Graduate student Clement Cid with the Caltech team's solar-powered toilet. [Credit: Caltech/Michael Hoffmann] Caltech's solar-powered toilet has won the Reinventing the Toilet Challenge issued by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Caltech engineer Michael Hoffmann and his colleagues were awarded $100,000 for their design, which they dem... More »

There is an old trick for remembering the difference between stalactites and stalagmites in a cave: Stalactites hold tight to the ceiling while stalagmites might one day grow to reach the ceiling. Now, it seems, stalagmites might also fill a hole in our understanding of Earth's climate system and how that system is likely to respond to the rapid... More »

The Los Angeles Conservancy has honored the Linde + Robinson Laboratory for Global Environmental Science with a 2012 Preservation Award. The jury of experts in architecture, historic preservation, and community development cited "Caltech's leadership in preservation, technology, and sustainability" and said Linde + Robinson "inspires on many lev... More »

Atmospheric researcher John H. Seinfeld, the Louis E. Nohl Professor and professor of chemical engineering at Caltech, has been named one of two winners of this year's Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, an honor regarded as the top prize of environmental science, environmental health, and energy. Seinfeld was cited by the Tyler Prize ... More »

The field of study of Andrew Thompson, assistant professor of environmental science and engineering at Caltech, presents not only theoretical challenges but logistical ones as well. That's because he is interested in the circulation and ecology of the Southern Ocean—a cold, remote region near Antarctica—and the role it plays in global climate.... More »

New GPS faculty members Victor Tsai (left) and Andrew Thompson (right). For Andrew Thompson, assistant professor of environmental science and engineering who joined the Caltech Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences in August, growing up in Rhode Island gave him a natural affinity for the ocean. However it wasn't until the summer befor... More »

Prototype concept for the Self-Contained, PV-Powered Domestic Toilet and Wastewater Treatment System. [Credit: Brian Lee] PASADENA, Calif.—Environmental scientist and engineer Michael Hoffmann of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has received a $400,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build a solar-power... More »

The Linde Center's new home, the Linde + Robinson Laboratory, will be the nation's first LEED Platinum laboratory and is profiled in Solutions Journal, a magazine of the Rocky Mountain Institute. [Magazine Article] More »

Viruses are parasites; they need to live inside another organism to survive. Figuring out just who a virus's host is can be difficult, however. Especially when you're talking about bacteriophages—a particularly pervasive group of bacteria-infecting viruses. The problem lies in identifying which bacteriophages are infecting which bacteria,... More »

A Caltech building where scientists used to think about the origin of the universe is morphing into a place where they will ponder the fate of our planet. This summer, members of the newly created Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Global Environmental Science will move into the former Robinson Laboratory of Astrophysics, reborn as the Linde + ... More »

PASADENA, Calif.—If you're sitting on a bench in New York City's Central Park in winter, you're probably freezing. After all, the average temperature in January is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But if you were just across the pond in Porto, Portugal, which shares New York's latitude, you'd be much warmer—the average temperature is a balmy 48 degrees Fa... More »

Professor Hoffman Michael R. Hoffmann, James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Professor Hoffmann was elected for oxidative treatment technologies for the removal of organic and inorganic contaminants from water. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is am... More »

PASADENA, Calif.—About 450 million years ago, Earth suffered the second-largest mass extinction in its history—the Late Ordovician mass extinction, during which more than 75 percent of marine species died. Exactly what caused this tremendous loss in biodiversity remains a mystery, but now a team led by researchers at the California Institute of ... More »

PASADENA, Calif.-In an effort to find ways to minimize the damage caused by natural hazards, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has established the Terrestrial Hazard Observation and Reporting Center (THOR), funded by $6.7 million from Foster and Coco Stanback of Irvine, California, and $3.35 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore... More »

Professor Bordoni Congratulations to Simona Bordoni, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, for being selected to join The New York Academy of Sciences 2010 Science and Technology in Society (SPS) forum in Kyoto, Japan entitled "The Lights and Shadows of Science and Technology." More »

Professor Flagan Caltech faculty member Richard Flagan, the Irma and Ross McCollum—William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemical Engineering and professor of environmental science and engineering, has been elected a member of the 2010 class of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). His election brings to 31 the number of Institute facul... More »

PASADENA, Calif.—A previously unrecognized player in the process by which gases produced by trees and other plants become aerosols—microscopically small particles in the atmosphere—has been discovered by a research team led by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Their research on the creation and effects of these c... More »

PASADENA, Calif.- To address the complex issue of global climate change from a wide range of disciplines, Ronald and Maxine Linde have established an $18 million endowment for the California Institute of Technology to create the Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Global Environmental Science, uniting faculty from chemistry, engineering, geology,... More »