A defining --and extraordinary -- quality of Princeton University is its ability to combine the best aspects of a liberal arts college with those of a major research university. These ideals may seem at odds within a single institution, but the two big news stories on the next pages show how wonderful and vital the connections between research and teaching can be -- how solving pressing societal problems and educating leaders go hand-in-hand.
Archive
A new professorship endowed by a gift from Dwight Anderson, a 1989 Princeton alumnus, is part of the University's comprehensive initiative to address critical issues of energy and the environment in the 21st century. The Anderson Family Professorship in Energy and the Environment will support a tenured faculty member in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Gerhard R. (Gerry) Andlinger, an alumnus and noted international business executive, has made a gift to Princeton University to accelerate research on effective and sustainable solutions to problems of energy and the environment. Princeton will use the gift, which will total $100 million, to create the Gerhard R. Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment within the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
As a venture capitalist, Paul Maeder recognizes that investing in new ideas can enable tremendous progress in the business arena. Now he's seeking to spur similar transformations in academia -- he and his wife, venture capitalist Gwill York, have given $1 million to establish the Paul A. Maeder '75 Fund for Innovation in Energy and the Environment at Princeton.
Princeton engineers have invented an affordable technique that uses lasers and plastic beads to create the ultrasmall features that are needed for new generations of microchips.
Sophomore engineering student Seth Priebatsch has a new way to spell success: SCVNGR.
His latest entrepreneurial venture, SCVNGR garnered Priebatsch a first-place finish in this year's TigerLaunch Business Plan Competition for students. His winning idea is to create 21st-century scavenger hunts by sending clues to players and keeping tabs on their whereabouts using mobile phone text messaging systems.
Judges at the University weren't the only ones impressed with the idea, which Priebatsch deve
An experimental series of courses that integrates math, physics and hands-on engineering into a unified alternative freshman track has now become an established part of the curriculum.
Freshman year is a critical time for engineers -- they gain the fundamental mathematical and physical foundations for their later studies, while making crucial decisions about the field in which they would like to concentrate. Yet the conventional freshman curriculum gives engineers only a glimpse of the exciting
Students in the laboratory of Stas Shvartsman *99 study the early development of embryos, learning how basic genetic instructions govern an organism's growth and determine what it becomes. The experience also shapes their own growth as they follow Shvartsman's lead in combining engineering, physics, math, biology and computer science to break new scientific ground.
"They are interested in, and willing to try, anything," Shvartsman said. "They are like stem cells-capable of becoming so many
Ed Zschau wants people to know the truth: "High-Tech Entrepreneurship," the immensely popular upperlevel engineering course he teaches, isn't really about engineering. It's about life.
Comparative literature major Christina Lara enrolled in "Computers in Our World" during her senior year at Princeton after deciding that she needed to become an informed citizen of the 21st century.
Rachel Sealfon spent her senior year as a detective hot on the trail of a major public enemy -- Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria-causing parasite.
Raleigh Martin made sure nothing was lost in translation when he used his expertise in Chinese language and culture to further his technical research on air pollution and precipitation in Beijing.
Four Engineering alumni take on new leadership positions.
As I was reading a bold new report from the Millennium Project on the future of engineering, I was struck in particular by one of the report's far-reaching recommendations: that the academic discipline of engineering should be included in the liberal arts canon for all students in the 21st century.
One hundred New York City high school girls screamed in unison as they watched a tower built out of spaghetti collapse into a heap.
Gathered in New York University's Kimmel Center on May 5, the students -- a mix of ninth and tenth graders from public and private schools -- were participating in a towerbuilding competition as part of a day-long expo designed to introduce them to engineering.
Princeton University students traveled to Huamanzana, Peru, this summer to install wood-burning stoves in 35 homes. The stoves, developed by the students, will replace open-pit cooking fires, which fill the homes with smoke and cause respiratory illnesses.
When students get their hands on Peter Frazier's research, they use it for everything from planning a more profitable ice cream business to designing space ships. But Frazier likes explain his work this way:
Suppose you have just moved to Manhattan and are trying to figure out the fastest way to get from your new apartment to your new job. You search the Internet and find a number of different routes. Which path is best? Is it better to ride your bike or take a bus? How likely is it that you
Young faculty members working in financial engineering, cryptography and machine learning won the three annual junior faculty awards given by the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
The students in Claire Gmachl's introductory course on optics design sophisticated technology, including optical wireless instant messaging systems, but they're learning much more than engineering.
With the energy crisis becoming ever more urgent, Princeton has established a new Program in Sustainable Energy to provide students with the quantitative skills and interdisciplinary perspective needed to develop innovative energy systems for the future.
Princeton students are putting engineering into action as they help local homeowners maximize energy conservation, assist with the restoration of a factory in Trenton and educate members of the community about engineering.
In a recent class of "Structures and the Urban Environment," Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering David Billington used the tale of one bridge to weave together information about the history of Switzerland, the legend of William Tell, the economic importance of a pass between Southern Germany and Milan, and the engineering principles behind it all.
One of the most challenging courses on campus also happens to be one of the most popular: Erhan Cinlar's ORF 309, "Probability and Stochastic Systems."
The Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering (PAVE) team won "rookie of the year," third place overall out of 47 teams and first place in the design challenge portion of the 16th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, held May 30 to June 2 at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.
Their engineering skills have already shed new light on important questions in neuroscience, advanced the quest for solar energy and aided communities in the developing world. Princeton University honored these and many other accomplishments of its 176 graduating engineers at Class Day and Commencement ceremonies June 2 and 3.
Pablo Debenedetti, the Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science, has won the top teaching awards for both the Engineering School and the overall University.
As a chemical engineering major, James Morrison has earned the top ranking in the department and a reputation among his professors as one of the most impressive students they have taught at Princeton.
As microchips shrink, even tiny defects in the lines, dots and other shapes etched on them become major barriers to performance. Princeton engineers have now found a way to literally melt away such defects, using a process that could dramatically improve chip quality without increasing fabrication cost.
Emily Carter, the Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Applied and Computational Mathematics, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest scientific honors.
In a separate honor, Carter and fellow Princeton engineers Pablo Debenedetti and Marlan Scully were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the nation's most prestigious society spanning the sciences and humanities.
Princeton scientists and engineers pitched their early-stage entrepreneurial ventures at the Keller Center's third annual Innovation Forum on April 9.
Rochelle Murray's senior thesis project puts her on the font lines of a hot research area: the transmuting of waste material into clean-burning fuel.
Recognizing an international need for leaders who can harness technology to solve societal problems, alumnus and innovator in education Dennis J. Keller and his wife Constance Templeton Keller have given Princeton University $25 million to strengthen links between engineering and the liberal arts.
A team of academic, industry and independent researchers has demonstrated a new class of computer attacks that compromise the contents of "secure" memory systems, particularly in laptops.
A new technique for printing extraordinarily thin lines quickly over wide areas could lead to larger, less expensive and more versatile electronic displays as well new medical devices, sensors and other technologies.
