Beavers Win Home Opener

Caltech recorded a victory in its first home game of the season on Tuesday. Michael Edwards poured in 28 points and new Beaver guard Bryan Joel had 12 points, 6 assists, and 3 steals in his first collegiate start. Alex Runkel posted a double double with 10 points and 10 boards. The game was intense -- a back and forth affair for 40 minutes. Ethan Boroson scored on an acrobatic bank shot to give Caltech the lead for good with 10 seconds remaining.

Get Ready for Beaver Season

Caltech's season opener is less than two weeks away. A strong core of juniors will lead the way, highlighted by Michael Edwards, Caltech's leading returning scorer. Sophomore All-SCIAC selection Todd Cramer led the league in assists and the team in rebounds in his opening campaign. Sophomore Mike Paluchniak led the conference in minutes played as a first year player. The Beavers brought in two more freshmen to join their returners and it looks like they'll each make a significant impact. Bryan Joel is a lead guard who can play the point and has scoring skills. Andrew Hogue is a do-it-all guard/wing/forward.

Check out the 2011-12 roster here and the recently released season preview here. The schedule is an exciting and challenging one. As usual, good teams from out east are traveling to Pasadena and Caltech will take a trip to the Twin Cities in December.

The Madness Returns

Caltech hosted its first ever Midnight Madness last year, and this Friday, the second installment returns to Pasadena. The event, which historically highlights the beginning of basketball season, promises to be even grander this year with more of everything: more food, more contests, more prizes, more sponsors, more fans, and more fun.

And the folks at Caltech are sticking to tradition with the late night introduction of ballers and the focus on community, unlike other colleges across the country.

Go Beavers!

No. 1 in THE World

Announced today, Caltech is the best university on the Earth, according to THE World University Rankings.

Media coverage:

Caltech Today
LA Times
Business Week
Washington Post
Pasadena Star-News

Click here for the full list of rankings.

Tech Trails: Summer 2011

Tech Trails tracks summer plans of Caltech basketball players -- from SURFs (summer undergraduate research fellowships) to related work in the fields of math, science, and engineering.

Ethan Boroson '13: Intern, GLHN Architects and Engineers, Tucson, Ariz. -- "working on a combined heat and power system".

Arjun Chandar '13: Solutions Expert, Cramster, Miami, Fla. -- "writing a solutions manual for a mechanical engineering textbook".

Todd Cramer '14: Intern, Imagine Games Network (IGN), San Fransciso -- "media software engineering".

Christophe Kunesh '13: Intern, Flight Software Applications, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena -- "performing enhancements to the built-in validation capability of a tool for automatic validation of Soil Moisture Active-Passive Flight Software MagicDraw SysML and UML models".

Marcus Lucas '13: Intern, Fox Studios Digital Television Lab, Century City -- "research related to video image capture and signal processing".

Brian Okoro '14: SURF, Greer Group, Caltech Steele Lab -- "developing a super strong metal from nanoscale properties".

Alex Runkel '13: Researcher, Perception, Cognition, and Action in Humans, Caltech labs -- "remote stimulation of the brain using tDCS to induce increased performance and the encoding of reference dependent utility during effortful tasks".

Mike Paluchniak '14: Intern, Caltech Investment Office -- "compilation and analysis of financial and market data".

Five Named to SCIAC All-Academic Team

For the second straight season, five men's basketball players were named Academic All-Conference. To qualify for the SCIAC honor, one must be at least a second-year varsity player and have a minimum cumulative G.P.A. of 3.4.

This year, four sophomores and one senior qualified:

(pictured above, left to right)

Pan Wang '13 -- computer science

Arjun Chandar '13 -- mechanical engineering

Ryan Elmquist '11 -- computer science

Christophe Kunesh '13 -- computer science

Alex Runkel '13 -- mechanical engineering

Congratulations to the Beavers!

(official release here)

2011 Team Awards Banquet

In March, The Beavers wrapped up their season with a formal and festive basketball banquet hosted by Caltech President Chameau and his wife Dr. Carmichael. Sixty supporters were in attendance to celebrate the many accomplishments of the team this past season including various faculty, staff, and alumni. Director of Executive Communications Matt Lockwood served as the evening's emcee. Coach Eslinger spoke about the development of the program, read a touching e-mail from a recent alum, and thanked all the attendees for their ongoing support. After a delicious meal prepared by Tom Mannion and poignant speech by Dr. Chameau, the coaches presented the annual team awards. All awards are voted on by members of the team.

Dr. Chameau

Longstanding awards displayed in the Braun Gym lobby:

For the third year in row, Ryan Elmquist '11 received the H.G. Vesper Trophy for ability, improvement, performance, and sportsmanship.

Todd Cramer '14 earned the Carl Shy Freshman of the Year.

Murphy organizes his horde of awards

Other award winners:

Collin Murphy '13: Leader of the Year, Mr. Glue, Mr. Hustle, and the Construction Award

Mike Paluchniak '14: Lockdown Award and Coaches' Award

Potts presents Paluchniak with one of his awards

Arjun Chandar '13: Citizen of the Year

Marcus Lucas '13: Most Improved

Mike Edwards '13: Slam Bam Jam Award

Alex Runkel '13: Best Dressed

Coach Potts: Best Quote

photo credit louisfelix.com