Welcome
From Nolan McCarty, Acting Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Welcome to the sixth annual Princeton Colloquium on Public and International Affairs. This year’s Colloquium, “The Grand Challenges: Energy, Development, and Global Health,” will explore several of the most significant problems facing humanity today: Global Health and Infectious Disease; Rural Poverty, Land Use, Biodiversity and Water in Africa; Energy, Environment and Security; and Environmental Justice.
Recognizing that these issues represent irreducible mixtures of social, political and environmental challenges, the Colloquium’s co-sponsors, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (WWS), the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), and the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI), have launched a new program of teaching and research at Princeton University to focus on these “Grand Challenges.” Drawing from this exciting research, the 2008 Princeton Colloquium on Public and International Affairs will examine these three issues in depth with a focus on their interrelated causes and the identification of potential interdisciplinary solutions.
Previous Colloquia have attracted significant attention from policymakers, academics, and the media. I hope you will be able to join us to help make this year’s Colloquium equally successful. I look forward to your participation.