Gift in Memory of Alumnus Supports Career Readiness Programs

Alumni mentors meeting with Caltech students at CAMP West LA, an in-person event from the Career Alumni Mentoring Program (CAMP). Credit: Caltech/David Andrade

For Angela Carnegie, supporting professional development is a meaningful way to honor her late husband’s deep connection to Caltech and the mentorship he found there.

Mentors play an important role in the life of a Caltech student, both in and outside of the lab and classroom. In honor of her late husband, Jesse Grodnik (BS ’66), Angela Carnegie has endowed the Jesse Grodnik Mentorship Fund to support student career readiness through offerings such as the Caltech Alumni Mentoring Program (CAMP). A collaboration between Career Achievement, Leadership, and Exploration (CALE) and Alumni Relations, CAMP is a five-week experience that connects Caltech alumni with current students. Launched in 2025, in its inaugural year CAMP paired 298 mentors and mentees.

Claire Ralph, director of CALE, sees programs like CAMP giving students a perspective outside of their immediate community, while allowing alumni to recontextualize their time as students.

"Hearing from alums who have been there, who have a breadth of knowledge of the outside world, can completely change a student’s trajectory. It can help them see themselves in a different light, considering possibilities they didn’t know were out there," says Ralph. "Alumni tell me how valuable it is to them to give back to their former selves. They come away energized, encouraged, and excited."

Ralph notes that after returning from mentoring sessions, students often say that they don’t feel alone anymore and are more connected to the community.

"They feel ready to chase after the dream they might be feeling insecure about," she adds. "One of the best ways to learn is by finding mentors. You should be constantly putting yourself in situations with people who help you navigate your growth."

Transformative Undergraduate Experiences Inspire Gift

As a Caltech undergraduate physics student, Grodnik received mentoring from many preeminent physicists including Nobel laureates Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann. Feynman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965, alongside Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, a year before Grodnik graduated. Gell-Mann, the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus, would be awarded the Nobel five years later for his work in sorting particles based on their electric charge and other characteristics.

"Jesse credited the mentorship he received as a student at Caltech as instilling in him the rigor needed for later success in engineering and science," says his wife.

Grodnik was born in Israel and grew up during the first Arab-Israeli War. Later, his family moved to the US where he completed his schooling. He wrote that the road trip from New York City to Pasadena was the first time he experienced life outside of a noisy and busy metropolis and, as such, was a truly transformative experience. He joined the Sierra Club and often volunteered as a hike leader sharing with others the same appreciation of the peace and beauty of the wilderness.

Jesse Grodnik pictured in Caltech's yearbook, The Big T, in 1966. Credit: Caltech Archives

After graduating from Caltech, he went on to the University of Pennsylvania where he earned his PhD in physics. This was followed by three years as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Maryland and Sussex University in the United Kingdom. He then returned to the US and embarked on his career in software development, leading international teams at Oracle and Sun Microsystems. He would become a mentor for developers from a variety of backgrounds, crediting his life and travel overseas as important factors in his own success as a mentor.

"You need to be quite skilled to deal with people with different attitudes to life," says Carnegie. "He was a good listener and patient. He had a lot of life experience, not just work experience."

The couple regularly returned to Caltech for class reunions, including 30th, 40th, and Half-Century dinners. They also attended regional events in Silicon Valley and their hometown of San Francisco. He often provided guidance on workforce protocols and interview preparation for Caltech students.

Opportunities for Alumni to Engage as Mentors

Mario Peraza, assistant vice president of alumni relations and executive director of the Caltech Alumni Association, sees mentoring as one of the key ways alumni can engage with the Institute.

"Many alumni, whether they’ve graduated five years ago or 25 years ago, really value the chance to connect with current students," Peraza says. "In addition to supporting students, mentoring helps them frame their career in a concise way: why did I take this job, why did I choose that time to advocate for a promotion? It helps their own career development and what they want to do next."

The Jesse Grodnik Mentorship Fund will help foster student professional development by supporting programs like CAMP.

"Alumni engagement is extending learning opportunities beyond the classroom," says Peraza. "It gives students a taste of what the real world is like, while helping alumni stay connected to the future workforce."

There is a wide selection of options to choose from for alumni interested in engaging with Caltech mentoring programs. Ralph and Peraza recommend checking the monthly alumni newsletter for upcoming events and joining the Techer Professional Network, the online platform for Caltech alumni and students to connect for career advice and professional opportunities.

Mentoring programs range from in-person to virtual events as well as short-term to long-term commitments. Last month, a one-day CAMP West LA attracted 50 alumni mentors to help students explore future career paths. There are also regional options for individuals outside of Southern California. One-hour flash mentoring focuses on specific industries, while the summer CAMP program offers an extended schedule to give mentors and students time to develop relationships.

"The menu for mentorship is growing," Peraza says. "As mentors, alumni know what it was like to do problem sets until the wee hours of the morning. They know how Caltech translates to the real world and can share that with students."