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In the interest of its constituents, the GSC periodically administers surveys, writes reports, and makes presentations to various campus bodies. There is a large amount of valuable information contained in these documents, some of which can be found here.
Surveys
GSC/WEST Quality of Life Survey, 2003
In 2002 a joint committee of the Graduate Student Council (GSC) and Women in Engineering, Science and Technology (WEST) was formed to survey the quality of graduate student life. The survey instrument, committee members, methodology and results can be found here. Several reports were written based on the results of this survey:
Lab Review Survey, ongoing
The Graduate Student Council has conducted a survey of Caltech graduate alumni about their experiences in the laboratory and with
their advisors (P.I.s). Aggregate results for those P.I.s for whom we have at least 3 survey results are available here. If you don't see data from your group, please
encourage recent alumni to fill out the survey at http://www.its.caltech.edu/~alumni/phdsurvey.html.
Health Insurance and Shadowing Figures, Feb 2001
A very quick survey to ascertain graduate student interest in an employee shadowing program and to determine usage of our health insurance for graduate students with dependents.
Results in graph form
Comments (txt)
Student-Advisor Conflict, TA, Millikan Library, Spring 2001
This survey was administered to obtain an understanding of the types of conflicts students have with their advisors, where students go for conflict resolution, and how student-advisor conflicts turn out. The quality and suitability of graduate student teaching assistantships were also studied. Finally, information about the use of the Millikan library was collected.
Results in graph form.
Survey Instrument (pdf).
Ethernet Poll, 2002
This poll was conducted to help understand graduate student needs to consider when designing ethernet for the Catalina apartments.
Results in graph form
Standalone Reports
Recommendations for Improving the Office of Graduate Studies, 2003
In the interest of identifying areas for potential improvement, the Graduate Student Council, with the support of Vice President Margo Marshak, formed a committee to review the responsibilities of the Office of Graduate Studies. Results and recommendations based on this review are published in our report entitled: "Functional Improvements in the Office of Graduate Studies for the Future of Caltech's Graduate Program."
Read the report: GSC_grad_studies_report.pdf (104kb)
Report on Women at Caltech, 1999
A report written by Alice Huang, Ph.D., in 1999. It is interesting to compare this report to the report based on the survery results
from the 2003 GSC/WEST Quality of Life Survey. This report was generated at the request of the President to review the status of women at Caltech and make recommendations as to how that status could be improved. Information for this report came from formal interviews with faculty, both women and men, as well as from the heads of some organizations that serve women at Caltech.
Read the report: Report on Women at Caltech (html)
Study of the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT, 1999
This report was not written by the GSC, but is worth reading. The report was publicized in the 1999 faculty newsletter at MIT.
Read the report: Status of Women Faculty at MIT (html)
Presentations
Meeting of Margo Marshak and Division Chairs, May 24, 2004
This was a follow up presentation to our March 10, 2004 presentation to the Graduate Studies Committee. The presentation was made to
VPSA Margo Marshak and the Division Chairs by Jonathan Galownia of the Quality of Life Committee. The presentation highlighted
student concerns and recommended division level procedures to improve the level of safety experienced in campus labs. This
presentation led to a meeting with Paul Carroad, the Division Administrator for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Art Seiden,
of the Safety Office.
Presentation Slides (ppt)
Graduate Studies Committee, March 10, 2004
A presentation on graduate student safety concerns was put together by the Quality of Life Committee and presented by Jonathan
Galownia to the Graduate Studies Committee. The main recommendation of the presentation was to form an institute level committee to
direct safety efforts on the Caltech campus. It was recommended that these issues be brought before the division chairs for review.
Presentation Slides (ppt)
Board of Trustees, May 2002
For the first time ever, graduate students were invited to make a presentation to Caltech's Board of Trustees. The 20 minute presentation, focusing on issues currently facing graduate students, was delivered to a receptive audience of about 40 Trustees, President Baltimore, and Provost Koonin.
Topics and summary of the presentation (html)
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Annual Reports
2003-2004 pdf
2002-2003 pdf
2001-2002 pdf
Miscellaneous
Caltech Academic Policy
The Institute's policies and procedures on academic issues such as technology transfer and research fraud apply to the professorial
faculty, research faculty, postdoctoral scholars, students, and staff. To the extent that undergraduate students serve as members of
research teams for sponsored projects, they are governed by the Institute's policies and procedures for sponsored research.