From a childhood fascination with the planets in Sri Lanka to the helm of one of America’s most powerful scientific institutions, Ray Jayawardhana’s appointment as Caltech president marks a historic and deeply symbolic moment for global science.
Ray Jayawardhana, a distinguished astrophysicist and the current provost of Johns Hopkins University, has been appointed as the next president of the California Institute of Technology, one of the most elite and well funded universities in the United States. The announcement was made Tuesday morning by Caltech’s board of trustees following a months long international search.
Jayawardhana will assume leadership of the 134 year old institution on July 1, succeeding President Thomas F. Rosenbaum, who announced in April that he would step down. His appointment comes at a challenging moment for American science, as universities navigate funding pressures linked to Trump administration cuts to scientific research.
Located in Pasadena, California, Caltech spans 124 acres and is home to more than 300 faculty members and approximately 2,400 students. The institution is globally renowned for its groundbreaking research and its long list of Nobel Prize winners.
Caltech also manages NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, which faced hundreds of layoffs last year, adding further complexity to the leadership transition.
In his first address to more than 500 faculty and staff, Jayawardhana reflected on his early life in Sri Lanka during the 1980s. He recalled how a Jet Propulsion Laboratory viewbook featuring images of Jupiter and Saturn ignited his lifelong passion for space and science, a journey that has now brought him full circle to lead one of the world’s premier scientific institutions.
