Though still not finalized, plans are underway for the Princeton Neuroscience Institute to become a reality by 2011.
First announced two years ago, the institute will cost an estimated $450 million with the construction of new facilities, the creation of endowed professorships and the expansion of the undergraduate certificate program as well as the graduate and postgraduate programs.
The institute, part of the University's plan to update and expand its scientific departments, will be located in the new "science neighborhood" next to Poe Field, just south of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics. The future neuroscience institute will share a building with the psychology department.
Since University trustees accepted a proposal for the institute and greenlighted fundraising in November 2005, the institute is likely to be one of the top priorities for the University's capital campaign, which will officially launch in the fall. The campaign has been in its planning stages for more than a year.
Faculty and senior administrators have already begun efforts to attract major donors who could bankroll sizeable portions of the institute's cost. The University is waiting to officially announce the initiative until a significant percentage of the funds for it have been raised.
University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt '96 said in an email that the neuroscience institute is "still very much in the planning stages," stressing that it would be "premature" to discuss its role in the capital campaign effort.
President Tilghman hosted a two-day "presidential retreat" in March as an opportunity for alumni to meet neuroscience students and faculty as well as the architect who will design the building, Cliatt said.
The meeting, neuroscience program co-director Michael Berry said, offered about a dozen "extremely wealthy" potential donors the chance to hear about the institute and visit current labs. Each donor was, he added, capable of giving donations amounting to seven, eight or nine figures.
Such interactions with potential donors have been promising, and efforts to garner support for the institute have been "going really, really well," Berry said.
Cliatt said that there appears to be widespread support for the institute. "We have found that our alumni in general are very excited about the expanded opportunities to integrate research and teaching," she said. "The field of neuroscience is ripe for precisely these types of collaborations."
In addition to constructing a physical home for the neuroscience program, creation of the institute will also involve the hiring of new faculty. Currently, psychology professor and program co-director Elizabeth Gould said, "interest among the student body is much larger than we accommodate given the size of the faculty."
Tank said that the institute's endowed professorships should allow for the doubling of the neuroscience faculty.
A larger faculty will be able to support more course offerings for the growing number of undergraduates interested in the certificate program, Gould said. "Having more course offerings is going to enable students from other departments to learn more about the brain even if they don't want to have a focus 100 percent on that."
This is consistent with a national trend of rising interest in neuroscience. "It's one of the great frontiers," Tank said. "One can see a field poised for great progress in understanding the truly difficult questions about how the brain works."
Expanding the University's neuroscience offerings is critical to attracting the highest-quality undergraduate and graduate applicants, institute director David Tank said. "In general," he said, "you're seeing the growth of neuroscience at many, many places. It's important [in order] to maintain our competitiveness that we have a very strong program here." Tank is also a co-director of the program in neuroscience.
Tank also said he was confident in the success of fundraising for the institute thus far. "It isn't a done deal that this is going to be built — it depends on fundraising," he said. "On the other hand, [the administration is] optimistic that this is going to happen."
He anticipated that a final plan for the institute will be available for evaluation by the University trustees this summer.
Tank expects the institute to act as an essential catalyst for collaboration between departments. As part of the "science neighborhood" that will centralize many science departments, the institute will centralize neuroscience faculty in one location, Tank said. Neuroscience researchers from molecular biology, chemistry, psychology and other departments will no longer be spread across campus, but rather concentrated in the southeast corner of campus.
This proximity, Berry said, will facilitate the kind of interdepartmental research that is becoming increasingly common in the field. "It leads to all kinds of interaction that you couldn't have imagined before," he added. "It really drives the research in a surprisingly powerful way."
Tank added that collaboration increases the momentum of scientific investigations. "There's a synergy that happens when you're around your colleagues," he said. "Your research programs benefit from a sharing of discussions, instruments and so on."
Read More
15 personas detenidas por ICE en Calle Harrison, explican funcionarios de Princeton
Luke GrippoSegún el alcalde de Princeton, Mark Freda, inicialmente los oficiales de inmigración solamente estaban en busca de una persona. Ana Paola Pazmiño, directora ejecutiva del grupo local de defensa de la inmigración, Resistencia en Acción NJ, reveló que los oficiales detuvieron a estas personas y les pusieron en una camioneta mientras ellos estaban de camino a su trabajo de paisajismo.
Según el alcalde de Princeton, Mark Freda, inicialmente los oficiales de inmigración solamente estaban en busca de una persona. Ana Paola Pazmiño, directora ejecutiva del grupo local de defensa de la inmigración, Resistencia en Acción NJ, reveló que los oficiales detuvieron a estas personas y les pusieron en una camioneta mientras ellos estaban de camino a su trabajo de paisajismo.
15 people detained by ICE on Harrison Street, Princeton officials say
Luke GrippoAccording to Princeton Mayor Mark Freda, immigration officials had initially only been in pursuit of a single person. Ana Paola Pazmiño, executive director of local immigration advocacy group Resistencia en Acción NJ, said that authorities had detained everyone inside a van on their way to doing landscaping work.
According to Princeton Mayor Mark Freda, immigration officials had initially only been in pursuit of a single person. Ana Paola Pazmiño, executive director of local immigration advocacy group Resistencia en Acción NJ, said that authorities had detained everyone inside a van on their way to doing landscaping work.
Asbestos removal work continues from prior summer in 1901-Laughlin Hall
Ben GoldstonAsbestos is currently being removed from 1901-Laughlin Hall as part of ongoing summer renovations. The dorm is vacant, and air quality tests have confirmed levels remain below EPA safety thresholds.
Asbestos is currently being removed from 1901-Laughlin Hall as part of ongoing summer renovations. The dorm is vacant, and air quality tests have confirmed levels remain below EPA safety thresholds.