Clubs & Organizations
In addition to undergrad and graduate representation on the Sustainability Council, Caltech supports several student-run clubs and organizations on campus who contribute to a sustainable environment. Among these are:
Caltech Biodiesel Club
- John Van Deusen (jvand@caltech.edu)
- Seth John (sjohn@gps.caltech.edu)
Caltech Community Garden Project
The Caltech Community Garden Project is working to increase gardening efforts on campus to make more vegetable, flower, and fruit gardens accessible to the Caltech community. We hope to enrich student life, promote health and provide for the wider community.
Cotnact: garden@caltech.edu
Caltech Electric Vehicle Club (CEVC)
CEVC builds and maintains a small fleet of carbon-neutral electric cars. This club hopes to benefit from the new Holliston Solar Array (currently in progress). CEVC is currently looking for interested mechanics of all skill levels.
Contact: (cevc [at] its.caltech.edu)
- John Klemic (VP)
- Mike Ferrara (Assistant Mechanic)
Caltech Net Impact
Net Impact is a network of leaders who are committed to using the power of business to make a positive social, environmental, and economic impact. Our chapter will bring together students seeking to network and take action to foster a new generation of leaders to improve the world. The goal of Caltech Net Impact is to facilitate professional development, cross-industry knowledge-sharing, networking and education opportunities among members from diverse academic and professional backgrounds.
Contact: netimpac@caltech.edu
- Rosemary Rohde (President)
Caltech Student Solar Initiative
The Caltech Student Solar Initiative (CSSI) aims to provide a valuable experience for students, staff and faculty seeking to contribute to the worldwide demand for cleaner, cheaper, globally accesible energy and more generally to being to understand the challenges associated with solving national and global problems.
Contact: Morgan Putnam or Michael Kelzenberg
Caltech Undergraduate Sustainability Project (CUSP)
CUSP works to raise awareness about issues of waste, consumption and product composition and to provide solutions to related problems. Their goal is to foster sustainability projects, financing, and research in a directed fashion, particularly in conjunction with the core curriculum. One of their current projects is trying to produce ethanol using cellulose-based agriwaste produced during the normal operation of campus.Contact:
- Jason Cerundolo (Co-Chair, jrc@caltech.edu)
- Nicholas Fette (Co-Chair, nfette@caltech.edu)
Caltech Y
The Caltech Y is an independent 501c3 organization formally affiliated with the California Institute of Technology. Founded by students in 1916, the Y was organized to provide extracurricular activities planned and implemented by students as an opportunity to learn leadership skills and discover themselves. The mission of today’s Y remains the same—to provide opportunities that will prepare students to become engaged, responsible citizens of the world. The Y seeks to broaden students’ worldviews, raise social, ethical, and cultural awareness through teamwork, community engagement, activism, and leadership.
Contact: caltechy@caltech.edu
Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW)
ESW maintains a large and diverse student body. This club fosters sustainability on and off campus through community service, student activism, and lecture series.ESW organizes a fall speaker series in conjunction with Professor Ken Pickar's ME 105 class, "Product design for the developing world." The club may help start up a new ME106 class, "Product design for the developed world," if there is enough student support.
ESW also sponsors the Science for Social Impact Forum in the spring—an "alternative career fair" of sorts with a focus on sustainability and social responsibility.
Contact: esw@caltech.edu
- Mike Ferrara (President)
- Sarah Griffis (Secretary)
If you are in a club that should be on this list, please send us a line at sustainability@caltech.edu!
