PASADENA, Calif. — "The value of the education I received at Caltech transcends the body of knowledge I acquired," says Clara Spalter Miller, the newly elected member to the California Institute of Technology board of trustees. "At Caltech, you are required to constantly push your own limits and not be afraid of failure. These are skills that I found to be as valuable in the world of business and finance as in the fields of science and engineering."
Miller, a 1984 graduate who majored in chemical engineering, is the principal of Regulus International Capital Corporation in Greenwich, Connecticut, a private investment and early-stage venture-capital company she has been associated with for over 16 years. In 2000, she cofounded Semandex Networks, a computer networking company that adds content-based searching to existing information infrastructures. She remains as a director of that company.
As to why she agreed to serve on the board of trustees--the Institute's governing body--Miller says it's because Caltech is a unique place. "There's no other place like it, and once you have had the privilege to be a part of it, it is hard to detach yourself from it without creating a void in your life. I have always been proud to be associated with the Institute, and over the years I have derived great intellectual and personal satisfaction from my interaction with other members of the Caltech community.
"I'm honored to be appointed to the board and I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution in returning to a place that has had such a special impact on my life."
Founded in 1891, Caltech is located on a 124-acre campus in Pasadena. The Institute also manages the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory and operates eight other off-campus astronomical, seismological, and marine biology facilities. Caltech has an enrollment of some 2,000 students, more than half of whom are in graduate studies, and a faculty of about 280 professorial members and 65 research members, and some 560 postdoctoral scholars. Caltech employs a staff of more than 2,600 on campus and 5,100 at JPL.
U.S. News &World Report consistently ranks Caltech's undergraduate and graduate programs as being among the nation's best. The average SAT score of members of recent incoming freshman classes has consistently been at 1500.