Caren is the former corporate vice president of Science and Engineering at Lockheed Corporation, where his career spanned over 30 years. He carried out research in energy systems, low temperature technology, heat transfer, and plasma technology. Caren is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Astronautical Society, and the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Society of Automotive Engineers.

Caren served as a member of the California Council on Science and Technology from 1996-2002, and was a member of the Independent Review Panel for the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program, 2003-05. He is a founder and member of the Board of Directors of Litex Inc. a company involved in automotive emission reduction systems, past chairman of Hawkeye Enterprises a company involved in the upgrade of natural gas, and member of the Board of Directors of Superconductor Technologies Inc.