Maria I. Lopez Wins Schmitt Staff Prize

Maria I. Lopez, Lead Options Administrator in Computing & Mathematical Sciences, has won the Caltech Thomas W. Schmitt Annual Staff Prize. The prize is given to a staff member whose contributions embody the values and spirit that enables Caltech to achieve excellence in research and education. "Lopez is in charge of the organization of annual classes taken by more than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students," says one of the anonymous individuals who nominated Lopez for the prize. "Maria gets thanked in every thesis defense that I attend. Her positive attitude has been quite contagious among her peers: she literally invigorated her colleagues to play as a team . . . I do not think it is an exaggeration to state that she is the energy source of the whole department." [Caltech Release]