Caltech Announces Newest Cohort of Leadership Chairs and Named Professorships
Ten Caltech faculty members begin the 2025-2026 academic year with newly bestowed honors: six with named professorships, one of the Institute's highest honors, and four with distinguished leadership chairs for administrative positions.
These awards, made possible through the generosity of private donor investments to Caltech, provide faculty with dedicated resources to advance innovative research while they continue to mentor and train future generations.
Each named professorship comes with its own legacy. Many professorships, for instance, have long-standing histories and pass a tradition of discovery and exploration from one academic generation to the next, from one colleague to another. A professorship may also provide a faculty member with an opportunity to forge meaningful connections with the philanthropists who made the award possible.
Leadership chairs generate discretionary funds that enable Institute leaders to support emerging research projects and ideas with potential for scientific and societal impact, and to support Caltech's educational mission and outreach programs.
Caltech is pleased to present its newest cohort of leadership chairs and named professors.
Leadership Chairs
John Eiler
Ted and Ginger Jenkins Leadership Chair
Robert P. Sharp Professor of Geology and Geochemistry
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
For decades, John Eiler's research has pushed the frontier of stable isotope geochemistry techniques to answer fundamental questions about Earth, planetary life, and environmental sciences. The pioneering instrumentation and techniques that Eiler has developed have determined how dinosaurs regulated their body heat and how organic molecules formed in space, among other insights.
Professor Eiler joined the Caltech faculty in 1998.
Sarah Reisman
Norman Davidson Leadership Chair
Bren Professor of Chemistry
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Sarah Reisman's group discovers new ways to synthesize complex molecules chemically, including a class of organic molecules known as natural products that are typically made in nature by bacteria, fungi, or plants. Many antibiotics and anticancer agents trace their origins to such natural products, and their chemical synthesis can advance our understanding of their chemistry and biology. Reisman's lab also seeks to discover new chemical reactions, with an emphasis on new catalytic processes.
Professor Reisman joined the Caltech faculty in 2008.
Paul Sternberg
William K. Bowes Jr. Leadership Chair
Bren Professor of Biology
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering
Paul Sternberg's research utilizes Caenorhabditis elegans, a small roundworm, to answer fundamental questions about genetics, developmental biology, evolution, and neuroscience, all with application to human diseases. Through C. elegans, Sternberg's lab can explain at a fundamental level how a genome controls development, behavior, and physiology, and has developed open-access databases that researchers around the world utilize. Sternberg is also affiliated with the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech.
Professor Sternberg joined the Caltech faculty in 1987.
Zhongwen Zhan (PhD '14)
Professor of Geophysics
Clarence R. Allen Leadership Chair, Seismological Laboratory
Director, Seismological Laboratory
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Zhongwen Zhan uses preexisting fiber-optic networks to create next-generation seismic networks and develop new sensing technologies, both on land and in the ocean, with applications in unconventional areas of geophysics. Using technology pioneered in his laboratory, Zhan is producing detailed measurements of earthquakes and the earth's structure, mapping underground volcanic systems, developing systems for earthquake early warning, and measuring soil moisture.
Professor Zhan joined the Caltech faculty in 2015.
Named Professorships
Christian Frankenberg
Chandler Family Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Research Scientist
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Christian Frankenberg investigates the global carbon cycle from space, harnessing data from multiple satellite missions to measure and model exchanges between Earth's surface and atmosphere, and the forces that drive them. His research ranges from mapping global photosynthetic activity via solar-induced fluorescence to detecting and quantifying methane point sources, providing critical informatoin for local and global carbon budgets.
Professor Frankenberg has been a research scientist at JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA, since 2010; he joined the Caltech faculty in 2015.
Houman Owhadi
IBM Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Control and Dynamical Systems
Division of Engineering and Applied Science
Houman Owhadi explores the interplay between numerical approximation, statistical inference, and learning in game-theoretic situations where rational agents optimize their own objectives while anticipating others' strategies. His work bridges machine learning and applied mathematics, and spans uncertainty quantification as well as probabilistic and multiscale numerical methods.
Professor Owhadi joined the Caltech faculty in 2004.
Early Career Professorships
Xiaojing (Ruby) Fu
Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering
William H. Hurt Scholar
Division of Engineering and Applied Science
Ruby Fu studies the fundamental physics governing the flow of water and other fluids through porous media, and how these processes shape both natural and engineered environments. By integrating mathematical theory, computational modeling, laboratory experiments, and field observations, her work addresses a broad spectrum of geoscience challenges, including dryland and cryosphere hydrology, soil biogeochemistry, geologic carbon sequestration, and geothermal energy systems.
Professor Fu joined the Caltech faculty in 2021.
Hsin-Yuan (Robert) Huang (PhD '24)
Assistant Professor of Theoretical Physics
William H. Hurt Scholar
Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy
Robert Huang is building the theoretical foundations for future quantum computers to make discoveries beyond the capabilities of classical machines. In one recent study, Huang and colleagues demonstrated how quantum computers facilitate physics problems that seek to determine a material's lowest-energy states. Another study showed how classical machine learning tools can be used to make predictions about quantum systems.
Professor Huang joined the Caltech faculty in 2025.
Carlos Taboada
Assistant Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
William H. Hurt Scholar
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering
Carlos Taboada's work aims to explain the interplay of the biochemical and physical processes that determine optical traits, such as fluorescence, transparency, and camouflage, in animals. For example, his lab studies glass frogs, a group of tropical amphibians with transparent skin and muscles, through which bones and internal organs can be seen. Taboada's work has revealed novel colorful proteins that allow certain species to blend into the tropical canopy.
Professor Taboada joined the Caltech faculty in 2025.
Julia Tejada
Assistant Professor of Geobiology
William H. Hurt Scholar
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Julia Tejada, a paleobiologist, uses modern tools from geobiology and geochemistry to understand the origins and evolution of life and modern biodiversity as well as broad ecological and evolutionary processes from both ecosystem- and organismal-level perspectives. Tejada blends advanced laboratory techniques with field expeditions, conducting fossil-record fieldwork in understudied settings, like western Amazonia, the central Andes, and coastal areas of Peru.
Professor Tejada joined the Caltech faculty in 2023.