Caltech wants to build a telescope three times larger than any in existence, to create an unprecedented center to study the movement of tectonic plates globally, to explore the brain in action, to study protein structure, and to initiate a number of other groundbreaking projects.
Thus, the Institute is kicking off a five-year, $1.4 billion fundraising campaign on October 25.
"We want to find the big new opportunities in the intellectual world, the great unknowns. When you do something like this, you either go to things that are bigger and bigger or things that are smaller and smaller. So you go to nanotechnology or molecular structure, but at the same time you're building telescopes to look out 14 billion years," said David Baltimore, Caltech president.
Caltech fundraisers have recently received an estimated $800 million in gifts and commitments toward the goal.
"It might seem odd that Caltech needs a campaign at this time. In October 2001 we received $600 million from Gordon and Betty Moore and their family foundation, which was the largest gift ever made to an institution of higher learning," said Baltimore. "The gift was indisputably generous, and will be extremely helpful, but it alone cannot meet all our needs. To remain preeminent, we must bring to bear on our mission increasing resources. Without the best labs, equipment, and instrumentation, we cannot hope to attract the very best scholars and students to campus."
The invitation-only Caltech Campaign Celebration will take place on October 25 on the Caltech campus. The master of ceremonies will be Emmy Award–winning television journalist Charlie Rose.
If the goals of this ambitious campaign are fulfilled, the results could be unprecedented.
Currently the largest telescopes on Earth are Caltech's twin 10-meter Keck Telescopes in Hawaii, but the telescope the Institute hopes to design, as one of the campaign goals, would be 30 meters in diameter and would have nine times the light-gathering power of the Keck. Its location is yet to be determined.
Using a combination of seismology, space geodetic techniques, and field geology, a new Center for Plate Boundary Studies will help scientists understand the evolving physical state of tectonic plates.
A synchrotron beamline that produces intense X-ray beams would be used to determine the structures of proteins and macromolecular machines to yield insight into the behavior of living organisms and expand researchers' ability to manipulate biomolecular assemblies, an important component in the development of new therapeutic agents.
With a functional magnetic resonance imaging facility researchers will be able to noninvasively study the complex relationship between brain cell activity and behavior, including insights into the causes of mental illness.
"Caltech is a very compact place where you take a lot of very smart people, you put them all together, give them the resources, encourage their interactions, and then you stand back and magic happens," said Caltech Provost Steve Koonin.
The breakdown of campaign goals include:
People and Programs: * Professorial chairs * Faculty reinvention funds * Faculty startups * Visiting scholars program * Graduate fellowships * Postdoctoral fellowships * Discovery funds * President's fund (enhanced JPL/campus interactions) * Undergraduate financial aid * Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships
Buildings: * New astrophysics building * New information sciences building * New chemistry teaching/research lab * Rehabilitation of Robinson Lab * Rehabilitation of Dabney Hall * Rehabilitation of biology space * New campus center building * Renovation of student houses * Expansion of Children's Center * Infrastructure renewal * Athenaeum Maintenance Endowment
Equipment: * California Extremely Large Telescope design * Owens Valley Radio Observatory/Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy relocation to higher elevation for better clarity * Center for Plate Boundary Studies * Cryoelectron microscope * Synchrotron beamline * Imaging magnets * Nanofabrication facilities * Purchase/maintain/support sophisticated instrumentation in all divisions * Distributed and central computation. Maintain hardware, software, services, expertise for all divisions
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