Style Guide

Introduction

In general, Caltech publications follow the Chicago Manual of Style (currently in its 17th edition). The major exception is that, in regard to numbers, Caltech follows AP style, which spells out numbers one through nine and uses figures for 10 and up. Numerals are also used for ages, percentages, weights and measures, and times. Caltech also follows Chicago in using the serial, or Oxford, comma. For spelling and word breaks, Caltech follows Merriam-Webster Online. The online Chicago Manual of Style is available through the Caltech Library's subscription.

The most critical point for users of this style guide is that style choices, even those that depart from these guidelines, should be consistent throughout a document or publication, in order to properly support your message and your reader's comprehension of that message.

The intent of this guide is to answer common questions regarding Caltech editorial style. It is, however, an open-ended project that will be updated regularly. Please contact styleguide@caltech.edu with any comments, concerns, suggestions, or corrections.

Last updated November 2023

A ∙ B ∙ C ∙ D ∙ E ∙ F ∙ G ∙ H ∙ I ∙ J ∙ K ∙ L ∙ M ∙ N ∙ O ∙ P ∙ Q ∙ R ∙ S ∙ T ∙ U ∙ V ∙ W ∙ X ∙ Y ∙ Z

A

Abbreviations and acronyms:

Abbreviations and acronyms well known to the public, such as Caltech, JPL, and NASA, can stand alone in copy with no need for spelling out the full name on first mention.
Abbreviations and acronyms widely used on campus can stand alone on first mention for internal-only audiences but require parentheticals in text intended for general audiences:
- Most acronyms should be spelled out first, with the acronym following in parentheses: e.g., the Division of Engineering and Applied Science (EAS); the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach (CTLO)
For entities known more readily by their acronyms than their official names, the opposite can apply: e.g., ASCIT (the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology); LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory)
For non-Caltech abbreviations and acronyms less well known to the public (such as the National Science Foundation/NSF), follow the Chicago Manual of Style: spell out the name on first mention, then give the abbreviation or acronym parenthetically and use it in subsequent text
- Parenthetical acronyms are not necessary if the proper noun is only used once in running copy.

advisor (Note: This is a change from previous style guideline)

Alumni Association, the Association (see also Caltech Alumni Association)

alumni, forms of:

alumna (f. singular)
alumnae (f. plural)
alumnus (m. singular)
alumni, alums (plural, all genders)

ampersand: generally use and, not &, in running text; if you do use the ampersand, do not use the serial comma.

Archives:
the Caltech Archives

the Archives
the archivist

ASCIT; Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology; ASCIT Board of Directors, but board of directors

assistant vice president for _____ (not of)

Associates:

the Associates of Caltech
the Caltech Associates
the Associates

Athenaeum (lowercase the in running text); the Athenaeum lounge (lowercase l)

B

Bachelor of Arts degree, Bachelor of Science degree, bachelor's degree

BA, BS (all publications except…) B.A., B.S. (with periods for Caltech Catalog, Commencement program); (see also degrees)

Beckman Auditorium, differentiated from Beckman Institute Auditorium

Beckman Institute; Beckman Institute courtyard; Beckman Institute Auditorium, etc.

Beckman Mall

Behind the Book

Big One (uc; in reference to the expected quake in Southern California via San Andreas Fault, or other large quakes)

Big T (Caltech's annual yearbook; italicize)

Biology and Biological Engineering, Division of

but the biology and biological engineering division, the division (see also divisions, academic)
BBE on second reference

Black (Caltech departs from Chicago in capitalizing the term when referring to African Americans)

Board of Trustees (re Caltech's, capitalize in all Caltech publications), the Board

Break Through: The Caltech Campaign (Note: to refer to $3.4 billion campaign that ran from 2016–2021)

Break Through: The Caltech Campaign (on first mention); the Break Through campaign or just Break Through (on subsequent mentions)
In text, Break Through should always be rendered as two words; never BreakThrough or Breakthrough

Buildings, campus see interactive map

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C

Cal State (OK on first reference for all schools in the California State University system; e.g., Cal State Northridge)

California Tech, the Tech (Caltech's student newspaper; italicize)

Caltech (preferred on first mention in almost all uses; California Institute of Technology used only in certain formal documents)

Caltech Alumni Association, CAA, the Alumni Association, the Association

Caltech Associates (see also Associates)

Caltech Bands (see list of bands)

Caltech Catalog (italicize as the formal title of the annual publication; include years where applicable; e.g., the Caltech Catalog 2023–2024), the catalog (Note: No italics in general references to the publication)

Caltech Hall Pond, the pond

CaltechLive (no exclamation point)

Caltech magazine (note italics)

Caltech Store (can be used on first reference; see also Student Auxiliary Services)

campuswide

capitalization (see also titles): For campus organizations:

Capitalize the names of offices, divisions, etc., but lowercase job titles:
- Human Resources
- Facilities Management; Facilities; facilities office
- Office of Strategic Communications; Strategic Communications; strategic communications office
  but
- assistant vice president for human resources
- director of facilities management
  For collective proper nouns, lowercase the noun in common:
- the BBE and CCE divisions
- Huntington and Verdugo Hills hospitals
  
  For capitalizing display text, see The Chicago Manual of Style, "Principles of headline-style capitalization" chapter
  
  For academic divisions (see also divisions, academic)
Capitalize as proper names, but lowercase informal use; use and, not &, in running text:
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering; BBE
  but: the biology and biological engineering division, the division
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; CCE
  but: the chemistry and chemical engineering division, the division
- Division of Engineering and Applied Science; EAS
  but: the engineering and applied science division, the division
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences; GPS
  but: the geological and planetary sciences division, the division
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences (note the); HSS
  but: the humanities and social sciences division, the division
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (note no serial comma); PMA
  but: the physics, mathematics and astronomy division, the division

Note: Caltech departments follow the same general rule. (Department of Electrical Engineering; EE; electrical engineering department)

Career Achievement, Leadership, and Exploration (CALE) (formerly CAEL and Career Development Center)

CARMA, Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (note lowercase w)

center

Uppercase when part of official title: Student Activities Center
Lowercase when used on its own after first mention: the center
Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach; CTLO (Note: If you use the ampersand, leave out the comma)

chair of _____ (not for); also, use chair or chairperson only

chair's council (singular), chairs' councils (plural)

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Division of

but the chemistry and chemical engineering division, the division (see also divisions, academic)
CCE on second reference

Chen, Tianqiao and Chrissy Luo; Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech; the Chen Institute at Caltech; the institute (Note: Always use "at Caltech" when referring to the Chen institute here, since the Chens' personal foundation is also called the Chen Institute for Neuroscience)

Chen Neuroscience Research Building (CNRB) is the building that houses the Chen Institute at Caltech

Centers within the main Chen Institute at Caltech

Chen Institute at Caltech Leadership Chairs

class of 20____ (lowercase c)

refers to undergraduates only
when referring to a graduating class that includes MS and PhD students, use: the 20__ graduates

colon (in a departure from Chicago style and from previous versions of this style guide, capitalize the first word after a colon if what follows is a complete sentence or question)

Commencement (uc in all uses)

Convocation (uc in all uses)

co- (in a departure from Chicago style, retain the hyphen when forming nouns, adjectives, and verbs)

course titles:

Course titles in running text should appear headline style: capitalized, no italics, no quotation marks; e.g.: They signed up for Engineering Design.
Official course numbers should appear with the correct option abbreviation and number with a space: ME 72, Bi 114, ChE 101

Curiosity rover (also known as the Mars Science Laboratory or MSL; see also rovers)

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D

Dabney garden (informal; see also Garden of Associates)

degrees:

Bachelor of Arts degree, Bachelor of Science degree, bachelor's degree; BA, BS (no periods)
Doctor of Philosophy, doctor's degree, doctoral degree, doctorate (not doctorate degree); PhD (no periods)
Engineer degree, degree of Engineer, engineer's degree; Eng (no period)
Master of Arts degree, Master of Science degree, master's degree; MA, MS (no periods)

Exception to each of the above: Add periods for Caltech Catalog, Commencement program, example: B.A., B.S., M.S., Ph.D.

Note: Years of degrees are written parenthetically after a person's name; e.g.: John Smith (BS '85, MS '87, PhD '91).

When writing about alumni who graduated more than 100 years ago, include the numerical century (18 or 19) in the grad year (ex: Frank Capra, BS 1918).

departments (EAS only):

Capitalize as proper names, but lowercase informal use

Department of Medical Engineering; MedE; Medical Engineering
but: medical engineering department

director of _____ (not for)

directory; Caltech Directory; Caltech Personnel Directory

Caltech Departmental Directory; departmental directory (not directory)

Distinguished Alumni Award; DAA; DAAs; Distinguished Alumnus, Alumna, Alum (OK when referring to recipients; see also alumni, proper forms of)

divisions, academic (see also capitalization):

Capitalize as proper names, but lowercase informal use; use and, not &, in running text:
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering; BBE
  but: the biology and biological engineering division, the division
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; CCE
  but: the chemistry and chemical engineering division, the division
- Division of Engineering and Applied Science; EAS
  but: the engineering and applied science division, the division
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences; GPS
  but: the geological and planetary sciences division, the division
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences (note the); HSS
  but: the humanities and social sciences division, the division
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (note no serial comma); PMA
  but: the physics, mathematics and astronomy division, the division

Doctor of Philosophy, doctor's degree, doctoral degree, doctorate (not doctorate degree); PhD (no periods)

Dr. (is generally not used as an honorific in Caltech publications unless the person is a medical practitioner)

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E

Earth (in astronomical or general contexts); also earth science, Earth-like (a departure from Merriam-Webster) or the earth (sometimes in geological contexts); never the Earth

earthquake (lowercase even when talking about a "named" quake; e.g., Northridge earthquake)

Earthquake Early Warning, EEW; earthquake early warning system (note no hyphen)

Engineer degree, degree of Engineer, but engineer's degree; Eng (Caltech degree of Engineer)

Engineering and Applied Science, Division of

but the engineering and applied science division, the division (see also divisions, academic)
EAS on second reference

Entrepreneurs Forum (no apostrophe; usually Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum on first mention)

EX (for ex-student; a distinction in Advance to indicate Caltech alumni who left the Institute prior to graduating); (EX 'XX)

executive officer for (not of)

ex officio (n.); ex-officio (adj.)
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F

fault (lowercase; e.g., San Andreas fault); fault system (lowercase; e.g., Santa Monica–Hollywood fault system; also, note en dash, not hyphen, with open compounds such as Santa Monica–Hollywood)

fellow, fellows, fellowships (in informal uses or on second reference; Caltech style is to lowercase, but please follow the style of the individual fellowships for the formal name or if the style diverges from Caltech on second reference)

first year (n.), first-year (adj.); re newly matriculating students (the Institute no longer uses the term freshman)

fiscal year 2024, FY2024, FY24 (Note: Begin using FY24 on October 1, 2023)

for, of (in Caltech titles, vice president, assistant vice president, executive officer, and division administrator take for; president, chair, director, and manager take of)
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G

GALCIT; Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT can stand alone on first mention for internal-only audiences but should be spelled out parenthetically in text intended for general audiences)

In stories with historical context, GALCIT's title should be referred to as it was known at that time in history:

From 1926 (when it was created) through 1960: Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT)
- GALCIT's official opening was 1928; all milestone anniversaries should use 1928 as the starting point
From 1961 through 2005: Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT)
From 2006 on: Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT)

Garden of the Associates, Dabney garden (latter informal only)

Gates–Thomas; Charles C. Gates Jr.–Franklin Thomas Laboratory of Engineering (note the use of an en dash separating the names)

Geological and Planetary Sciences, Division of

but the geological and planetary sciences division, the division (see also divisions, academic)
GPS on second reference

GO-Outdoors

Graduate Student Council, GSC, the council

Graduate Studies Office (Note: studies, not students)

H

Hale, George Ellery (always George Ellery; never George E. or just George)

Half Century Club (no hyphen—style exception)

Hawai'i (note use of 'okina; use straight apostrophe symbol where necessary)

headlines

Caltech publications, including those online, use headline case style for article headlines and other titles. See Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed., 8.157–8.159, for guidelines about which words get capitalized and which don't.
When citing a paper or journal article, use the style that appears in the journal. Do not change it to conform to Caltech style.

Heritage Medical Research Institute; HMRI; the institute; Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator (previously Heritage Principal Investigator)

High Energy Physics at Caltech (no hyphen in high energy; a style/dictionary exception), HEP

High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, HiRISE (no hyphen in high resolution—style exception)

Honor Code (i.e., the statement "No member of the Caltech community shall take unfair advantage of any other member of the Caltech community."), the code, Caltech's honor code

Honor System (of which the code is a part), Caltech honor system

Howard Hughes Medical Institute; HHMI; the institute; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; HHMI Investigator; HHMI Faculty Scholar

houses (see also student residences)

Humanities and Social Sciences, Division of the (Note: the)

but the humanities and social sciences division, the division (see also divisions, academic)
HSS on second reference

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens (official name), The Huntington (Note: capital T)

I

Information Management Systems and Services, IMSS

initials:

Where two initials appear before the last name of a person, follow the individual's preferences; if there is no preference, put a space between the first two initials.
W. M. Keck always takes a space between the first two initials.

in situ (roman, unless it's clearer italicized in a specific context)

the Institute (re Caltech; OK when needed to avoid too many repetitions of Caltech in a sentence or paragraph, but use sparingly)

Institute Calendar; the calendar (on second reference)

the institute (re institutes that are part of Caltech; e.g., the Beckman Institute on second reference would be "the institute")

IPAC (the acronym is no longer to be spelled out and is thus the preferred usage in all references)

"IPAC, a science and data center for astronomy at Caltech" can be used in running text to identify the center

italicization:

Caltech italicizes per The Chicago Manual of Style.
Exceptions:
- Because of the ambiguity in distinguishing between spacecraft, their missions, and the projects or programs that created them, such names are not italicized (the Voyager project, Project Voyager, the Voyager spacecraft, Voyager 2, the Viking lander, the Viking orbiter, Viking 1, IRAS, Ulysses, etc.).
- Similarly, do not italicize the names of Mars rovers (Curiosity, Perseverance, etc.)
- Space shuttle names conform to Chicago, however, because each one represents an individually named craft: the space shuttle Discovery, etc.

J

Jet Propulsion Laboratory; JPL; the Laboratory; the Lab or Lab (depending on context; uppercase when referring to JPL—all other references to specific laboratories on campus or Lab are lowercased)

It is not required to spell out Jet Propulsion Laboratory on first reference if audience is presumed to know the acronym.
Use "campus and Lab" or "campus and JPL" instead of JPL and Caltech (since JPL is part of Caltech) when referenced together.
- Exceptions: "JPL is managed by Caltech for NASA" or "Caltech founded and manages JPL for NASA" as boilerplate information
Use "Caltech employees at JPL" instead of "JPL employees"

K

Keck Observatory, W. M. Keck Observatory (use latter on first reference; note spaces between initials; see also initials)

Keck I telescope (roman numeral "I" re first 10-meter telescope), Keck I (usually no the)
Keck II telescope (roman numeral "II" re second 10-meter telescope), Keck II (usually no the)
Keck telescope(s)

Keith Spalding Building (note no u in Spalding)

Kuiper Belt (uppercase B per Merriam-Webster, contra other sources)

L

laboratory, lab (lowercase in all instances, except when referring to JPL as Laboratory or Lab)

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (Note: lowercase w); LIGO

Leadership chairs (Note: Leadership chairs take in as their conjunction)

life member of the Caltech community; life member (on second reference)

life member = title of Board of Trustees members who are no longer active
life members of the Caltech community are not to be referred to as "life members of the Board of Trustees"

little t (student publication; but Little T when it is at the start of a sentence)

livestream (departure from Merriam-Webster)

Los Angeles; LA (no periods required)

M

MacArthur Fellowship; MacArthur Fellow; fellow; fellowship

major (Caltech generally refers to academic majors as options; see also option)

Martian (Merriam-Webster lowercases as first spelling; Caltech uppercases in all instances)

Master of Arts degree, Master of Science degree, master's degree:

MA, MS (all publications except…); (see also degrees)
M.A., M.S. (Caltech Catalog, commencement programs)

Maunakea (one word)

Milky Way, Milky Way galaxy

mission (lc; the Juno mission; the Voyager mission)

the Moon (departure from previous style; but defer to preference expressed in a published paper or other published materials)

Moore's Law (no quote marks)

Mount Wilson Observatory (always Mount, not Mt.)

N

NASA (normally sufficient on first reference)

Nobel Prize in (Category Here); Nobel Prizes; Nobel Laureate (capitalize as a personal title: Nobel Laureate Frances Arnold; lowercase l when used as descriptor with other descriptors: Caltech Nobel laureate Frances Arnold); Nobel laureates (plural) before two names

North Houses (see also student residences)

numerals:

Spell out one through nine, and any number that begins a sentence
Use figures for 10 and above; OK to mix figures with words ("With nine of its 36 mirrors installed . . .")
Use numerals with "percent" or "%" (5%, 10%, 120%); in tabular material, only use % (see percent)
Use commas with numbers 1,000 and greater
Generally, use numerals with millions/billions/ages/measurements/money, etc., e.g., 6 million, 5 years old, 12 inches, $4

O

Office of Student Experience, OSE (formerly Office of Residential Experience, ORE)

options (the Caltech equivalent of academic majors; sometimes, especially in EAS, they coincide with academic departments; the names of options are generally not considered proper nouns and so are lowercased; EAS departments when discussed as such are treated as proper names and capitalized; see also departments)

P

Palomar Mountain (not Mount Palomar)

Palomar Observatory

percent Use numerals with "percent" or "%" (5%, 10%, 120%); in tabular material, only use %

PhD, PhD degree (all publications except…), Ph.D., Ph.D. degree (Caltech Catalog, commencement program); (see also degrees)

Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, Division of (note no serial comma)

but the physics, mathematics and astronomy division, the division (see also divisions, academic)
PMA on second reference

postdoc, postdoctoral scholar (both are fine on first reference, no hyphen)

presidential title (see also titles):

Thomas F. Rosenbaum, president of Caltech
President Thomas F. Rosenbaum; President Rosenbaum
Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum (Note: This is a change from previous style guideline)
Caltech's president, Thomas F. Rosenbaum
Caltech's president; the president

Note: In the latter two cases, the title is being used descriptively, not as a personal title

If title is on more than one line:

Thomas F. Rosenbaum
President
Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and Professor of Physics

If title is on only one line:

Thomas F. Rosenbaum
President and the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and Professor of Physics

If title is in running text:

Thomas F. Rosenbaum, president and the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics

Note: Depending on context, some subset of titles may be used

presidents, Caltech past:

James A. B. Scherer (1908–1920)
Robert Andrews Millikan (1921–1945; was chairman of the executive council but is counted as a president)
Lee Alvin DuBridge (1946–1969)
Harold Brown (1969–1977)
Robert F. Christy (1977–1978; acting president)
Marvin Leonard Goldberger (1978–1987)
Thomas Eugene Everhart (1987–1997)
David Baltimore (1997–2006)
Jean-Lou Chameau (2006–2013)
Edward Stolper (2013–2014; interim president)
Thomas F. Rosenbaum (2014–present)

principal investigator (lowercased, but on second reference can use PI; also note principal not principle)

professorships, endowed (see also titles)

provostial title (see also titles):

David A. Tirrell, provost of Caltech
Provost David A. Tirrell; Provost Tirrell
Caltech Provost David A. Tirrell (Note: This is a change from previous style guideline)
Caltech's provost, David A. Tirrell
Caltech's provost; the provost

If title is on more than one line:

David A. Tirrell
Provost
Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

If title is on only one line:

David A. Tirrell
Provost and Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

If title is in running text:

David A. Tirrell, provost and Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Note: Depending on context, some subset of titles may be used

provosts, Caltech past:

Robert F. Bacher (1962–1970)
Robert F. Christy (1971–1980)
John D. Roberts (1981–1982)
Rochus E. Vogt (1983–1986)
Barclay Kamb (1987–1989)
Paul C. Jennings (1990–1995)
Steven E. Koonin (1995–2004)
Edward M. Stolper (2004; acting)
Paul C. Jennings (2004–2007)
Edward M. Stolper (2007–2017)
David A. Tirrell (2017–)

Q

quotation marks (in text intended for posting online, all apostrophes and quotation marks should be "vertical"; in text intended for print publications, apostrophes and quotation marks should be "curly")
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R

Rathskeller (at the Athenaeum), the Rath

Red Planet (capitalize, re Mars)

resident associate, RA

Resnick Sustainability Institute, RSI (full name strongly preferred on first reference, but the Resnick Institute is acceptable on second reference)

When referring to Resnick just as 'the institute,' lowercase the i; capitalized Institute always refers to Caltech
Resnick Sustainability Center (RSC) is the building that houses the RSI

robotic (use instead of the gendered "unmanned" when talking about spacecraft, when appropriate)

room numbers:
uppercase R for room numbers: e.g., Room 3 Dabney

rovers (lowercase r; no italics on names of rovers)

S

Samuel Oschin Telescope (always referred to by its full name, including Samuel)

Seismological Laboratory (on first reference); Seismo Lab, Seismo (capped; OK on second and subsequent references)

serial (Oxford) comma (Caltech uses the serial comma in all its communications; One exception of note: the title of the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy does not take the serial comma)

Sherman Fairchild Library of Engineering and Applied Science (must include Sherman on all references, but OK to omit of Engineering and Applied Science after first mention; well known as SFL on campus, it occasionally appears that way in informal contexts: e.g., the online interactive campus map)

solar system (lowercase)

Southern California (not southern California); SoCal (OK on first reference to the area)

South Houses (see also student residences)

STEM, STEAM (Note: Acronyms OK in all uses)

student houses and residences:

lowercase house except when using full name of house, e.g., Venerable House
lowercase residence except when using full name of residence, e.g., Bechtel Residence
uppercase North Houses
uppercase South Houses
lowercase affiliated housing
lowercase unaffiliated housing

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships program, SURF program (note that Fellowships is plural, that the word program follows SURF on first mention, and that the p in program is lowercase); SURF; SURFer(s)

the Sun (departure from previous style; but defer to preference expressed in a published paper or other published materials)

super-Earth; super-Earths

T

the (the word the is lowercased in running text even when part of an official corporate or other organizational name: e.g. "Professor Rosenbaum taught at the University of Chicago." Exception: When the precedes the name of an institution, company, association, conference, or other organizational entity, it may be capitalized when it is part of the official corporate name of the entity and the official corporate name is called for: e.g., "©1993 by The University of Chicago." Also, The Huntington capitalizes the in all uses and we honor that style)

Thirty Meter Telescope (no hyphen), TMT; TMT International Observatory, TIO; TMT Observatory Corporation

3D (diverges from previous house style and applies to all dimensions notated this way)

Three Minute Thesis (note no hyphen)

titles
Professional titles:

Academic and administrative titles function as a personal title when they precede a person's name, and so are capitalized ("President Rosenbaum"; "Professor John Smith")
Titles that are modified, are expressed informally, or follow a person's name are no longer personal titles and so are left lowercase:
- former president Chameau
- Caltech professor John Smith
- John Smith, professor of chemistry

Endowed professorships

Use whenever space allows as an opportunity to acknowledge donor philanthropy and broaden the potential audience
Titles of endowed professorships and chairs are proper names and so always capitalized
- Ellen Rothenberg, Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology
In running text, add "the" to title
- Ellen Rothenberg, the Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology
But when talking about the professorship itself, use the name of chair but not the research area
- the Edward B. Lewis Professor or Chair (not of Biology)

"Mixed" titles:

Sergio Pellegrino, the Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aeronautics and professor of civil engineering
Fiona Harrison, the Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair in the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy; the Benjamin M. Rosen Professor of Physics; and NuSTAR principal investigator

(Note: Use the directory as authority on the individual titles; order in which titles are presented, if all need to be used, should be based on which role the person is representing in the story.)

Exceptions:

When Emeritus follows both an endowed professorship or chair and an Institute post, both are capitalized
- Rochus E. Vogt, R. Stanton Avery Distinguished Service Professor and Professor of Physics, Emeritus
President emeritus is never capitalized, even if it's used as part of a mixed title
- David Baltimore, president emeritus and the Judge Shirley Hufstedler Professor of Biology at Caltech

For visiting associates in and professors of:

capitalize title and discipline as personal title: Visiting Professor of Finance Joan Smith
lowercase title and discipline after a name: Joan Smith, visiting professor of finance

For member of the professional staff:

Michael Baker, member of the professional staff
Member of the Professional Staff Michael Baker
Caltech member of the professional staff Michael Baker

For research professor

Research professor of (not in; formerly "senior research associate in")

For research assistant professor

Use research assistant professor of not in; formerly "senior research fellow in"

Handle both research titles per other academic titles (see also capitalization)

For research fellow

capitalize as a personal title: Research Fellow John Smith
lowercase when descriptive: John Smith, research fellow in chemistry

titles of articles (see headlines)

Trustee (only for Trustee of Caltech; uppercase in all references)

U

UC (OK on first reference for all schools in the University of California system)

e.g., UC Santa Barbara, UC San Francisco
exception: UCLA (OK on first reference)

undergrad (n. or adj.; no period; OK on first reference for undergraduate)

universe (not Universe)

US (allowable as both noun and adjective; no periods in either usage)

USC (OK on first reference for University of Southern California)

V

vice president (titles take for, not of); e.g. vice president for student affairs)

von Kármán, Theodore; von Kármán Auditorium; von Kármán Professor of; International von Kármán Wings Award (Note: Lowercase the v in all uses of the name, including in headlines; exception: when ‘von' is at the beginning of a sentence)

W

Watson Lecture Series, Watson Lecture(s), Earnest C. Watson Lecture Series
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Y

year of study (when talking about undergraduate students)

first year (do not use freshman)
second year (preferred over sophomore)
third year (preferred over junior)
fourth year (preferred over senior)

Z

zebrafish (one word, per researchers, departure from Merriam-Webster)