Caltech celebrates its ‘resilient’ Class of 2025

Caltech’s Class of 2025 celebrated its graduation on Friday, June 13, in an outdoor commencement on the institute’s Beckman Mall.

Like many years at the prestigious campus, it had its pomp. Cheers. Hugs. Pride. These are the future scientists and researchers of the world, after all. Gifted in their talents, after years of hard work.

But while the campus’s 131st commencement event was a celebratory affair, it had its overtones of a tumultuous year in the region, which even just in the past six months ranged from a mammoth disaster that impacted the institute’s students and faculty to major political headwinds – headwinds such as federal research funding cuts and uncertainty over the future of international students who want to bring their talents to the U.S.

Dave Thompson, chair of Caltech’s Board of Trustees, acknowledged it right off the bat, to the crowd of graduates assembled Friday.

He touted the students’ “remarkable resilience” at a time when Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre were burning, and when a massive recovery has followed.

“The Caltech community banded together to move forward with urgency and compassion,” he said.

But leaders also noted that this particular class is graduating into a world where, as keynote speaker Walter Massey reminded the grads, there’s less trust in science and its institutions.

Massey – a Black man born and raised in the Jim Crow South, who as the New York Times noted rose “to break barriers as the first Black physicist in nearly every role he assumed” – offered some wisdom from a lifetime of hard work.

“I will not sugarcoat it for you,” said the former head of the National Science Foundation and of Bank of America, among others. “These are indeed challenging times.”

But, he added: “The opportunities for new discoveries and breakthroughs are greater than ever before” – if you’re willing to do the work.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But hard work doesn’t stop here. In fact, it’s just beginning. Find your confidence,” he said.

All told, Caltech conferred 250 bachelor of science degrees, 148 master’s of science degrees and 221 PhDs. Total graduates tallied equaled 619, probably easier math right there than on a final exam.