Water scarcity. Poverty. Energy dependence. Global pandemics. Climate change. These seemingly intractable problems that twenty-first century students have inherited will shape their future. In order to engage both students and faculty in a quest to resolve these highly complex issues, Princeton University has announced a campus-wide initiative appropriately named, "Grand Challenges." The initiative began as a collaborative effort among the Princeton Environmental Institute, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Woodrow Wilson School to address complex global issues with environmental, technical and policy dimensions. Recognizing that solutions to problems such as creating a sustainable landscape in developing Africa require a host of expertise in a multitude of disciplines, Grand Challenges seeks to link together faculty from disparate disciplines with postdoctoral and graduate students and undergraduates both in the classroom and in the field.

The Grand Challenges initiative is principally organized around three research cooperatives—Energy, Development and Health—each of which assumes responsibility for creating interdisciplinary programs of research and teaching. The three cooperatives seek to leverage resident university strengths and assets and to draw on research projects that are already underway. The cooperatives are expected to grow over time as new research projects are initiated and new faculty and students begin focusing on the Grand Challenges topics.

Funding opportunities are available both for faculty seeking to pursue Grand Challenges based research and curriculum development and for students who wish to engage in Grand Challenges research and scholarship alongside with faculty or through opportunities students have developed on their own which have a Grand Challenges theme. In this way, Princetonians of every stripe can engage in and contribute to resolving Grand Challenges.

For more information on Grand Challenges, please contact:

Kathy Hackett, Executive Director
Tel: 609-258-3719
Email: khackett@princeton.edu

Jean Marie Layton, Manager, Communications and Outreach
Tel: 609-258-7434
Email: jmlayton@princeton.edu

Stacey Christian, Business Manager
Tel: 609-258-7448
Email: smecka@princeton.edu

Lorin Romeo Romay, Program Coordinator, Public Service Initiatives,
Pace Center
Tel: 609-258-7158
Email: peintern@princeton.edu