Video: 'Flock Logic' unites science and dance

By Evelyn Tu on Jan. 31, 2011, noon

Princeton professors Naomi Leonard and Susan Marshall combine the science of motion and the art of movement in a special course and two performances.

Professors Naomi Leonard of mechanical and aerospace engineering and Susan Marshall, director of the Program in Dance in the Lewis Center for the Arts, created a class combining the science of motion and the art of movement. The Princeton Atelier project, called "Flock Logic," resulted in two performances that engaged a wide range of participants including students and volunteers.

Transformations: Students find creativity at intersection of art and engineering .

A partnership between the Council on Science and Technology, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Department of Music, and the Lewis Center for the Arts, the class "Transformations in Engineering and the Arts" stemmed from several conversations with faculty and students interested in the intersection of arts and engineering.

Inaugural Dean for Research Innovation Funds inspire bold directions .

A new initiative to encourage bold and creative research at Princeton University is poised to bear fruit: The first annual Dean for Research Innovation Funds have been awarded to a group of projects that push the boundaries of research in the natural sciences, encourage research partnerships with industry, and facilitate collaborations between investigators in the arts and the sciences or engineering.

Birds of a feather … track seven neighbors to flock together .

Princeton University researchers have revealed a key piece of math behind this magic. Working with a team of Italian physicists, Professor Naomi Leonard and colleagues found that flocking starlings strike an optimal balance between the work of responding to social cues from their neighbors and the need to conserve energy. This trade-off yields a special number: seven. When starlings coordinate with their seven nearest neighbors, they form their characteristic flocks with the least effort.

Bold ideas and unique collaborations are goal of Dean for Research innovation funds .

Princeton University's Office of the Dean for Research will roll out this fall the first in a series of competitive "innovation funds," which will provide faculty with additional University resources for pursuing those ideas and collaborations that push the boundaries of conventional research.

Video feature: Students prepare for Princeton Dance Festival .

All semester, professional choreographers and more than 60 Princeton students have been preparing for the annual Princeton Dance Festival, which takes place Dec. 4-6 at the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center.

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