加州理工学院第十任校长正式就职：天体物理学家Ray Jayawardhana在Pasadena典礼上接掌这所百年名校
位于加州洛杉矶县Pasadena的加州理工学院（Caltech）10月29日上午在校园Beckman Mall举行第十任校长就职典礼，天体物理学家Ray Jayawardhana正式就任。典礼以「第一缕光」（First Light）为主题——在天文学中，这指的是望远镜第一次睁开眼睛、观测宇宙的时刻。Jayawardhana已于今年7月1日到任，此次典礼为正式就职仪式，校董会成员、教职员、学生与校友代表先后致辞，仪式并通过网络直播。
Jayawardhana在就职演说中以「第一缕光」寄语全校：科学正处在可能性惊人的时刻，但公众对科学的信任正在磨损，以回报的即时性衡量探究价值的压力也在上升，科学家应在不确定中保持乐观。他此前形容这所学生不足2400人、录取率低于4%的学校是「规模很小、但真正强大」。据报道，自他7月到任以来，Caltech已获得约7300万美元的捐赠承诺。
就职系列活动前一晚（10月28日）在Beckman Auditorium举行「勇敢的新太空时代」公开论坛，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）局长Jared Isaacman、前谷歌首席执行官Eric Schmidt等人与谈，讨论商业航天以及重返月球与火星。Caltech为NASA管理位于Pasadena的喷气推进实验室（JPL）。
Jayawardhana出生于斯里兰卡，少年时曾写信给JPL、索取旅行者号拍摄的外行星照片，由此与这所学校结缘。他1994年在耶鲁大学获天文学与物理学学士学位，2000年在哈佛大学获天文学博士学位，此后任教于密歇根大学、多伦多大学，历任康奈尔大学文理学院院长、约翰斯·霍普金斯大学教务长（2023年至2026年）。今年1月6日，Caltech校董会宣布他为第十任校长，接替任职12年的Thomas Rosenbaum。据美媒报道，他是加州理工历任校长中首位天文学家出身者，也是首位南亚裔美国人校长。
作为学者，Jayawardhana研究行星及行星系统的起源与演化、恒星与褐矮星的形成，发表论文180多篇，是詹姆斯·韦布空间望远镜NIRISS仪器的科学团队成员。他同时以科普写作著称，曾获古根海姆奖与卡尔·萨根奖章，一颗小行星（4668 Rayjay）以他的名字命名。
Pasadena也是华人企业家程正昌（Andrew Cherng）与蒋佩琪（Peggy Cherng）夫妇创办的熊猫餐饮集团总部所在地，程氏夫妇与Caltech结缘多年。2017年，两人捐赠3000万美元，冠名设立「程正昌与蒋佩琪医学工程系」（Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering），这是Caltech第一个获捐赠冠名的学系；蒋佩琪并担任Caltech校董。校方在介绍这笔捐赠时说，程氏夫妇在Pasadena创业四十多年，一直视Caltech为这座城市的「闪亮之星」。
关联：2027泰晤士世界大学排名公布 斯坦福、加州理工、Berkeley进前十
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Caltech Inaugurates Its 10th President: Astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana Formally Installed in Pasadena
PASADENA, Calif. — The California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California, formally inaugurated astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana as its 10th president on the morning of October 29, in a ceremony on Beckman Mall themed "First Light" — in astronomy, the moment a telescope opens its eye to the universe for the first time. Jayawardhana took office on July 1; the ceremony marked his formal installation, with remarks from trustees, faculty, students and alumni, and was livestreamed.
In his inaugural address, Jayawardhana returned to the "first light" theme: science stands at a moment of breathtaking possibility, but public trust is fraying and pressure is mounting to measure the value of inquiry by the immediacy of its returns, and scientists should remain optimistic amid uncertainty. He has described Caltech — fewer than 2,400 students and an acceptance rate below 4 percent — as "really small but truly mighty." About $73 million in donations has reportedly been pledged since he took office in July.
The inauguration program began the previous evening, October 28, with "The Brave New Space Age," a public forum at Beckman Auditorium featuring NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, among others, on commercial spaceflight and the return to the Moon and Mars. Caltech manages NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena.
Born in Sri Lanka, Jayawardhana wrote to JPL as a teenager asking for Voyager photographs of the outer planets — his first link to the Institute. He earned a bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics from Yale University in 1994 and a PhD in astronomy from Harvard University in 2000, taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Toronto, served as dean of Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences, and was provost of Johns Hopkins University from 2023 to 2026. Caltech's Board of Trustees named him the Institute's 10th president on January 6, 2026, succeeding Thomas Rosenbaum, who served 12 years. News reports note he is the first astronomer, and the first South Asian American, to lead Caltech.
As a scholar, Jayawardhana investigates the origin and evolution of planets and planetary systems and the formation of stars and brown dwarfs; he has co-authored more than 180 scientific papers and is a science team member for the James Webb Space Telescope's NIRISS instrument. An acclaimed science writer, he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Carl Sagan Medal, and asteroid 4668 Rayjay is named after him.
Pasadena is also home to Panda Restaurant Group, founded by Chinese American entrepreneurs Andrew Cherng and Peggy Cherng, whose ties to Caltech run deep. In 2017 the couple gave $30 million to endow the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering — the first endowed department in Caltech's history — and Peggy Cherng serves as a Caltech trustee. The Institute has quoted the couple, who built their business in Pasadena over four decades, calling Caltech a "shining star of Pasadena."
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来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：加州理工学院第十任校长、天体物理学家Ray Jayawardhana在梵蒂冈天文台的望远镜旁。照片：Adebart1，CC BY-SA 4.0，经Wikimedia Commons。 / Caltech's 10th president, astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana, beside the Vatican Observatory telescope. Photo: Adebart1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
