Major gift names the Griffin-Cole Climate and Energy Grand Challenge Fund in HMEI

A major gift in the Venture Forward campaign from alumni couple Christopher A. Cole ’81 and Barbie Cole ’82 *85 has named the Climate and Energy Challenge within Princeton’s High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI).

The Griffin-Cole Climate and Energy Grand Challenge Fund, a research and teaching initiative under HMEI’s flagship Grand Challenges Program, will enhance the undergraduate and graduate student research experience, advance new climate and energy solutions, and encourage faculty members to pursue bold ideas in environmental teaching and research. 

"Through this generous gift, Chris and Barbie Cole are catalyzing and broadening the collaborative environmental research at which Princeton excels,” said President Christopher L. Eisgruber ’83. “I am deeply grateful for their belief in this work and in the faculty and students who pursue it together.”

The Griffin-Cole Climate and Energy Grand Challenge Fund supports one of the focal research areas within HMEI’s Grand Challenges program — an integrated research and teaching program that supports multidisciplinary research and teaching to tackle pressing environmental challenges. By providing robust funding and support, the Grand Challenges program empowers faculty to pursue new directions in their research on critical and emerging environmental issues and encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration involving faculty, researchers and students. 

“The Coles’ remarkable gift is already making a major impact on creative inquiry in HMEI,” said Gabe Vecchi, HMEI director. “Concurrent with announcing their extraordinary gift, we are excited to announce significant funding from the Griffin-Cole Climate and Energy Grand Challenge Fund for five interdisciplinary research teams.” 

The initial awards announced today from the Griffin-Cole fund provide support for five projects — tackling alternative energy, energy efficiency, climate dynamics and ecosystem impacts — selected from competitive applications. 

“Barbie and I believe deeply in Princeton University and higher education,” said Chris Cole. “We also believe that climate change is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed. The idea of funding research at Princeton to seek solutions to climate change is an ideal way to marry our interests.”  

A priority of the Grand Challenges program is to integrate research and teaching activities through collaborative projects in which faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduates work together to advance knowledge and develop solutions for critical issues. Faculty receiving Grand Challenges awards develop and introduce new courses to the undergraduate curriculum, add new modules to existing courses and host undergraduates as interns on funded projects. 

“Princeton’s emphasis on including undergraduate and graduate students in Grand Challenges research and internship experiences is inspiring, and we are delighted to see our gift being put to work immediately on research that promises to have a meaningful impact on addressing climate change,” said Barbie Cole. 

The Coles’ gift to Princeton is rooted in their longtime service to local and international environmental advocacy organizations, from Chris Cole’s position on the board of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to Barbie Cole’s service on the boards of The Watershed Institute in Pennington, New Jersey, and of Sheriff's Meadow Foundation, a land conservation organization on Martha’s Vineyard. 

Chris Cole’s service on the EDF board coincided with that of fellow alum and former University trustee Carl Ferenbach ’64, who with his wife, Judy Ferenbach, gave a major gift in the Venture Forward campaign to name the High Meadows Environmental Institute. “Barbie and I were inspired by Carl and Judy’s example,” said Chris Cole. “We are honored to be part of a community of alumni and friends supporting the critically important teaching and discovery that Princeton is directing towards climate change.”

Chris Cole is co-founder and chairman of Ardea Partners, a boutique investment bank. Prior to co-founding Ardea, Chris spent more than three decades at Goldman Sachs, where he played a central role in building the firm’s global investment banking franchise. He served as co-head of global investment banking from 2002 to 2006 and as chairman or co-chairman of investment banking from 2006 to his retirement in 2015. He served on the Management Committee at Goldman from 2002 until his retirement. Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in history from Princeton and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Princeton University and serves on the boards of the Institute for Advanced Study and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Barbie Cole is the founder of Barbara Griffin Architects, which focuses on residential architecture and landscape design. She is trustee emerita and formerly served as chair of The Watershed Institute, which protects water and the natural environment in central New Jersey; a member of the board of directors at Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation; a member of Middlebury College’s board of trustees; and trustee emerita of Princeton Day School, where she chaired the board from 2012 to 2017. Cole earned both of her degrees at Princeton, graduating magna cum laude with her Bachelor of Arts in architecture and earning her Master of Architecture.

Chris and Barbie Cole

Courtesy Chris and Barbie Cole

For more information about the initial five research projects awarded funding through the Griffin-Cole Climate and Energy Grand Challenge Fund, see the announcement on the HMEI website.

The Coles’ gift to Princeton was made as part of the Venture Forward campaign, which built alumni engagement, secured critical philanthropic support for the University’s strategic priorities, and shared Princeton’s defining principles and their impact on the world. The campaign concluded June 30, 2025.