;Supporters Hype Show on Web Sites

Continued/rom Page 1, Column 3

Koreatown headquarters for a testrun, where mainstay host WayneResnick first assessed thenewcomer's prospects. Prospectslooked bleak: Wendell had zerobroadcasting experience and staringat him ominously from behind thestudio was a laundry basket ofotherhopefuls' tapes, submitted and re­jected.

"When Jeffcalled, I said 'What'reyou calling for?'," recalled

ter, has been a regular guest at Eu­ropean musical centers and has alsoundertaken numerous concert toursto the USA, Australia, SouthAmerica and the People's Repub­lic of China.

Their exciting, milestone inter­pretations of both unknown worksand familiar repertoire have broughtthem wide recognition, as is docu­mented by many prizes includingthe "Artist of the Year" award bythe Deutsche Phonoakademie in1981.

The next concert in this series,scheduled for January 25, 2004,will feature the Tokyo String Quar­tet with Joan Panetti. The remain­ing concerts will feature the CassattString Quartet with HumberLucarelli (February 29), the JulliardQuartet (March 14), the Eroica Pi-

Mars LauderSuccess: Though NASA promises to 'leaveno trace' after jubilant Spirit landing, the Red Planet isalready soiled by the Beagle.

State of the State: The Governator presents his budget,starting by implementing a total recall ofcampaign prom­ises. Kindergarten robber steals from education budget.

Provost Leaves: Steve Koonin announces resignation,takes leave of absence for unnamed industry jobs. Balti­more promises updates. Toon in next week.

'lrbe <!:aIifornia 'lretbCaltech 40-58

Pasadena, CA 91126