California
Caltech’s latest STEM breakthrough: Most of its new students are women


High school girls from around the nation wait in line to ask questions of scientist Katie Bouman during the annual Women in STEM program at Caltech in Pasadena. (Ringo Chiu/For The Times)

By Teresa Watanabe
Staff Writer
Aug. 27, 2024 3 AM PT

The auditorium was packed with hundreds of high school girls from across the nation fangirling a YouTube idol they dream to emulate. ... There before them stood Katie Bouman, an associate professor of computing and mathematical sciences, electrical engineering and astronomy at Caltech in Pasadena, showing off images of a dark hole ringed by a fire-colored halo. In 2022, Bouman co-led a team of more than 300 researchers from 80 institutions to capture the world’s first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Bouman’s lecture, part of the Caltech Women in STEM program, had a deeper motive: It showcased a leading woman scientist to help girls envision themselves attending one of the world’s preeminent institutions of science and engineering — fields still dominated by men. And the efforts in this hard-fought, strategic campaign are paying off.

In a milestone breakthrough, more than half of Caltech’s incoming undergraduate class in the fall will be women for the first time in its 133-year history. The class of 113 women and 109 men comes 50 years after Caltech graduated its first class of undergraduate women, who were admitted in 1970.

“What this means for young women is that we are a place that can be representative of them and their experiences ... where they can grow and thrive and excel and become really impressive, extraordinary scientists and engineers and go on to make a difference in this really research-heavy profession,” said Ashley Pallie, dean of admissions.


Scientist Katie Bouman, who led efforts to capture the first image of a black hole, speaks to high school girls at the annual Women in STEM program at Caltech. (Ringo Chiu/For The Times)

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Caltech has expanded its Women in STEM program, hosting 500 high school girls this month as the institute reached gender parity in enrollment for the first time in its 133-year history. (Ringo Chiu/For The Times)

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Teresa Watanabe
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Teresa Watanabe covers education for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining the Times in 1989, she has covered immigration, ethnic communities, religion, Pacific Rim business and served as Tokyo correspondent and bureau chief. She also covered Asia, national affairs and state government for the San Jose Mercury News and wrote editorials for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. A Seattle native, she graduated from USC in journalism and in East Asian languages and culture.