#SoCaltech: Jessie Christiansen

"Caltech isn’t just a place where research happens and discoveries are made. It’s a place where minds meet, and ideas are shared, and relationships, both professional and personal, are built. Losing access to campus doesn’t just mean access to labs, or libraries, or servers, but also to collaborators, and students, and friends. Email can replace conversations, Zoom can replace meetings, but it’s hard to replace the joy and comfort of socializing with your peers. So, these online parties—black tie from the waist up!—and social hours have been such an important outlet for all of us to hang out, have fun, and most importantly to not spend the evening on the couch staring at and mentally extrapolating exponential curves until we can’t sleep!"

Jessie Christiansen is a research scientist at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech.

#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.