Kevin Kruse, professor of history, has been elected to the Society of American Historians. The society was founded in 1939 to promote literary distinction in the writing of history and biography.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/14/kruse-elected-society-american-historians

Assistant Professor Aleksandr Logunov is a recipient of the one of the 10 European Mathematical Society Prizes awarded “to young researchers not older than 35 years, of European nationality or working in Europe, in recognition of excellent contributions in mathematics.”
https://www.math.princeton.edu/news/aleksandr-logunov-awarded-ems-young-researcher-prize

Professor Kim Lane Scheppele was named the winner of the Ronald Pipkin Service Award from the Law and Society Association (LSA), where she served as president from 2017 to 2019.
https://wws.princeton.edu/news-and-events/news/item/scheppele-named-winner-service-award-law-and-society-association

Two Princeton University faculty members, Jeanne Altmann and Angela Creager, and visiting faculty member, Alondra Nelson, are among 34 new members recently elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS), the nation’s oldest scholarly organization.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/11/altmann-creager-visiting-faculty-member-nelson-elected-american-philosophical

Voices in the News:

• Cecilia Rouse: WWS Reacts: Envisioning a Safe, Effective Economic Recovery
http://wws.princeton.edu/news-and-events/news/item/wws-reacts-envisioning-safe-effective-economic-recovery

• Bryan Schonfeld and Sam Winter-Levy: Who can convince Americans to follow the science on coronavirus? Religious leaders. (Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/08/who-can-convince-americans-follow-science-coronavirus-religious-leaders/

• Matthew Desmond: Coronavirus: US unemployment claims hit 33.3 million amid virus (BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52570600

• Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor: The ‘American Way of Life’ Is Shaping Up to Be a Battleground (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/opinion/coronavirus-reopen-workers.html?smid=tw-share

• Alexander Todorov: Masks Reveal New Social Norms: What a Difference a Plague Makes (Scientific American)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/masks-reveal-new-social-norms-what-a-difference-a-plague-makes/

• Grigore Pop-Eleches: Where are people less likely to obey coronavirus restrictions? Republican counties. (Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/14/where-are-people-less-likely-obey-coronavirus-restrictions-republican-counties/

When the University shuttered its labs in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Gordon Gray continued to report to work in Princeton’s fly kitchen to prepare food for the species Drosophila melanogaster — fruit flies — which are indispensable in research for answering fundamental scientific questions on topics ranging from behavior to birth defects and human diseases such as cancer.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/12/essential-work-princetons-fly-food-chef-provides-sustenance-life-sciences-research

Three research endeavors aimed at fundamental challenges in health, information technology and water conservation have been selected for funding through the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Transformative Technology Fund.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/11/three-innovative-projects-selected-receive-funding-schmidt-transformative https://research.princeton.edu/funding/dean-research-funding/eric-and-wendy-schmidt-transformative-technology-fund

Researchers at Princeton University looked at the evolutionary strategies that pathogens employ to spread through a population and found that symptomless transmission, a tactic employed by the virus that causes COVID-19, can be a successful strategy for spread through the population.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/12/covid-19s-silent-spread-princeton-researchers-explore-how-symptomless-transmission

“How do you come up with ideas?” “Have you discovered any interesting stuff?” “What’s the most dangerous chemical you’ve worked with?” These are just a few of the irreproachable questions asked — and answered — through a new science outreach program run by Department of Chemistry students introducing high schoolers to grad school chemistry. Faced with a shuttered research enterprise and a bit more time on their hands than they are comfortable with, the department’s grad students and postdocs sought a way to make their days more productive. They created Chem-STEM, a virtual, half-hour Q&A session that presents their academic lives in broad brush strokes for high school students with little idea of what graduate students do all day.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/13/go-ahead-ask-chemistry-grad

The spring course “Amazonia, The Last Frontier: History, Culture, and Power” transitioned to remote instruction after spring break due to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier in the term, students had visited the Princeton University Library’s Special Collections to see several rare and unique items on the Amazon, and then, from off-site, they were able to access the materials digitally.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/12/students-engage-amazonia-last-frontier-online

Weeks before the coronavirus crisis hit, the 99 Princeton undergraduates in the spring course “Literature and Medicine” were already immersed in the many ways storytelling shapes the way we understand and experience illness, disease and health. Now, from their laptops, scattered around the world, the students are discovering that literary texts are not only keeping them connected to one another, but also helping them grapple with their own experiences during the pandemic.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/15/making-meaning-pandemic-through-lens-literature

Last Thursday evening, Princeton University Art Museum Director James Steward delivered a public lecture online. A total of 965 people participated, more than the museum would ever be able to squeeze into its auditorium. Steward said:

“There is a set of outreach opportunities that is now possible because of the digital efforts we’ve made. Why would we not try to sustain them? Going forward, it has to be both. Once you open the door and discover that people not just locally, but in geographically remote areas are actually hungry for your content, it presents a wonderful opportunity.”
http://www.towntopics.com/wordpress/2020/05/13/for-arts-groups-closed-during-shutdown-online-content-is-a-lifeline-worth-keeping/

With the help of a robust group of departmental volunteers, the campus community raised $126,613.35 during the 2019-2020 United Way Campaign. Proceeds support the United Way of Greater Mercer County’s education, financial stability, food insecurity and health programs.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/15/numbers-university-raises-funds-united-way

Brothers Sunny Sandhu ’20 and Manraj Singh ’16 have created Connect For Covid, a campaign that distributes donated devices to patients in need. So far, the campaign has collected over $33,000 in donations nationally and delivered approximately 300 devices to patients. According to the brothers, they are on track to deliver around 500 more in the coming months.
https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2020/05/covid-electronic-device-donation-princeton-alum

Just two years after Princeton University reopened its doors to transfer students, Jessica Bookholdt and Ivania Asencio are making history at Mercer County Community College (MCCC), becoming the first two students to transfer to the prestigious Ivy League school.
Princeton began accepting transfers in 2018, 28 years after the school entered a moratorium of accepting continuing students. Following board approval in 2016, Princeton reopened its campus to a small cohort of transfers, with a focus on students with diverse backgrounds, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, who have served in the military, or who have started at community colleges.
http://mccc.edu/pr/Alumni/2020/bookholdt_asencio.html
(Link to transfer announcement in blurb)
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/06/princeton-offers-admission-13-transfer-students-third-year-reinstated-program

In an interview with NBC’s “Today” show, Class of 2020 valedictorian Nicholas Johnson discusses his experience at Princeton, what it means to be the University’s first black valedictorian, and his message for others graduating amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Employee Retirements: May 2020
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/06/employee-retirements-may-2020

• Employee Obituaries: May 2020
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/06/employee-obituaries-may-2020

More We Roar episodes:

• Laura Conour maintains care for Princeton’s research animals
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/01/we-roar-laura-conour-maintains-care-princetons-research-animals

• Economist Alan Blinder calls the pandemic ‘one of the most extreme economic events that has ever taken place’
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/05/we-roar-economist-alan-blinder-calls-pandemic-one-most-extreme-economic-events-has

In the latest episode of “We Roar,” Dr. Glenn Wakam ’11 shares his insights into the health disparities exposed and amplified by the pandemic, from his perspective on the front lines in a Detroit-area hospital. “When this all started, COVID-19 was touted as the great equalizer,” he says. “Officials said it didn’t matter your race, your religion, your socioeconomic status, that this would affect us all the same. That’s just not true.”
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/08/we-roar-dr-glenn-wakam-11-digs-racial-inequities-covid-19. http://weroar.princeton.edu/12-battling-the-racial-inequities-of-covid-19-a-view-from-the-front-lines?utm_source=pwb&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=communications

More Honors and Awards:

• Princeton University News: Hal Foster and Esther Schor receive Behrman Award for the humanities
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/04/hal-foster-and-esther-schor-receive-behrman-award-humanities

• Princeton University News: Seven graduate students receive teaching and service awards
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/01/seven-graduate-students-receive-teaching-and-service-awards

• The Daily Princetonian: 16 faculty members, 18 alumni elected to nation’s historic academies
https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2020/05/academy-election-16-faculty-members

• The Daily Princetonian: Ten students win 2020 Spirit of Princeton Award for service, contributions to campus life
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/08/ten-students-win-2020-spirit-princeton-award-service-contributions-campus-life

• The Daily Princetonian: Eilperin ’92, Taub ’14 win Pulitzer Prizes in Explanatory Reporting, Feature Writing
https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2020/05/pulitzer-prize-princeton-alumni-new-yorker-washington-post