Fund for GPS Enrichment and Outreach (GpsEO)
Endowments are perpetual sources of funds that make many universities able to undertake challenging activities that can be transformative in nature. The yield from endowments can fund such activities for generations to come.
The GPS faculty have done something truly extraordinary. By providing monetary resources from their personal discretionary accounts, they have collectively raised $400,000. Through many individual contributions –spanning from the junior faculty, through the senior faculty, to the emeritus faculty – we achieved our target goal of $400K in very short time. Furthermore, each of the GPS Division's major centers: Caltech Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution, Linde Center for Global Environmental Science and the Seismological Laboratory contributed funds that were matched by the GPS Division. Our example attracted interest from three trustee donors that added their gifts, bringing our current total above $1,000,000. This outreach and enrichment fund could have only been created because of the faculty's deep commitment to the future of our students' success. Our example inspired other Caltech divisions to start similar efforts.
The way Caltech endowments are managed, the annual payout is 5%, so that gives us a budget of about $50,000 each year. As a specifically directed endowed fund, with annual payout to manage, it not only guarantees we'll have a resource for generations to come; it also ensures we won't forget the intention of the fund after the current moment with its passions subsided. It will be here to remind us of its importance.
This new enrichment fund will enable us to offer opportunities and experiences to our students and faculty that will augment their period at Caltech.
The GPS Enrichment and Outreach Endowment funds the following:
Rising Trailblazer Seminar Series
The Rising Trailblazer Seminar Series provides a platform for early career researchers to showcase their exciting work to a broad geological and planetary sciences/geosciences audience. This seminar series aims to create visibility for rising faculty, graduate students, and postdocs in universities across the country.
Speakers will be chosen by the outreach and enrichment committee; this will be done by conducting monthly meetings where we will suggest and discuss a pool of speakers. Selected speakers will give a 60-minute seminar and be featured on the GPS Division enrichment website. Lodging and travel will be supported through the GPS Division Enrichment and Outreach Endowment.
Go – Outdoors
The Caltech Geological and Planetary Sciences Outreach – Outdoors Program (Go-Outdoors) connects Caltech GPS scientists with local K-12 teachers for accessible and comprehensive field-based outreach. The endowment has supported Go-Outdoors events that are meant to build community and support continuity of the program.
Earthquake Fellows
High school sophomores and juniors from nearby Alhambra, Pasadena and Los Angeles Unified schools can become Caltech Earthquake Fellows and join our 4-month program to understand the science of earthquakes, learn how to measure them and gain the skills needed to succeed in university settings. The endowment has supported Earthquake Fellows by providing means in which they can be able to supply stipends and necessary equipment/tools for students to succeed in the program.
GPS Buddy System
The GPS Buddy Program seeks to partner undergraduate and incoming graduate students with graduate mentors to facilitate a smooth transition to university life at Caltech. One of the main goals of our buddy program is to offer students who are new the opportunity to start their undergrad and graduate journeys with a supportive first connection. The GPS endowment helps support events that will be valuable in community-building across the mentorship program, and especially for first-year cohorts in their transition to Caltech.
Geo Club
The Geology Club organizes seminars that cover a range of interdisciplinary topics in Geology. These seminars explore various areas within the field, including isotope geochemistry, paleoclimate, geobiology, atmospheric science, and paleontology. Speakers for the seminars include faculty members, postdoctoral scholars, research staff and graduate students. Most speakers are local, and we can support on occasion, a speaker who is not local, in both cases lodging and travel will be supported through the GPS Division Enrichment Endowment.
Orphan Lab Outreach
Professor Orphan is a joint member of the Geological and Planetary Sciences and Biology and Biological Engineering Divisions. She primarily accepts graduate students through the BBE graduate program, or Geobiology, Environmental Science and Engineering, and Geochemistry options, but students from other programs are also welcome. Graduate students accepted into the program are provided full tuition support and salary. The GPS Enrichment endowment has provided funds to support Professor Orphan's outreach efforts for students at a local middle school in which they do an in class experiment, or field experiment.