Barb Catlin, jazz band director, and Trustee Taylor W. Lawrence (both seated), and Glenn Price, director of Performing and Visual Arts (back right), in the campus recording studio. Caltech students Kiran Shila, So Takao, and Phil Kocheril, joined by musicians Ben Harris and Matthew Lombardi, take part in celebrating the new studio. Credit: Chris Flynn/Caltech

The student experience at Caltech has received a generous investment from alumnus and Trustee Taylor W. Lawrence (BS ’86). The million-dollar gift, which advances the Initiative for Caltech Students fundraising campaign, includes a $500,000 endowment for theater arts—the first of its kind for the Institute—and creates an endowment for the newly renovated student recording studio now named in his honor. A former student of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program, Lawrence also has increased his ongoing support of SURF.

“Music and the arts made life at Caltech fun and enjoyable, and it added another dimension to my education,” says Lawrence, whose 35-year career spanned the aerospace, defense, and national security industries before he retired as vice president of Raytheon. “The arts gave me skills for my future career.” He also extolls the importance for undergraduates to step out of their comfort zone, an opportunity that the arts can provide for future scientists and engineers.

All the World’s a Stage

Although Lawrence had dabbled in school productions growing up in a small rural town in Alabama, he didn’t think he would have time to perform in college until he realized he could meet Nobel laureate and part-time thespian Richard Feynman through theater.

“I was in awe of walking around campus and seeing folks like Richard Feynman, who was a physics rock star.” Cut to the 1985 Caltech production of The Madwoman of Chaillot. On stage portraying the Sewer King is Feynman, surrounded by students cast as street urchins. Among them was Lawrence who recalls that while he had only one line to say as he exited the stage, it was all worth it. He would walk away with Feynman’s signature on a copy of the physicist’s best-selling book, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! As a fourth-year, Lawrence would be involved in additional student productions under the guidance of theater arts founding director Shirley Marneus. Today he serves as a board member of the Roundabout Theater Company in New York City.

Lawrence, who played trumpet in high school and was named to All State Band, views the recording studio as an important addition to Caltech’s arts culture. A previous recording studio was built in 1995 through a donation by former provost Rochus Vogt and was housed in the former Winnett Student Center. The new facility, located in the Hameetman Center, will provide a space for smaller ensembles including jazz, guitar, and chamber music to record. The studio will be connected to Frautschi Rehearsal Hall located two floors above via a control room, allowing recordings of large ensembles such as choir and orchestras.

“This consequential gift ensures we can continue to grow our vibrant, collaborative world of theater performance and recorded music,” says Dr. Glenn Price, director of Performing and Visual Arts. “I often hear from our students how engaging in the arts offers a balance in their lives and adds a social component. With the ability to expand our artistic offerings we can continue to have a profound impact on their lives at Caltech.” These experiences, along with opportunities to participate in courses to hone storytelling capabilities, provide students with additional skills to communicate effectively about their research.

A Life Changing Experience at CERN

The summer before his senior year, Lawrence obtained a SURF to work with Dr. Harvey Newman, professor of physics, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. Newman’s work in high energy physics led him to become an early contributor to the Large Hadron Collider—the world's most powerful particle accelerator.

“I had such a wonderful experience,” says Lawrence of his summer at CERN which included attending lectures by theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. He also worked closely with Newman to help build a device to calibrate what was, at that time, one of the predecessors to the Hadron Collider. Their work would lead Lawrence from Switzerland to Los Alamos National Laboratory in an attempt to build a neutral particle beam to hit a lithium target.

“I have vivid memories and continue to reflect on Taylor's work with us in the mid-1980s as a SURF student, and his subsequent career along with his many contributions as a Trustee to Caltech's success,” says Newman. “His recent and ongoing support for the SURF program is at the core of his lifelong understanding and appreciation of Caltech's special character and impact, which begins with the unique potential and capabilities of our undergraduates."

Lawrence wanted to expand the number of students who could access SURF’s life-changing experiences, committing to fund five SURF students over the next five years.

“I came from a very modest background, and my parents could not have afforded to send me to Switzerland,” says Lawrence. “SURF did that, and it opened my eyes to many things.” Meeting SURF students is something Lawrence looks forward to every year, usually at a dinner he hosts at the Atheneum. He applauds their work while also sharing how rewarding it is for him to be able to give back.

Professor Katherine T. Faber, President Thomas F. Rosenbaum, and SURF students (Abhiram Cherukupalli, Bisrat Kassahun, Heramba H. Patil, Logan A. Smith-Perkins) gather to recognize Trustee Taylor W. Lawrence (fifth from left) for his ongoing support of the program. Credit: Chris Flynn/Caltech

Celebrating a Bright Future for the Arts

On November 2 the Caltech community came together to dedicate the Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence Recording Studio. The event, which featured a tour of the studio, gave arts enthusiasts the opportunity to connect over dinner and an evening presentation of Earth Data: The Musical. The musical is inspired by research conducted by JPL climate scientists.

“To me, the Caltech experience is one that allows you to be very close to brilliant people,” says Lawrence. “It's a place where these brilliant people come together to solve problems and change the world.” Brilliant people like Richard Feynman, whose class Lawrence took in his senior year. “I was able to go into his office and ask him about Feynman diagrams in relativistic quantum field theory. And he would just make you feel like you understood everything. Caltech is that experience.”