Caltech President Ray Jayawardhana Opens the 2026 Sagan Summer Workshop

Caltech President Ray Jayawardhana kicked off the 2026 Sagan Summer Workshop by sharing a look back on his own time as a graduate student in 1999 attending an earlier version of the workshop called the Michelson Summer School. At the time, the field of exoplanet science was in its infancy and just a handful of planets had been found orbiting other stars. 

Check out the full video  to hear him reflect on how far the field has come—from those first discoveries to today's search for habitable worlds with upcoming missions like NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

Welcome to all the students and researchers joining us on campus and online this week—you are charting what comes next!