Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions and pressing societal challenges. Caltech manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA and owns and operates large-scale research facilities and a global network of astronomical observatories. The Institute has one of the nation's lowest student-to-faculty ratios, with 300 professorial faculty members offering a rigorous curriculum and access to hands-on research to approximately 1,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students. Caltech is an independent, privately supported institution with a 124-acre campus located in Pasadena, California.