From The Wall Street Journal: Cites research by Giovanni Violante.https://on.wsj.com/3fX1dmY

From NPR: Recaps economist Raj Chetty’s webinar hosted by the Princeton Bendheim Center for Finance . Chetty discussed new research with John Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren, Michael Stepner, and the Opportunity Insights Team. The new paper uses private sector data to document the real-time impacts of COVID-19 on people, businesses, and communities.https://n.pr/3dJuP69

Princeton researchers have created a device that can herd groups of cells like sheep, precisely directing the cells’ movements by manipulating electric fields to mimic those found in the body during healing. The technique opens new possibilities for tissue engineering, including approaches to promote wound healing, repair blood vessels or sculpt tissues.https://bit.ly/388ZJ6v

When threatened, bacteria produce a veritable army of molecular defenses. Drilling down into these defenses and the elicitors that trigger them has enabled scientists to discover antibiotics and antivirals, knowledge that might yet prove useful in the fight against the coronavirus. Armed with recent funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Princeton University, Associate Professor of Chemistry Mohammad Seyedsayamdost is engaging that fight with an approach called the High-Throughput Elicitor Screening (HiTES). First introduced by the Seyedsayamdost lab in 2014, the technology enables researchers to screen, identify and characterize the natural products that are biosynthesized only when bacteria are under threat.https://bit.ly/3i8EM00

From The Daily Princetonian: Several University-affiliated economists — including Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School Cecilia Rouse — have signed a letter urging Congressional leaders to pass an economic relief bill in the wake of the “parallel health and economic crises” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.https://bit.ly/2YBeMTl

Additional Coverage:

• NJTV News: Economists call on federal government to provide additional COVID-19 relief

• Nj.com: N.J. faces ‘draconian cuts’ to services without new federal aid, nation’s top economists warn

From The Daily Princetonian: The Phased Resumption of on-campus research is underway, and University researchers are starting to unfreeze cell lines, restart incubators, and remake buffers and media as they try to pick up the experiments where they left off.https://bit.ly/2BEUf7A

The Princeton University Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of 24 faculty members, including six full professors and 18 assistant professors.https://bit.ly/31m6ReE

The C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute has awarded $5.4 million to 26 projects to accelerate artificial intelligence research to mitigate COVID-19 and future pandemics. Princeton faculty members Matthew Desmond, Simon Levin, Stefana Parascho, H. Vincent Poor, Corina Tarnita and Mengdi Wang are among researchers to receive funding for their projects.https://bit.ly/3fZGizR

Town Topics: The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Dance at Princeton University has announced award-winning choreographer and interdisciplinary artist Miguel Gutierrez as principal Caroline Hearst Choreographer-in-Residence for the 2020-21 academic year. Gutierrez’s residency will include teaching, creating a new commissioned work, and advising on student-created choreography.https://bit.ly/2VlOB16

From The Daily Princetoniain: In support of Trenton-based community organizations and in solidarity with nationwide demonstrations against systemic racism, the Black Leadership Coalition (BLC), a network of campus Black student organizations, raised almost $14,000 from University students in less than a week. The BLC’s fundraising now totals more than $18,000.https://bit.ly/3i4YklX

From Patch: Six Princeton students [four University students and two high schoolers] produced the first-ever public observance and celebration of Juneteenth in Princeton this past Thursday. The event celebrated the cultural achievements of Black Americans and commended the Black Lives Matter movement. The Princeton University Lewis Center of the Arts, Princeton University Art Museum and Princeton University African American Studies Department were among the event’s sponsors.https://bit.ly/2Nzbzh2

Additional coverage from Town Topics: Princeton Family YMCA Hosts Town’s Juneteenth Celebration
Related from Fortune: 19 Black economists to celebrate and know, this Juneteenth and beyond [featuring Princeton’s Ellora Derenoncourt]

This summer, a jaw-dropping 3,000 undergraduates from dozens of countries have registered for “Physics of Life,” a biophysics summer school offered by the joint Princeton–City University of New York Center for the Physics of Biological Function (CPBF).https://bit.ly/31lCzIE

The DACA program has helped thousands of undocumented students finish their educations in the United States. Princeton University 2019 graduate alum Jesús Estrada, a driven young chemist, found in DACA the opportunity to complete his doctorate and realize his ambitions.https://bit.ly/31jUzDt

A story in a series of articles on Princeton’s COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, from the arts scene, businesses, charities, government and Princeton University.https://bit.ly/2A6zUrc

To support small businesses in Princeton, the University is making an initial contribution of $250,000 to the Princeton Small Business Resiliency Fund and will provide a dollar-for-dollar match of up to the next $100,000 in additional contributions to the fund. The focus is on storefront businesses open to the public.https://bit.ly/2Zg3xyG

Additional coverage from ROI-NJ: Princeton University to award (at least) $250K in grants to small businesses in Princeton area

To address food insecurity in local communities this summer due to the pandemic, Princeton University’s Campus Dining, Office of Community and Regional Affairs and John H. Pace, Jr. ’39 Center for Civic Engagement have established the Summer Food and Nutrition Program. The initiative will include collaborations with the Princeton Public Schools and three area nonprofits to provide meals for at-risk families, children and individuals. https://bit.ly/2CL6XSJ

Additional coverage from Community News: Princeton University program to deliver thousands of meals this summer

The COVID-19 working groups were charged with evaluating scenarios for online and on-campus operations and making recommendations for the fall. Student input from undergraduate and graduate student groups helped inform many teams’ work. The teams were organized around topics such as public health, campus safety, University services, innovative teaching, lab research, virtual community, the student experience and much more.https://bit.ly/2NzTy24

Related:

• The Daily Princetonian: Over 40 working groups are working on ‘range of possibilities’ for fall semester, U. says

• Centraljersey.com: Special Feature: Students, Faculty, Many Others Anxious for Princeton University’s Reopening Plans

President Eisgruber urges the Princeton community to address racial injustice and charges Cabinet to explore how the University can more effectively fight racism within and beyond the institution to create a more just and equal society.https://bit.ly/2YA4qTF

Dear Members of the Princeton Community,

In response to recent tragic events, over the past several weeks our University—along with the rest of our nation—has been engaged in a conversation about racial injustice in America and the ongoing reality of oppression and violence against Black Americans. Individually and collectively, we have asked how we can do our part to confront racism honestly and effectively. We have begun identifying and taking steps—but we must do more.

We must think broadly and ask hard questions of ourselves. We must reflect on our place in the world and challenge ourselves to identify additional steps we can take to fight racism. As a University, we must examine all aspects of this institution—from our scholarly work to our daily operations—with a critical eye and a bias toward action. This will be an ongoing process, one that depends on concrete and reasoned steps.

Building on past work, our community has begun to take action. The University has already announced an initial series of new funding initiatives—the first, immediate steps in an ongoing effort to bring to bear the research, teaching, and service-focused mission of the University on the critical issues of racial injustice.

Through the Pace Center for Civic Engagement, we have established a new grant program (“Princeton RISE”) that provides immediate resources for undergraduate and graduate students who want to engage in work over the summer to address racial inequalities and injustices. We have put out a call for faculty-led projects to engage undergraduate students in research or scholarly work that addresses racism, including systemic racism and racial injustice. We have identified funding to support faculty members who want to create or expand course offerings related to systemic racism, racial injustice, anti-racism, and the history of civil rights or anti‑racist movements.

We obviously need to do even more. We have therefore been asking ourselves and our community how Princeton can best respond to this moment as an institution. As part of this process, I have formally charged the members of Princeton’s Cabinet—the senior academic and administrative leaders of our University—to identify specific actions that can be taken in their areas of responsibility to confront racism in our own community and in the world at large. Today, I am sharing with you the charge I have given to them.

As I told the Cabinet, Chair of the Board of Trustees Weezie Sams and I have also initiated a conversation within the board about these topics, beginning with individual conversations with every trustee. The full board will convene in a special meeting later this month to continue discussing how the University can help fight systemic racism.

This is one step in a long journey, and we will continue to need input from all of you—students, faculty, and staff—to determine where we can do better and where we can do more. If you have input that you would like to share with the full Cabinet or individual members, we invite you to send suggestions to ideasforchange@princeton.edu.

I want to thank all of you who have raised your voices in the past weeks, and who have stepped up to the task at hand. We all share this responsibility to one another and to justice.

With best wishes,

Chris