Dark matter experiment at Caltech?

[gixd]

Hi everybody,

I just got admitted by UChicago, Caltech, UWashington and (maybe) Berkeley. My goal is to work in "direct detection" dark matter experiments, such as time projection chamber, silicon-based detector, X/gamma-ray detector...etc. Looks like Caltech is the weakest among them? Why is it so much into cosmology and gravitational lensing experiments? I am a international student from a small tropical island. I am a surfer and a cyclist. I am pretty sure I will die in Chicago or Seattle, and I want to do my PhD in California so bad. Oh my god I wish I still have a chance to get into Berkeley. Can anyone please tell me if you have heard that Caltech is planning to join experiments like LZ, CDMS(yes it is, but looks like not much $ into it?), XENON-1T, or others? It is crucial to my future. Thank you all for reading my dumb question.

[GeoDUDE!]

Seattle might be more bike friendly than Pasadena/LA. LA is not bike friendly at all. People surf in washington, but you will probably have to wear a wetsuit as the water will be cold. 

 

Surfing in LA is not that great (i lived there 18 years) and you will be driving for good surfing (1-2 hours) anyway, maybe more since you would be in pasadena which is inland.  I bet the surfing scene between uw, caltech and berkely are probably the same, with the exception that there will be more people surfing in socal than Washington and norcal. 

 

I think berkeley is probably the most biker friendly, but seattle wont be far behind.