Breaking down Bollywood cinema, crocheting stuffed animals, getting better sleep, paying rent and taxes — these were some of the topics of Wintersession 2020, which offered more than 40 classes, mostly taught by students, for students. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/02/05/baking-tax-prep-students-learn-new-skills-usgs-wintersession
In the threatened Santa Catalina foxes, which live on only one island off the California coast, staph microbes have been linked to cancer, report a team of Princeton researchers. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/02/04/microbes-linked-cancer-threatened-california-foxes-report-princeton-researchers
David Burden, a 25-year marketing and branding agency veteran, has been named deputy vice president for content strategy and will lead the University’s creative and content efforts across all of its communications channels. This is a new position in the University administration, created as part of the expansion and evolution of Princeton’s Communications team intended to better support the University’s strategic goals through public communication. As a part of this growth, Ben Chang has been promoted to deputy vice president for communications and will continue to serve as University spokesperson. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/02/04/burden-appointed-princeton-universitys-first-deputy-vice-president-content-strategy
Princeton’s Martin Jonikas, assistant professor of molecular biology, and writer Jenny Xie, a 2008 alumna, have received 2020 Vilcek Foundation Prizes, which recognize the career achievements and creative promise of foreign-born innovators in the sciences, arts and humanities. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/02/03/biologist-jonikas-alumna-xie-receive-vilcek-prizes-honoring-immigrants-outstanding
The Princeton University Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of two professors to the faculty: Kristina Olson in psychology and Shinsei Ryu in physics. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/29/board-approves-two-new-faculty-appointments
Alice Lin is one of 15 scholarship winners who will spend a year studying at the University of Cambridge while living at Churchill College, which focuses on STEM subjects. She plans to complete Part III of the Mathematical Tripos, which confers a Master of Advanced Study in mathematics. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/30/princeton-senior-alice-lin-awarded-churchill-scholarship-mathematics-study
This past summer marked the 15th year of the Mount Menoikeion seminar, which brings together Princeton students for a week of fieldwork study and discussion at a living medieval monastery in Greece. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/31/learning-about-cultural-heritage-monastic-community-mount-menoikeion-greece
Through close reading of texts spanning genres, students in the fall course “Literature and Environment” consider how storytelling illuminates environmental issues. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/30/love-earth-humanistic-inquiry
Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber sent his annual State of the University letter to faculty, students and staff on Monday, Feb. 3, highlighting recent developments at Princeton and identifying future goals. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/02/03/president-eisgrubers-annual-state-university-letter-2020
Princeton has updated its lists of University employee retirements to include those effective Jan. 1 and Feb. 1, 2020. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/23/employee-retirements-january-2020 Related from Princeton: Employee obituaries: January 2020 https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/23/employee-obituaries-january-2020
“For a long time, I had this idea,” artist Mario Moore said. “I wanted to make black people like my dad visible and put them in positions of power. In America, we put people in certain hierarchies and usually don’t consider blue-collar workers to be on the same level as other people around campus. It became important to me to change that.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/01/24/portraits-campus-lacked-diversity-so-this-artist-painted-blue-collar-workers-who-really-run-things/
Mark Edwards, a lecturer in religion at Princeton, will teach the spring freshman seminar “Imprisoned Minds: Religion and Philosophy from Jail,” using writings from residents inside Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Crosswicks, New Jersey, where he recently led a study group on the ethics and actions of Mahatma Gandhi. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/29/reading-gandhi-creating-ashram-youth-correctional-facility
A Princeton-led mission to study the interaction of the solar wind with the ancient cast-off winds of other stars, and the fundamental process of particle acceleration in space, has completed a critical NASA review and is now moving closer toward a scheduled launch in 2024. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/28/nasas-interstellar-mapping-and-acceleration-probe-mission-enters-design-phase
“We are pleased to have Peter Melchior be part of our center,” said Peter Ramadge, the CSML director. “He is not only doing important research in astrophysics, but his work shows that advanced machine learning methods are vital to pushing forward growth in the sciences. His work also fits with the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the center.” https://csml.princeton.edu/news/peter-melchior-newest-csml-faculty-uses-machine-learning-understand-cosmos
Scientists have modeled a key source of the turbulence found in a fusion experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, paving the way for improving similar experiments to capture and control fusion energy. https://www.pppl.gov/news/2020/01/new-model-helps-pave-way-bringing-clean-fusion-energy-down-earth
A team of Princeton researchers led by Joshua Akey has discovered that all modern humans carry some Neanderthal ancestry in their DNA — including Africans, which was not previously known. https://www.princeton.edu/node/219806
Students in several Princeton courses this fall examined the perils of climate change by considering how storytelling — with elements of description, language and structure — can influence people’s perceptions and fire up the imagination. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/27/creative-ecologies-storytelling-and-environmentalism
Princeton’s Beatriz Colomina has been awarded the 2020 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture from the W Awards. Manon Mollard, editor of The Architectural Review, said: “Beatriz Colomina’s rich and rigorous career has shaped the way we think about architecture, right back to [her collection of interdisciplinary essays] ‘Sexuality & Space’ — still a much-needed text in architectural education. Her writing, her curation and her teaching have been part of the backbone of architectural theory for many years, and will continue to inspire in years to come.” https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/23/colomina-receives-ada-louise-huxtable-prize-contribution-architecture
