Overview
- The Board of Trustees announced a unanimous selection following a months‑long international search, with Jayawardhana set to start on July 1, 2026.
- Jayawardhana serves as provost at Johns Hopkins and is a noted exoplanet researcher and science communicator with extensive leadership experience at Cornell and other institutions.
- He will succeed Thomas F. Rosenbaum, who is stepping down after 12 years and will remain on the Caltech faculty.
- Caltech faces pressure on federal research support, including a lawsuit challenging proposed cuts to overhead funding that could cost the Institute up to $70 million annually.
- Trustees and the search committee emphasized the need for a strong communicator and an effective steward of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory after last year’s layoffs.