7/23/2020 - Community Meeting Transcript

On Monday, July 20, President Thomas F. Rosenbaum, Provost David A. Tirrell, and Vice President for Student Affairs Joseph E. Shepherd hosted a virtual town hall to discuss Caltech's plans for instruction and on-campus living for the fall 2020 term.

The discussion, which drew 1,200 attendees, featured a panel that included Kevin Gilmartin, dean of undergraduate students and incoming vice president for student affairs; Doug Rees, dean of graduate studies; Cassandra Horii, director of the Caltech Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach (CTLO); Felicia Hunt, assistant vice president for student affairs and residential experience; Jennifer Howes, executive director of Student Wellness Services; and Ilana Smith, director of the international offices.

More than 100 people submitted questions in advance.

David Tirrell: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this afternoon's community meeting on the subject of Caltech's plans for the fall 2020 term. I'm David Tirrell. I'm the provost at Caltech, and I will serve as the moderator for our discussion this afternoon.

We've had a great deal of interest in this afternoon's conversation; we are expecting more than 1,000 participants, and we appreciate the time that all of you are going to devote to trying to understand our plans better. We have also received more than 100 questions in advance, and we have tried to organize the questions by topic in order to try to streamline the conversation and address those questions that seem to be of broadest interest. We're not going to be able to address every question.

We have streamlined things a bit by reframing some of them. And we also plan to post additional responses, subsequent to this afternoon's discussion.

And I would also like to note that although we will be giving you our best information at this point, things are changing in terms of the public-health situation and guidance that we're getting from public-health agencies. And so, all of us recognize that we have to continue to reassess the situation as we go along and make our best judgments throughout the rest of the summer leading up to the fall term.

I'd now like to introduce each of the panelists who will be available to address questions and talk about our planning process and our specific plans.

First, Tom Rosenbaum, the president of Caltech. Next, Joe Shepherd, the vice president for student affairs. We have our incoming vice president for student affairs and undergraduate dean, Kevin Gilmartin; the graduate dean, Doug Rees; the director of our Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach, Cassandra Horii; assistant vice president for student affairs and residential experience, Felicia Hunt; the executive director of student wellness services, Jennifer Howes; and the director of our international offices, Ilana Smith. Thanks to all of you for being available to respond to questions from our community.

I would like to begin with Joe Shepherd, who will talk about the planning process that led to the communication that we issued recently outlining our plans for the fall term. Joe?

Joseph Shepherd: Thank you, Dave.

First I'll provide a perspective on our planning process. I appreciate the concerns, and I have read your thoughts about our fall plan. From the outset, we knew this decision would challenge us, please few, and frustrate many.

We made our decisions in the face of significant uncertainties. We still do not have approval from our local public health authority to reopen for in-person instruction or to occupy the residences. It is essential to plan to reopen, but we are also fully prepared to carry out remote instruction with minimal on-campus activity if necessary.

Now I'll respond to some of the questions that we have received.

What was the planning process for making decisions for the fall term?

During the spring we started a campus-wide planning process to prepare for the resumption of activity on campus once the safer-at-home order was lifted. As part of this activity various possibilities were examined for resuming instruction and residential living this fall. Committees and working groups representative of the campus community developed recommendations for instructions and residential living, and their recommendations were the basis for the fall 2020 decision.

We took the following factors into consideration: public health, student experience, and the educational/research program, and the challenges and resources required to implement the various possibilities.

To expand on that a bit, best practices in public health and the directives of the public-health authorities and Pasadena, LA County, and the State of California require that we manage the density on campus in dormitory settings, classrooms, and laboratories.

For residences, this meant:

Supporting the student experience was focused on three areas:

Addressing challenges in implementation and in allocating resources appropriately requires that we have a system that allows us to adapt quickly to any potential changes in the public-health situation. In case of an outbreak in the campus community during the coming year, the campus and students should be prepared for additional public-health measures and for potentially depopulating the residences by having students return home.

Now, we've been asked to provide some perspective on how the prioritization for undergraduate students invited to campus was established.

Informed by the recommendations of our working committees, we developed a process for inviting students that is a compromise designed to serve the students who most need to be on campus for a variety of reasons related to academic progress, challenges in remote learning, personal circumstances, and transitioning to independent living and learning.

With all these factors and the public-health requirements in mind, we determined we could invite students in the following order:

As each category of invitees responds and lets us know their intention to live in residence or not, we will be able to assess our ability to invite students in the next category.

We considered many alternative models before arriving at the plan we are implementing. One of the models we examined was bringing back all students for at least one term. Ultimately, given the best practices and restrictions in public health and our campus-facilities capacities, we determined it wasn't a feasible option for Caltech.

As we look ahead to the spring and winter, we are not certain what the environment will allow for, but we will continue to assess the situation and keep students and their families updated. It is unlikely that we will require students to return to campus in the winter or spring term if the public-health situation has not improved significantly. We are optimistic that we will be able to provide more in-person instruction and accommodate more students and residents as the academic year progresses, and in which case it is likely that students will be invited to return on a voluntary basis.

Thank you.

David Tirrell: Thanks, Joe. We did have a question come in from one of our parents that you may be prepared to answer; it may also be a decision that's not been made yet. But if it has been made, I would like to see if we can answer it on the spot. And the question is: If our student is invited to campus, can we accompany them to check in, or do they need to come alone?

Joseph Shepherd: Oh, that's a very good question, and I'll actually be covering that in a little later in the section on housing. But the short answer is, you can certainly accompany them.

David Tirrell: Okay, great. Thank you.

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

David Tirrell: We are going to change the focus to the undergraduate program for the fall term, and we are going to involve Kevin Gilmartin and Cassandra Horii in this part of the conversation. But before we get to Kevin and Cassandra, there were a couple of broad questions about how the campus as a whole will be operating with respect to undergraduate instruction, and perhaps I can address those myself.

The questions were about courses being offered with in-person components, grading policies, and undergraduates' opportunity to participate in research.

With respect to courses with in-person components, we have not yet fully decided how many of those there will be. With respect to prioritizing students who need to return to campus, there'll be a very small number of such courses. You will be able to count them on one hand.

Once the registration for fall term is complete, we will take a look and see if there is a possibility to offer more in-person classroom experiences. We're not certain whether that will be true, and in large measure those decisions will be in the hands of the individual instructors. Caltech instructors, like instructors at most universities, have flexibility in how they teach their courses. And as such, we will work closely with the individual instructors to try to decide for each course whether an in-person component makes sense.

And the second part of the question was about grading policies and what the grading policy will be in the fall. And we've thought a lot about this. We have had a committee on undergraduate instruction consider that question very carefully. Their report is posted on our coronavirus website, and you can see how they were thinking about it.

The decision has been made to return to our normal grading practices. There will be a mixture of courses on grades and the possibility that students could elect to take some courses pass/fail.

Finally, with respect to undergraduate research: I think there's a sense that the undergraduate-research experience is a very important part of the Caltech education, and we will certainly work to provide research experiences for undergraduate students. As you may know, we are operating our research laboratories under altered conditions where we have reduced density and the laboratories each have requirements for masks, scheduling shifts, and health monitoring. Researchers also record work locations over the course of the day. We are monitoring the situation very carefully.

The sense is that, to the extent that undergraduate students can be incorporated into that process, we would very much like to give them those opportunities.

So now we'll move to Kevin Gilmartin, dean of undergraduate students and our incoming vice president for student affairs. Kevin.

Kevin Gilmartin: Thank you, Dave. Now, there were a number of questions about what will be expected of students in supporting our efforts to mitigate infections on campus. There were questions too from concerned family members about how we plan to enforce those expectations among all students who return to campus.

President Rosenbaum's announcement about fall-term plans really stresses the Caltech Community Commitment, which acknowledges that every member of the community must commit to practices that protect the health and well-being of the entire community. That commitment lays out specific hygiene and policy guidelines, which include, for example, face coverings, maintaining physical distance, and potential isolation or quarantine measures.

As a condition of enrollment, undergraduate students are going to be expected to abide by its terms, and they will also need to follow the Student Affairs Policy on Health and Hygiene. That policy outlines safety and hygiene practices for students residing on campus and also for students who may live in the community and access campus facilities.

I urge all students and their families to review these policies, which are available on the Student Affairs website.

Now, enforcement will focus in the first instance, above all, on education. We really want to ensure that everyone is aware of community hygiene and safety expectations. However, students need to understand that their residence on campus and access to facilities is contingent upon compliance. Those who deliberately or repeatedly violate health and hygiene practices will no longer be welcome in our undergraduate residences and will lose their access to campus facilities. This approach simply reaffirms the core principle of the Caltech Community Commitment: that every member of the community must commit to practices that protect the entire community.

Now I'll address a number of concerns with respect to undergraduate policies and programs, beginning with important questions from incoming first-year students about deferring their enrollment, potentially, and from continuing students about arranging for a leave of absence through upcoming terms.

Incoming first-year students may request a gap year, deferring their enrollment to a future fall term. Given the structure of our first-year core curriculum at Caltech, incoming students must defer for an entire year. Requests should be made directly to Director of Undergraduate Admissions Nikki Chun and should include a plan for the gap year. Such requests are not approved, it's important to note, where a student plans to take courses as a degree-seeking student at another college or university. And we will hold a place for deferring students in next year's incoming class. The only deadline for deferral requests is the start of the academic year. Requests made after the beginning of orientation will be routed through the undergraduate dean's office, rather than admissions.

Continuing students can request a leave of absence in advance of the first day of classes in any term by completing the personal leave-of-absence form that is available on the undergraduate deans' website.

While the form itself is straightforward, we really encourage students who are considering a leave to consult in advance with the deans so that they understand the range of issues that could be involved. International students should check with the International Offices about visa applications before they submit a leave of absence.

We also had some questions about work study, which is part of our financial-aid program.

In the coming academic year work-study awards will still be factored into financial-aid packages, and remote opportunities will be available for students to earn their work expectation. Please note, however, if a student is living abroad and has work study in their current aid package, we will have to revise their financial aid since work study cannot be utilized outside the country due to foreign tax and other employment implications.

Now, we understand the challenges that many families are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we're absolutely committed to making a Caltech education accessible to all students. So please contact financial aid if you have questions or concerns.

And finally, for me, there were questions about the study-abroad program and whether we are considering changing our decision about allowing those programs to continue.

And yes, we have in fact reconsidered this decision and will be allowing students to participate in the study-abroad program provided that they formally acknowledge the risks involved and changes to the program this year. It's important for students and their families to review the facts outlined in documents sent to them this morning before deciding to participate in the program this fall.

David Tirrell: Thanks very much, Kevin. I will now turn to Cassandra Horii, who's our director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach. Cassandra.

Cassandra Horii: Thank you, Dave. Many of you have asked how Caltech's emphasis on collaboration and hands-on experimentation will transfer to a mostly remote learning environment.

This is a great question. We recognize that collaborating remotely can be more challenging than in person, so we're expanding access to online tools that will help. These include collaborative whiteboard applications and our new learning management system, Canvas, which will help faculty provide structure and guidance for student collaboration, along with other forms of interaction.

In the spring, Caltech faculty found innovative solutions for remote courses with experimental and engineering design elements. As well as experiential aspects of classes in the humanities, social sciences, arts and physical education. We're sharing those practices and examples with faculty widely this summer and working with groups of instructors to help them design learning experiences that are engaging and effective.

In addition, the library and vice provost office are offering the loan of tablet devices to students who need them for collaboration and learning. More details about this program will be available closer to the fall term.

Furthermore, student-support offices will remain open and operational during the fall; many have already rolled out remote access and will continue to do so. Examples include the undergraduate dean's office peer-tutoring program. Professional and peer writing support from the Hixon Writing Center; Student Wellness Services offerings, such as occupational therapy, counseling, and group programs; discussions and affinity groups offered by the Caltech Center for Inclusion and Diversity; and services provided by the Caltech Library, the Career Development Center, and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach.

These and others will continue to be available to students remotely in the fall. Felicia Hunt will address student support in greater detail in a few moments.

Finally, I'd like to take just a moment to highlight an opportunity available to incoming undergraduates remotely right now and throughout the summer.

Caltech's free noncredit summer mathematics course, Transition to Mathematical Proofs, also known as Math Zero, is fully online and underway now. It is self-paced and open to all incoming first-year undergrads. Teaching assistants who themselves are Caltech students and know what it's like to learn and study in Caltech classes are holding live office hours via Zoom and giving personalized feedback on assignments.

This is a great opportunity, and I would encourage all incoming first-year undergraduates to make use of this resource. Thank you.

David Tirrell: Thanks, Cassandra. We now have a set of questions about the graduate program and Doug Rees, our graduate dean, will address those for us. Doug.

GRADUATE PROGRAM

Douglas Rees: Thank you, Dave. And good afternoon. To start, I wanted to address some general questions about how the pandemic has impacted the graduate studies program.

As with everything else in society, the pandemic has profoundly impacted the graduate-studies program: course work is largely online; policies regarding degree milestones such as qualifying exams and candidacy need to provide flexibility; and research stopped. While research is now resuming, it involves introduction of new protocols to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 transmission, with reduced density and schedules. As we know, all meetings are online, as are seminars and thesis defenses; conferences and travel have been canceled or postponed.

The silver lining for graduate studies has been the opportunity to catch up on reading and writing, and we are seeing that it is possible to resume at least some level of research. And, thesis seminars attract a broader audience since attendees, including relatives and former group members, do not need to be physically present. Certainly, progress toward the degree has been impacted, but we have worked to mitigate this by allowing a second conferral of degrees by the board of trustees in October for those students completing graduate-degree requirements over the summer. We will also be working with the options to extend the timeline for completing candidacy requirements. Overall, our goals remain to support the progress of graduate students toward fulfilling their degree requirements.

Now, looking to the fall, we've had questions about in-person instruction, lab rotations, and classes, more broadly.

While lecture courses will be (almost) exclusively online, graduate research courses may have in-person components as long as appropriate health and safety protocols can be followed.

There were multiple questions about laboratory rotations for options that have them. We are working with these options to determine what may be accommodated given limitations on laboratory density and our current health and safety protocols.

Will incoming students be able to matriculate remotely (both from another location in the U.S. or from abroad)?

Under normal circumstances, graduate students matriculate at Caltech when they arrive on campus. Recognizing the potential for a large number of students to be impacted by the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic and visa delays, we are exploring the possibility of remote matriculation of incoming graduate students. I hope to provide more details in the near future.

David Tirrell: Thank you, Doug.

HOUSING

Dave Tirrell: As you might imagine, there have been many questions about plans for housing in the fall and to address those we'll invite Joe Shepherd back. Joe.

Joseph Shepherd: Thank you, Dave. I'll just take a few minutes here to address some of the questions we received about housing operations.

We understand that there's a lot of interest in knowing exactly how that will work, and more detailed information will be provided to newly arriving and returning undergraduate and graduate students in the coming weeks.

At the undergraduate level, residents will be required to make a move-in appointment with the housing office. Information about the appointment process and quarantine will be provided after students have responded to the invitation to live in the residences.

As I mentioned earlier in response to today's question, each student will be allowed to have a designated helper to support them in moving in. This could be a family member or friend. There will also be volunteers and staff on hand from housing and the Office of Residential Experience involved to help set up. Everyone who will be helping with a move-in will be expected to follow the health and hygiene guidelines for the campus.

Now we have some questions about how the term will end. And as we announced, we will be asking all undergraduate students to leave on-campus residences for the Thanksgiving break.

We understand that there may be challenging circumstances for some students, and we will be addressing these on an individual basis.

And now for the graduate students.

Incoming graduate students will soon receive a communication from the housing office about the same issues of move-in and quarantine that I spoke to earlier. The graduate-student roommate situation is that roommates were assigned by a matching process based on application preferences. It may be that some students are not able to arrive for this fall. If the preferred roommate is not arriving, another roommate may be assigned to the space as needed.

Finally, there's a number of questions about items that were left in storage when we had to abruptly depart campus in the spring.

For those items that are still in storage in the gym, we have been contacting the students to set up an appointment for pickup of those items and/or to coordinate shipping and delivery. More information is available on the housing-office website.

Thank you.

STUDENT EXPERIENCE

David Tirrell: Thanks, Joe. I will now turn to the student experience and residential life, and for that section of the conversation we welcome Felicia Hunt, who leads Student Affairs' Office of Residential Experience. Felicia.

Felicia Hunt: First, let me start with a few main points. We are so pleased to have some residents returning to campus in the fall, and we'll work with all of you to create community in ways that are both typical of Caltech and the experience that we're used to providing but will also be respectful of this unprecedented time.

In terms of the values that guide residential experience, we will continue to have graduate student RAs and in-residence staff who will be available for support, engagement, and, we hope, fun for undergraduate and graduate residents alike. The entire team will continue to reach out to students and help them meet and connect with each other, as well as connect to the resources available to them.

Everything we do will be to ensure that the Caltech values of taking care of each other, providing student mentoring, and building a sense of community spirit will remain present, even if they need to be reimagined. As with all offices, we look forward to in-person programs, events, and activities, and will be ready to go when the time comes.

Until then, we will be seeking out student ideas and building on student creativity to help develop online and in-person events. We think of students as our partners and, especially this year, we will call on their skills and support.

I've been asked to describe a day in the life of a student living on campus and to explain a little bit about what socializing and collaboration will look like in our cohorts, when people move in.

Much of the life of a student will depend on which students are on campus. For some it will include in-person courses and work on projects. For others, it will be about remote learning and working in groups online. We will support all of this.

Life in residence, though, is not just academic. We want to find ways to allow students to be together. And we'll build programs that invite small groups to enjoy activities. Once the situation improves, we have ideas for everything from outside dinners and picnics, to competitions on the lawn, to movies, speakers, and music. We hope that you'll join us in planning fun things as soon as we can.

In terms of studying, we also know the importance of collaboration, and we'll be looking to build cohorts that allows students to live and learn collaboratively. Those have not been finalized because our residential community has not been finalized, but we plan to help students build a campus bubble as part of our work going forward.

We also know that the day-to-day life of a student very much involves the dining experience, which can be very defining. Well, dining will be to-go only, and we know that is a change for our students who are used to eating together. We hope students will not always return to their rooms. Our campus is beautiful, and outdoor dining is one of the highlights of Southern California living.

We will also be experimenting with dinners together and find ways to have Zoom meals. I've been working with our student leaders this summer, and some of the houses have already tried these types of meals and report that they enjoy the time together. Again, the opportunity is to be creative, responsive, and safe.

More broadly, I want to speak to some of the questions that we received about student access to campus and facilities, both on and off campus, and to the experience for new and returning students.

First on services. One of the reasons that we are so passionate about finding ways to help students connect to their RA, to their faculty advisor, to staff, and to each other is to show that those people can share firsthand how to be successful at Caltech. This goes back to the value of taking care of each other, our mission, and residential experiences to introduce resources and help students get connected to them.

We hope you will get to know each other and get to know us, as well as get to know the other on-campus resources, like the athletics office, student wellness, dining, advising, and academic support. They're all available for you.

Let me speak directly to the new students.

I want you to know that we realize that this is an important time for you, and we are creating plans to help you feel welcomed and connected. We will be building first-year communities that will be supported by our faculty advisors, our staff, and our upperclass students. These communities will exist regardless of whether or not first-year students are on campus in the fall.

These groups will be intentionally small so that students can get to know each other and get to know upperclass students, who will be there to help develop the program and support you.

For new graduate students, our residential-life team will be working hard to help you meet each other and get to know the resources available to you.

And let me also take a moment to speak to our returning students.

As you know, the house system is virtual next year. Nevertheless, it is an important component of the Caltech residential structure. And the Office of Residential Experience (ORE) will work with student leaders and partner with you to best support your house and continue to encourage all the benefits that house membership can provide.

Finally, ORE is committed to offering a positive student experience, and together we will make this year meaningful.

David Tirrell: Thank you, Felicia.

TESTING, CONTACT TRACING, AND RESPONSE

David Tirrell: Something that's on everyone's mind is our ability to identify positive cases from within our community and our ability to respond to them promptly and effectively.

And to talk about our plans in those areas. I'd like to welcome Jennifer Howes, who leads Student Wellness Services at Caltech. Jennifer.

Jennifer Howes: Thanks, Dave. As we prepare for the arrival of students on campus this fall, we're planning for the following in regard to testing, contact tracing, and responding to potential spread of infection.

We plan to test all incoming students upon their arrival.

We are in the process of acquiring a point-of-care machine, which would allow us to rapidly test our students who might be symptomatic, as well as their close contacts. We're also exploring other possibilities that would expand testing for the broader campus community.

Graduate students and residents, as well as undergraduates who've been accepted into Caltech housing who are coming from international locations and are unable to quarantine in their primary housing assignment, will need to quarantine for two weeks in dedicated space in the undergraduate South Houses.

All other students will be expected to monitor their health on a daily basis, including taking their temperature and attesting daily to the absence of symptoms.

If someone tests positive, campus housing will manage it according to our established processes and protocols. These are outlined in detail on the coronavirus website and include isolating the individual while they're evaluated, engaging contact tracing, and the relocation of individuals to quarantine spaces. Students who live in on-campus residences will be accommodated in isolation or quarantine space.

Those living off-campus should make appropriate arrangements to enable them to isolate if they become ill or quarantine if they're exposed to illness. Guidelines for isolation and quarantine can be found on our website and include the ability to have a private bedroom and bathroom and to avoid contact with others for the duration of the isolation or quarantine period.

We encourage families to consider this need for these arrangements when making plans to live off-campus and in the surrounding community.

Regarding notification of positive cases in the community. The Institute has a reporting dashboard on the coronavirus web page that is updated each weekday with information about confirmed positive cases, testing, and other relevant data.

We're continually incorporating feedback to increase the data available to the community, while remaining sensitive to our communities' privacy concerns.

And finally, some students and their families who are already prepared not to return to campus have asked about the requirements for carrying health insurance.

We do require all students to have health insurance. This requirement is going to stand, and it's important that all students have access to timely care wherever they reside.

The waiver period ends on August 21. Students may elect to purchase the United Healthcare student-resources plan, which provides coverage nationwide, or retain their family or other coverage as long as it meets the minimum requirements.

Thanks.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS

David Tirrell: Thanks, Jennifer, and we're going to talk a little bit now about special problems or challenges that at least that some of our international students will be facing in the summer and throughout the next academic year. For that purpose, we have Ilana Smith, who is the director of our International Offices.

Ilana Smith: Thank you. Good afternoon. I've been asked to explain our current understanding of the ICE and SEVP [Student and Exchange Visitor Program] guidance.

On July 14, SEVP withdrew the fall 2020 guidance that they had issued on July 6. The following day, SEVP reconfirmed their March 2020 spring guidance. We are anticipating that a new fall guidance will be published shortly, but in the meantime the March guidance remains in effect.

Continuing students can participate in remote learning from both inside the United States and abroad, while still maintaining their active SEVIS [Student and Exchange Visitor Information System] record. New students with SEVIS records in initial status may apply for visas, but the current guidance indicates that they should remain abroad.

We're hoping for further confirmation when the forthcoming for guidance comes out.

We will not be reissuing I-20s [certificate of eligibility for nonimmigrant (F-1) student status for academic and language students], because that requirement was based on the now-withdrawn fall 2020 guidance. We are, however, preparing a support letter for students who are currently abroad and about to reenter the United States that reflects the fact that I-20s do not need an annotation.

David Tirrell: Thanks, Ilana.

CONCLUSION

David Tirrell: So that brings us to the end of our summary of the questions that were submitted to us in advance of our conversation, and I'd now like to offer President Rosenbaum the opportunity to offer some closing thoughts. Tom.

Thomas Rosenbaum: Thank you, Dave. And thank you everyone for joining us. This is a fraught time in all kinds of ways, with a lot of uncertainty, but we are pushing forward in a way that we hope will be effective and educational for our entire community.

What I want to underscore, however, is how fast things evolve and the necessity that we remain flexible.

Right now, federal immigration laws, as you know, and you've heard from Ilana, are not completely solidified and can be changed at any point, as we saw with the ICE directives. State, county, and local health directives are constantly shifting, and of course, the virus itself is going on a path that can change very rapidly. And for those of you who are in LA County, you know that the numbers don't look good right now.

We will be assessing what is happening throughout the summer and of course for the year, if we need to do that.

If we have to switch, we have worked out contingency plans and are capable of going fully online. We hope that we will be able to invite many of you to campus, and we are proceeding on that path for now.

We are proceeding with two main principles in mind. One is to satisfy the Institute's mission of forefront research and education, whether you are here as an undergraduate or a graduate student or a faculty member, or whether you are connecting to us remotely.

The second one, of course, above all, is to keep the community safe and healthy.

We will keep the balance right between those, and we will communicate transparently. I think the team here feels that we are sending out a memo a day (and maybe we actually are), but we will continue that process at the risk of drowning your email inbox, if just to let you know of any changing developments and of our current thinking. Thank you for your continuing commitment to the Institute, your commitment to the community as a whole, and we will look forward to a dynamic and rewarding fall term, no matter what the circumstances.

David Tirrell: Thank you, Tom. So, we will close the session there and with thanks to everyone who participated and special thanks to our panelists and community who submitted questions.

I would remind everyone that follow-up information will be posted on the Caltech coronavirus web page, and I'd ask you to continue to stay in touch as we continue to reassess our plans throughout the summer and into the fall. Thank you. Goodbye.