Caltech President Ray Jayawardhana Appears on ‘AirTalk with Larry Mantle’

Credit: Lance Hayashida

Jayawardhana discussed his childhood inspiration to be an astronomer, America’s unmatched science and engineering ecosystem, and the enduring power of the Caltech-JPL partnership.

Caltech President Ray Jayawardhana appeared on AirTalk with Larry Mantle on LAist 89.3 FM, the largest NPR station in Los Angeles, discussing groundbreaking research at Caltech and JPL, the impact of AI on scientific discovery, and why continued investment in American research universities is vital to the nation's innovation edge.

The interview began with Jayawardhana reminiscing about a package that he received as a teenager in Sri Lanka from Caltech JPL, containing images taken by the Voyager missions, and discussing his own group’s on-going research on exoplanets. He went on to speak of “the decades long, incredibly productive compact between the federal government and America's research universities” being foundational to a science and engineering ecosystem that is “the envy of the world.” He added: “This is really, in the big picture, not even about preserving the greatness of our universities, as much as I think they are great. … It is about the well-being of our people; it’s about the security of our nation; it’s about the vitality of our economy, and it is also about the richness of our culture.” In turn, he called on Caltech and its peers to “be more proactive, more engaged” with the public and to “be willing to be self-reflective, be willing to acknowledge and learn from legitimate critiques.”

On AI’s rapidly evolving role, Jayawardhana said the technology offers a very powerful set of tools “that allow us to accelerate scientific discovery,” while pointing out that AI-driven breakthroughs don’t happen in isolation and instead draw upon decades of underlying research and data gathering. He said Caltech is leveraging AI for what is “in the public interest rather than short-term profits or other motivations,” while integrating “the rules of the road” for AI use into the undergraduate curriculum “in ways that preserve academic integrity and intellectual honesty.”

On JPL, which Caltech established 90 years ago and has continuously managed for NASA since the agency’s founding, Jayawardhana spoke of the enduring partnership and its role in advancing US leadership in space. He highlighted the advanced robotic missions to the Moon and Mars currently under development and the coronagraph instrument that JPL built for the recently launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as evidence that “the value proposition here is unrivaled and continues to deliver for the nation.”

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts. (Jayawardhana appears at approximately 1:06 into the September 10 episode.)