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Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to join Mayor Victor Gordo and Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum Wednesday at the groundbreaking of Caltech’s Resnick Sustainability Institute, which will bring together scientists and engineers to pursue research in solar science, climate science, energy, biofuels and other environmental studies.
The center — expected to open in the fall of 2024 — was made possible by a $750 million pledge from billionaire philanthropists Lynda and Stewart Resnick to Caltech in 2019, according to the Pasadena institute. Stewart Resnick is also at the groundbreaking.
Experts from across Caltech and JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA, will seek solutions to the most pressing environmental challenges in a world confronting rapid climate change, Caltech said.
According to Caltech, the future Resnick Sustainability Center will provide equipment, space, and resources divided among several research centers which support the core initiatives of RSI; house a translational science and engineering facility that will provide enough space to scale up and test early-stage technologies for potential translational impact and a solar roof, where photovoltaic devices can be tested under real-world conditions; and act as home to all of Caltech’s undergraduate chemistry labs.
The 79,500 square-foot project—designed by the Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign and on track to earn LEED platinum certification, the highest level of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system—will open new figurative portals to sustainability, providing advances in research, education, and societal impacts.
Since its founding in 2009, the Resnick Sustainability Institute (RSI) has brought together scientists and engineers from across Caltech and JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA, to pursue solutions to the most pressing challenges in water, energy, food, and waste in a world confronting rapid climate change.
Bolstered by a $750M gift from Lynda and Stewart Resnick in 2019, the largest-ever for environmental sustainability research, RSI has made significant progress in artificial photosynthesis, envisioned new approaches for capturing and transmitting solar energy, and discovered a way to speed up carbon sequestration in the ocean, among other breakthroughs. A unique Resnick grants program has enabled Caltech to invest millions of dollars annually in interdisciplinary, innovative research projects aimed at advancing sustainability solutions.
The future Resnick Sustainability Center will:
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Provide equipment, space, and resources divided among several research centers which support the core initiatives of RSI: Sunlight to Everything; Climate Science; Water Resources; and Ecology and Biosphere Engineering.
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House a translational science and engineering facility that will provide enough space to scale up and test early-stage technologies for potential translational impact and a solar roof, where photovoltaic devices can be tested under real-world conditions.
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Be home to all of Caltech’s undergraduate chemistry labs. Because all first-year students are required to take a chemistry lab course, every future Caltech undergrad will have at least one class in the building, where they will be introduced to the concept of sustainability through a reimagined curriculum that grounds their education in an understanding of society’s environmental challenges and instills an imperative to search for solutions across disciplines.
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