A lead naming gift from the Lindes endows The Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy.
Established in 2023 within the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Caltech's Center for Science, Society, and Public Policy has provided a forum for research, education, and debate on scientific innovations and their ramifications for communities and governments around the world. Now, a $10 million gift from Ronald Linde (MS '62, PhD '64) and his wife, Maxine Linde, will invigorate this vital work at a pivotal early stage of the center's development. In recognition of the Lindes' vision and generosity, the center will be renamed The Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy (LCSSP).
Scientific and technological advances in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), gene editing, engineered microbes, and climate and sustainability are increasingly central to economies and societies. At the same time, many of these developments raise complex questions about social impact, ethical use, how scientific results can be translated into public policy, and the government's role.
"Maxine and I believe Caltech is uniquely positioned to address the escalating challenges of formulating public policy and ethical standards necessitated by the rapid advancement of multiple enabling technologies, and also to aid in the growing battle between science and grossly misleading science fiction," says Ronald Linde, vice chair emeritus of the Caltech Board of Trustees. "We feel fortunate to be in a position to aid Caltech in concentrating and accelerating its efforts to address these vital challenges for the benefit of our country and the world as a whole."
The LCSSP brings together faculty, researchers, and scholars from all six of Caltech's academic divisions to participate actively in this initiative.
"The Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy emphasizes Caltech's fundamental strengths in science and engineering at the intersection of humanistic sensibilities, creating a new model for informing policy makers and addressing societal concerns," says Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics. "We are grateful to Ron and Maxine Linde for their extraordinary commitment to Caltech and to navigating the future."
Building on Caltech's Expertise to Shape Science Policy
The Institute has long been a leader in ethics and public policy related to science and technology.
- In the 1940s, Caltech chemist Arie Haagen-Smit was the first scientist to directly link smog to automobile exhaust, ultimately prompting the formation of the California Air Resources Board.
- In the 1960s, Caltech geochemist Clair Patterson, best known for determining the age of the earth and the solar system, confirmed that people were being contaminated by lead from pipes, gasoline, and the solder used to seal canned foods; his testimony before a special U.S. Senate hearing on air and water quality was influential in the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970.
- After the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, Caltech geologist and geophysicist Clarence Allen (PhD '54) educated Sacramento legislators and helped bring about the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act, which prohibits building on active faults.
- In the early 1970s, Charles R. Plott, the William D. Hacker Professor of Economics and Political Science, Emeritus, pioneered the field of experimental economics; his work has informed the distribution of resources such as radio waves, fishing rights, airport landing slots, and transportation services for children in need.
- Formed in the aftermath of the controversial 2000 presidential election, the Caltech MIT Voting Technology Project applies social sciences and engineering to voting. In a partnership with Orange County's registrar of voters from 2018 to 2019, the project showed how new algorithms to track voter data can be used to assess the integrity of an election.
- Institute researchers also began examining ethical issues related to artificial intelligence (AI) well before ChatGPT and generative AI began to dominate news cycles.
The LCSSP coalesces and amplifies these already robust efforts. During its first year, the center has focused on climate and sustainability, AI, and bioethics while also fostering interest in policy across all disciplines. A center-hosted roundtable in May 2023, for example, featured a keynote address by New York Times technology columnist Kevin Roose and brought together experts in law, gaming and technology, and academic research to explore the positive and negative potential of generative AI. The inaugural LCSSP research conference in September 2023 convened scholars from Caltech, MIT, the University of Cambridge, and other institutions to examine the phenomenon of conspiratorial thinking from the perspectives of English literature, economics, political science, neuroscience, and psychiatry. This was followed in spring 2024 with a workshop on the development of regulation of engineered microbes and a further workshop on water policy. These workshops brought together regulators, industry representatives, and researchers to discuss and develop policy pathways.
The center also has been developing undergraduate and graduate courses that bolster the Institute's curriculum by providing students with a broad perspective on how scientific findings affect society. In its first year, LCSSP offered several courses spanning topics within its initial focus areas: the challenges at the interface of AI algorithms and human values; the most pressing issues in bioethics, environmental ethics, and sustainability; and the theories and methodologies of health economics and health policy implementation.
"Caltech produces science and technology that have profound implications for almost every aspect of our lives," says Frederick Eberhardt, professor of philosophy and LCSSP co-director. "It's important for us to address the impacts of these advances on society and connect them to policymaking, and to train our students not only to understand these issues, but also to engage with the public and policymakers."
A Legacy of Impact
The Lindes' ties to the Institute date back more than six decades, when Ronald Linde earned Caltech's first doctorate in materials science. He was elected to Caltech's Board of Trustees in 1989 and served on more than 10 standing committees of the board, ranging from Alumni Relations to Investment to Technology Transfer, before becoming a life member and vice chair emeritus of the board in 2022. Maxine Linde, who holds degrees in mathematics and law, worked as a scientific programmer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (which Caltech manages for NASA) during the early days of the U.S. space program.
Over the years, the couple has invested in programs and facilities across campus. In addition to providing the lead gift to refurbish and name The Ronald and Maxine Linde Hall of Mathematics and Physics, the Lindes supported The Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Global Environmental Science and aided in renovating its campus headquarters, now The Ronald and Maxine Linde Laboratory for Global Environmental Science, which became the country's first LEED Platinum laboratory. Additional gifts from the Lindes have included support for The Ronald and Maxine Linde Institute of Economic and Management Sciences, The Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for New Initiatives, The Ronald and Maxine Linde Leadership Chair in the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and The Ronald and Maxine Linde Professorship, which has been awarded across fields that meet the Institute's highest priorities. The Lindes were early advocates for and supporters of the initiative that led to the 2023 formation of the center that now is the LCSSP.
A Promising Future
Going forward, the LCSSP aims to launch a policy incubator program where policymakers and researchers can come together for an extended period on campus to advance research relevant to policy, develop new policy ideas, and build up policy research labs that can rigorously test and evaluate policy proposals.
"Scientific and technological innovations appear at an accelerating pace, but concerns about mistrust of science and technology also are increasing," says R. Michael Alvarez, the Flintridge Foundation Professor of Political and Computational Social Science and LCSSP co-director. "Thanks to the Lindes' vision, Caltech will be taking a leading role in easing public mistrust of science and technology, helping our students and researchers position their work in the public conversation, and building strong connections between academia, policymakers, stakeholders, and the private sector."
