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Wilson School broadcasts lectures online

Wilson School broadcasts lectures online

Students closed out of overcrowded lectures delivered by popular speakers can now watch the talks from the comfort of their own dorm rooms.In July, the Wilson School launched University Channel, a website that compiles video recordings of high-profile lectures at different universities and makes them available to the public as free streaming video.

NEWS | 09/22/2005

Wiesel inspires Darfur petition

After his speech Wednesday, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel was asked how Princeton students could combat intolerance.

NEWS | 09/22/2005

Labs fuse efforts with federal grant

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, was recently awarded a grant of $10 million from the federal government to be given over a five-year period.The grant is part of the Department of Energy's Simulation of Wave Interactions with Magnetohydrodynamics (SWIM) project, which aims to create computer simulations that can correctly model the movements of plasma and subsequently facilitate the development of fusion energy."The goal of the [simulations] is to understand how radio waves affect plasma motion and how that motion affects the radio waves, so that we can use the process most effectively for driving current while keeping plasma in [a] magnetic field," said astrophysics professor Robert Goldston, director of the PPPL.The effect of radio waves and the motion of the plasma, which were previously studied independently, are brought together by the collaboration of the University and ORNL."If you fire radio waves into fusion fuel, you can heat and control [the fuel] in various ways," Goldston explained.

NEWS | 09/22/2005

Marshall '91 finds success with blog

From the moment that breaking news on politics, culture and foreign affairs leaves Capitol Hill, celebrity blogger Joshua Marshall '91 filters through the virtual press for leads and links to share with his legions of devoted readers.Marshall's website, Talkingpointsmemo.com, has gained in prominence ? especially in left-leaning circles ? since its launch five years ago, and has sent him down a career path he never anticipated."I never expected it to be the major way I make my living, or what people know me for," he said.As a history major at Princeton, Marshall thought his future resided in academia.

NEWS | 09/22/2005

Self-driving car makes semifinals

"It quickly becomes your life," Brendan Collins '08 says, leaning against a silver GMC Canyon pickup with a life of its own.It's Friday afternoon in a small, well-lit garage on the southwest edge of the E-Quad, and Collins ? along with colleagues Scott Schiffres '06, Bryan Cattle '07 and Anand Atreya '07 ? is busily putting the finishing touches on the vehicular monster he and his team have fashioned: a completely autonomous 4-wheel-drive truck dubbed the "Prospect 11."The vehicle, which can navigate without a driver or remote control, is on its way to Fontana, Calif., this week to compete in the semifinals of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge.

NEWS | 09/21/2005

Driving into the future

Green dots travel up and down highway veins on a computer map of the United States. The dots represent the cell phones, PalmPilots and laptops of users of CoPilot Live, a satellite navigation system developed by Operations Research Professor Alain Kornhauser GS '71.

NEWS | 09/21/2005

Wiesel brings message of hope

As the soft-spoken Elie Wiesel began his lecture in McCosh 50 last night, a woman in the audience yelled out, "Louder!""That is the story of my life," Wiesel responded wryly.

NEWS | 09/21/2005

Tigervision TV plans launch

The University's first television network, though still in its embryonic stages, is well on its way to becoming a reality.

NEWS | 09/21/2005

Economist speaks about derivatives

Nobel laureate and economist Harry Markowitz lectured to a crowded computer science auditorium on the past, present and future of portfolio diversification theory Wednesday.Markowitz started out by dismissing the notion that investors did not diversify their holdings before his seminal 1952 article, "Portfolio Selection," published in the Journal of Finance."Even a crass pirate knows not to put all his eggs in one basket," Markowitz said.

NEWS | 09/21/2005

Rosen named master of Whitman

Having left President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers in June, economics professor Harvey Rosen is preparing to take on a new role: master of Whitman College.

NEWS | 09/21/2005

A college rises

Trails of yellow tape and an early morning wakeup call to residents near the Whitman College construction site are reminders of ongoing renovation on the University campus, following the debut of several remodeled buildings this fall.One round of renovations was completed this summer in Jones Hall, which houses the Near Eastern and East Asian Studies departments, Clio Hall, Holder Hall, the basement of McCosh Hall, the Nanoscale Microscopy Lab in Jadwin and cafes in the E-Quad and Robertson, said Anne St.

NEWS | 09/21/2005

Hopfield recognized for career in sciences

Professor John Hopfield was awarded the 2005 Albert Einstein World Award of Science last month for his pioneering work in the fields of physics, chemistry and biology.The World Cultural Council gives out the annual award to "those researchers, which have brought true benefit and wellbeing to mankind," according to its website.Hopfield was selected to receive the $10,000 prize because of his "ability to think broadly as well as deeply about science ... a characteristic shared by very few scientists in modern times."The Council also called him "the leading theoretician of biology, both in terms of accomplishment and influence."Hopfield is best known for the invention of Hopfield networks, computer programs that simulate how the human brain stores memories.

NEWS | 09/20/2005

Resignation sparks fracas

The Robertson case, involving a lawsuit filed by the Robertson family against the University over the Wilson School's $600-million-plus endowment, has grown tenser in recent days as the two sides to the suit blame each other for the recent resignation of the Robertson Foundation's auditor.In the latest chapter of this expensive dispute between Princeton and the descendants of donors Charles '26 and Marie Robertson ? who endowed the foundation in 1961 with its sole donation of $35 million ? words and accusations are acerbic and the truth is far from clear.The recent events nevertheless reflect what has become the hallmark of the three-year-old litigation: the bitter back-and-forth between two parties, each convinced it is being gravely wronged by the other.The case began in July 2002, when the three family trustees on the foundation's board ? led by Bill Robertson '72, the son of Charles and Marie ? filed suit against Princeton, President Tilghman and the foundation's three University-designated trustees.The Robertsons allege that the University has misused the foundation's funds, which they say are intended to support the Wilson School's graduate program and to place its graduates in federal government jobs, especially in foreign policy.

NEWS | 09/20/2005

After storm, students start to rebuild

When Lauren Bartholomew '09 arrived on campus this fall, she ? like most incoming students ? brought along all her personal belongings and treasured possessions.

NEWS | 09/20/2005

Professor Robert George offers an insider's take on the Supreme Court

On what constitutional basis can we say that abortion is protected by "due process" but that a right to assisted suicide ? unanimously rejected by the court in 1997 ? is not?

NEWS | 09/20/2005

Constitution Day stirs debate over interpreting founders' intentions

Complying with a new federal law, the University celebrated Constitution Day on Tuesday with a panel discussion on challenges facing contemporary interpreters of the nation's highest law.Provost Christopher Eisgruber '83 moderated and contributed to a panel discussion entitled "An Old Constitution in a Changing World," at which professors Robert George, Christopher Chyba, Stephen Macedo GS '87 and Kim Scheppele also spoke.The law, sponsored by Sen.

NEWS | 09/20/2005

Students enjoy freedom of wireless network in dorms

After OIT installed wireless points in dormitories over the summer and turned on wireless access earlier this month, student laptops have become more portable than ever.The decision to install wireless Internet in the dorms was made partly because of student feedback, but also because OIT discovered that many students had installed their own wireless routers in their rooms, said Leila Shahbender, manager of Student Computing Services for the Office of Information Technology."We're not on the leading edge of technology, but we want to be one of the universities that people look to ? doing things that are innovative.

NEWS | 09/20/2005

Upholding school motto, organizers plan volunteer projects

From Akwaaba to Yavneh House, nearly 50 student organizations are preparing for Princeton in the Nation's Service (PINS), a month of volunteer projects to benefit the local community and Hurricane Katrina victims.Organizers moved the start of PINS from October to the beginning of the school year due to the devastation in the Gulf."There is no better way to be in the nation's service than to efficiently and effectively aid Katrina victims," PINS student coordinator Carol Wang '07 said.Scenes of hurricane damage convinced USG president Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06 to scale down plans for what he described as a "flashy" PINS kickoff celebration featuring prominent speakers."Katrina definitely put a lot of things in perspective.

NEWS | 09/20/2005

30 years of finches

They met in 1960 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. More than 45 years later, Peter and Rosemary Grant were married ? and back in Vancouver for a conference in their honor ? when they received word that one million Swiss francs would be coming their way.The Grants, who both teach in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, had been jointly awarded a Balzan Prize ? worth about $800,000 ? for their 30 years of cumulative research on the evolution of Darwin's finches on the Galápagos Islands."It was a complete surprise," said Rosemary Grant, a Senior Research Biologist in the department.

NEWS | 09/19/2005

Rice to speak Sept. 30

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will deliver the keynote address for the Sept. 30 kickoff of the Wilson School's 75th anniversary celebrations, University officials confirmed Monday evening."I cannot imagine a better person to launch our 75th anniversary celebrations," Dean of the Wilson School Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 said in a statement.Rice exemplifies the values the Wilson School hopes to instill in its students, according to Slaughter, and she "is currently shaping policy on many of the most important issues of our time."President Tilghman also offered words of praise for the secretary of state."Secretary Rice left the position of provost at one of our peer institutions to serve our government at the highest levels," Tilghman said, referring to Rice's prior service at Stanford, "and this visit will give our students and others an opportunity to engage her in conversation about some of the major issues for which she has responsibility."A lottery for student, faculty and staff tickets will begin Wednesday at 9 a.m.

NEWS | 09/19/2005

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