Caltech Welcomes Ray Jayawardhana as Tenth President

Today, Caltech welcomes Ray Jayawardhana as its tenth president. The astrophysicist will lead the Institute, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, LIGO, and several observatories. Jayawardhana joins from Johns Hopkins, where he served as provost, bringing a vision that unites fundamental discovery with applied innovation. He's authored over one hundred eighty peer-reviewed papers and several acclaimed popular science books, with work in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. According to Caltech, he's committed to fiercely advocating for the Institute's mission and supporting high-risk research. In a nice full-circle moment, his passion for space began as a child in Sri Lanka—he once requested JPL's Voyager viewbooks via aerogramme.

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