0 Traditional bonfire sparks Princeton spirit

Flames from a bonfire on Cannon Green rise skyward on Saturday night, Nov. 17, as Princetonians celebrated dual football victories over Harvard and Yale. Supervised by firefighters, students assembled a pyre of wood pallets and topped it with an outhouse, all of which was torched as students, alumni and friends cheered.

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Photo by John Jameson

? Posted November 18, 2012; 05:00 p.m.by Emily Aronson, Office of Communications

Princeton students, faculty, staff and alumni celebrated the University's achievement in football this fall with a traditional bonfire on Cannon Green on Saturday, Nov. 17.

The bonfire, a campus custom dating to the late 1800s, is now observed when Princeton sweeps Harvard and Yale in football. This year, the University celebrated Tiger football's come-from-behind 39-34 victory over Harvard on Oct. 20 and its 29-7 defeat of Yale on Nov. 10.

"I want to thank everyone who is part of Princeton football. This is a great tradition and this year this team gave us a game that will go down in the history books," President Shirley M. Tilghman said before the start of the bonfire, referring to Princeton's fourth quarter stunner against Harvard.

Prior to Saturday, Tigers last gathered around a campus bonfire in 2006. Before that, the flame was last kindled in 1994.

The Undergraduate Student Government and four undergraduate class governments sponsored this year's bonfire. In addition to raising the spirits of the University community, the event also raised money for victims of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated parts of the Northeast last month. Student government leaders plan to donate all proceeds from the sale of commemorative bonfire T-shifts and posters to hurricane relief efforts.

According to University lore, the first reported instances of sanctioned bonfires at Princeton were to celebrate victories in baseball, not football. As football gained in popularity and as games with Harvard and Yale started taking place each year, the bonfire came to symbolize the capture of the mythical award, The Big Three title. The first year Princeton beat both Harvard and Yale was 1878, according to "A Princeton Companion."

Photos and videos of bonfire revelry through the years are available online through University Archives at Mudd Manuscript Library.

Preparations for the 2012 bonfire began early Saturday morning, as the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes worked in shifts to build a tower of wood pallets in the middle of Cannon Green. Student groups also made effigies of John Harvard and a Yale bulldog, as well as a traditional wooden outhouse, to be burned with the blaze. The University fire marshal, carpentry shop and the Princeton Fire Deparment oversaw construction.

As night fell, crowds gathered around the pyre for remarks from Tilghman, Bob Surace, the Charles W. Caldwell Jr. '25 Head Coach of Football, as well representatives from the football team and student government. And then, with the help of the Princeton Fire Department, the flame was lit and the dark sky set aglow.

After enjoying the warmth of the fire, the music of the Princeton University Band and camaraderie of the gathering, the large group sang "Old Nassau" before the fire department extinguished the flames.

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0 'Family' dinner brings University and community together

Princeton resident Joanne Rogers passes a bowl of salad to Princeton University junior Christina Healy during a recent community dinner, dubbed D?ner Inn Blanc, on Oct. 25. More than 350 white-clad University students and local residents attended the event outside Robertson Hall as a way to bring "town" and "gown" together informally over a meal. The dinner's name was an homage to outdoor dining events started in Paris and Forbes College's previous incarnation as the Princeton Inn.

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Photos by Denise Applewhite

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? Posted November 8, 2012; 12:00 p.m.by Emily Aronson, Office of Communications

On a recent fall evening illuminated by soft lights strung across Scudder Plaza, more than 350 Princeton University students and community members wearing white sat around long, linen-covered tables outside Robertson Hall. The gathering's purpose was simple: to bring "town" and "gown" together over dinner.

The Oct. 25 event, dubbed "D?ner Inn Blanc," was sponsored by the University's Office of Community and Regional Affairs, Forbes College, Dining Services and Facilities Organization, in partnership with Corner House, a nonprofit prevention, education and substance abuse treatment center in Princeton.

"The idea is to get the campus and community to sit down and have a common meal," Director of Community and Regional Affairs Kristin Appelget said.

While the links between the University and its neighbors are many, such as the annual Communiversity festival and student groups who volunteer locally, D?ner Inn Blanc was an informal way for people of different backgrounds to strike up conversations and get to know each other.

"The evening was a more intimate atmosphere. This was an intentional and personal way for students to meet people in town and vice versa," Appelget said. "We hope it also was an opportunity to create new connections between students and local families."

The event was an extension of Corner House's family dinner initiative, with the center opening registration to residents on a first come, first served basis. The name D?ner Inn Blanc was an homage to outdoor dinners en masse started in Paris and Forbes College's previous incarnation as the Princeton Inn.

Part feast and part flash mob, attendees were notified of the meal's location just a few hours beforehand by email and text message. The Forbes College dining hall closed for the night, and as the clock neared 6 p.m., students from the residential college and community members streamed into the plaza by foot to mingle and eat alfresco as the sun set.

Bainy Suri, who has lived in Princeton for two years, said she loves being in a college town and wishes she had more opportunities to meet students.

"Princeton University attracts some of the brightest young people in the country and there is a wonderful youthful energy here," Suri said. "I loved the evening. It was a win-win situation to come and eat dinner and talk with some of the leaders of our future. The Princeton students are as charming as I thought they would be."

A few tables away, sophomores Hanna Kim and Sam Lichtenberg shared laughs with Jack, 10, Andrew, 9, and Zander, 7. The group talked about their favorite school subjects, favorite vegetables and love for "The Magic School Bus" children's book series.

"This is a really great University initiative to help students meet people outside of the so-called 'Orange Bubble,'" Kim said.

Lichtenberg said it was a happy diversion.

"You often can get lost in your own student world, so it's really nice to have an excuse to go out for the evening and talk with young kids and families. This dinner is definitely something different," Lichtenberg said.

His new friends agreed.

"Tonight's fun because it's a change," Andrew said.

"It would be great to be a student here. They all seem very nice," Jack added.

As she watched her children run around the Scudder Plaza Fountain, Heather Kisilywicz said she valued the simple spirit of the evening.

"We live near campus, so we've enjoyed sitting down with some of the familiar student faces," she said. "It's nice because the event is just about dinner — there's nothing involved except enjoying each other's company."

That is exactly why Corner House promotes family dinners in the community, said co-organizer Janet Giles. She added that the idea is based on research that children who have regular family meals are less likely to engage in risky behavior such as drinking alcohol or doing drugs.

"Dinner does not have to be what it looks like in Norman Rockwell paintings. The point really is just to sit down with your family, whomever that may be, and learn something about each other," said Giles, a member of the Corner House Foundation Board.

Looking over plates piled with tomato and cucumber salad, roasted fall vegetables and rotisserie-style baked chicken, Director of Dining Services Stu Orefice said he jumped at the chance to be part of the event.

"The evening is about building relationships with the community, providing an atmosphere where you can have great conversations over a nice meal, and showcasing Dining Services' partnerships with local food purveyors," he said, as student musical groups serenaded dinner guests in the background.

In addition to the fare prepared by Dining Services, Terra Momo Bread Company, Bent Spoon ice cream, Infini T Caf? and Spice Souk, and the Princeton School Gardens Cooperative donated items for the meal.

Michael Hecht, professor of chemistry and master of Forbes College, said the evening also was an occasion for fun during a busy midterm week.

"Forbes is a very tight-knit residential college community. This is a chance for everyone to have a great time and a great meal," Hecht said.

Students often stay on campus because everything they need or want is right here, said freshman Julia Langer, so the dinner was an easy way to meet people who live nearby.

As a Princeton resident and University freshman, Sam Dercon said he appreciated D?ner Inn Blanc from both perspectives.

"I can't remember having an event like this when I was a kid in town," Dercon said. "It's great for the students and the families to come together on such a large scale."

Bethany Andrade, women's outreach coordinator at Corner House, said she was thrilled with how the evening turned out.

"We are grateful for this partnership with the University," she said. "It really was just a wonderful opportunity for people to come together to eat, to talk, to laugh and to share."

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0 Two millennia of poetry, 'making a statement' in the 21st century

Posted September 26, 2012; 03:07 p.m.by Jamie Saxon, Office of Communications

If Sandra Bermann, Princeton's Cotsen Professor of the Humanities and professor of comparative literature, had to pick her favorite love poetry, it would be Shakespeare's sonnets. "I have loved them the most over the longest time for the range of emotion, theme and wit they reveal," she said. "Among those 154 poems, Sonnet 116, 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds,' still speaks to me with particular power."

Bermann, who enjoys reading love poetry "from as many parts of the planet as possible," had plenty of time to immerse herself not only in Shakespeare's sonnets, but also in the entire history of love poetry, in order to write a completely reconceived entry on the subject for the Princeton University Press' new edition of "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics," edited by Roland Greene and Stephen Cushman.

Bermann is one of 11 Princeton professors — among hundreds of contributors from all over the world — who wrote entries for the revision, only the fourth in more than four decades.

Peter Dougherty, director of Princeton University Press, which published the first edition in 1965, likened the job to "renovating a cathedral." The third edition was published nearly 20 years ago and the completion of the fourth edition — a slim 1,664 pages — has taken six years. "The new edition is considered a singular event in the humanities. It represents a statement of where the fields of poetry and literature are in the 21st century," Dougherty said.

Princeton poet Susan Stewart, the Avalon Foundation University Professor in the Humanities, calls the book "a compendium of all culture."

When Bermann set out to write her entry, she knew she would have to decide carefully what to include in her 6,000-word essay. "Since there is no way to detail all the many sorts of love poetry that have existed across the globe from earliest times to the present, I decided to offer some broader conceptions of the genre, as well as a number of more localized conventions, themes and examples. I wanted the piece to be informative and intriguing, encouraging the reader to explore this delightful topic independently," she said.

A "trailer" for her entry might be pulled from the thematic overview section, which begins: "Love poetry imaginatively presents the vicissitudes of that human emotion we call love. But what is love? Is it sexual pleasure, passionate desire, religious enlightenment, joyful connection to another, a painful disruption and reconstruction of self, or a cherishing of another human being? Is it idealized or sexual, public or private, a sickness unto death or an exhilarating rebirth of the mind and the senses? If we are to believe the poets, it is all of these and more."

Martin Kern, a professor of East Asian studies, wrote one of the 250 new entries, out of more than 1,100 in the book. An expert in ancient Chinese literature, Kern wrote on the Chuci ("Lyrics of Chu"), an anthology of southern Chinese poetry that contains songs from the third century B.C.E. through the second century C.E. and is one of the two principal sources of ancient Chinese poetry.

"Adding an entry on the ancient 'Lyrics of Chu' strikes me as utterly meaningful," Kern said. "For the last two millennia the Chuci — a poetry of spectacular beauty and sophistication that speaks inexhaustibly to the human condition — has exerted enormous influence on the literatures not only of China but of East Asia altogether."

Other Princeton professors who contributed to the book are (their entries appear in parentheses):

• Margaret Beissinger, research scholar and lecturer, Slavic languages and literatures (oral poetry; Romani poetry);
• Claudia Brodsky, professor of comparative literature (romantic and postromantic poetry and poetics);
• Jeff Dolven, associate professor of English (Spenserian stanza; style);
• Sophie Gee, associate professor of English (bathos);
• Meredith Martin, associate professor of English (estampida, ploce, prose rhythm, quatrain, quintain);
• Fran?ois Rigolot, the Meredith Howland Pyne Professor of French Literature (Pl?iade);
• Michael Wachtel, professor and chair of Slavic languages and literatures (symbolism);
• Susan Wolfson, professor of English (form); and
• Eliza Zingesser, a graduate student in the Department of French and Italian (dit; planctus).

"The new edition incorporates a vast array of new knowledge from cultures around the world — especially emerging nations — and from new forms of expression," Dougherty said.

One of those new forms is electronic poetry, also called e-poetry and digital poetry, which, the entry explains, is created "using personal computers as platforms for compositions intended to be encountered and experienced in native digital format…. Electronic poems typically include one or more of the following: multimedia, animation, sound effects or soundtracks, reader interaction in the form of choices or other participatory features, and automated behaviors."

Another new entry is poetry slam, "A contest in which poets compete against each other with judges (chosen at random from the audience) assigning a score to each performance on a scale of one to 10 to determine the winner."

"The team of editors carefully evaluated what to keep, what to drop and what to add or change to make the book even more useful to 21st-century readers," said Anne Savarese, executive editor, reference, at Princeton University Press, who served as the acquiring editor for the new edition.

The revised encyclopedia now includes articles on the poetries of more than 110 nations, regions and languages, with expanded coverage of poetries of the non-Western and developing worlds. "Poetry is a profoundly global art form, and the new edition captures the excitement of this worldwide phenomenon," Dougherty said.
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0 University assists first responders, area residents after Hurricane Sandy

Posted November 8, 2012; 07:01 a.m.by Office of Communications

As Princeton Borough and Princeton Township started recovering from the havoc caused by Hurricane Sandy, about 150 first responders working during the storm were provided with free meals by the University's Dining Services. Local residents whose homes lost power were invited to warm up, recharge phones and other electronic devices and use wireless Internet service at a hospitality center on campus.

The hospitality center, which was opened at the request of the Princeton municipal emergency operations center, "was just one of a number of ways that the University looked to provide resources to the community during the emergency," said Kristin Appelget, the University's director of community and regional affairs.

The University also offered a heavy duty electricity generator for use by Princeton municipal authorities if necessary.

Students affiliated with the University's Pace Center for Civic Engagement also volunteered at a community respite center at the John Witherspoon Middle School, where Princeton residents who lost power during Hurricane Sandy were able to take showers, charge electronic devices, get food and stay overnight.

The University's TigerTransit system provided free shuttle bus service between Princeton Junction station and the Princeton station while the "Dinky" train service was suspended in the aftermath of the storm. The TigerTransit service continued until New Jersey Transit began running shuttle buses on the route.

The University, which also lost power from the public electricity provider, had to shut down many administrative and academic buildings and run critical functions on limited power from the University's independent cogeneration plant for more than 24 hours. The plant can generate 13 megawatts of electricity, which is significantly less than the maximum campus demand when all buildings are fully operational.

However, University buildings that depend solely on electric power from the public grid remained without power for extended periods of time, and power was not restored to some University housing until Monday, Nov. 5.

Due to continued power outages in the Princeton area, several polling stations were relocated to the University’s Computer Science Building on Olden Street and the University's Jadwin Gym, where a large section of the parking area was reserved for voters. More than 3,400 voters from municipal districts 1, 2, 4, 14, 15, 16 and 20 cast their votes on campus on Nov. 6.

The meals for the first responders, students who remained on campus during fall recess and employees on duty were prepared and served by a small team of Dining Services employees who were able to make it to work.

"We always use the phrase, 'it's all about food, mood and attitude,'" said Stu Orefice, executive director of Dining Services. "Despite the challenges that they faced, our staff maintained a positive attitude, and our goal was to share that spirit through our service."

Orefice continued working even though his own house was badly damaged by the storm.

"We were operating with a lean but dedicated team that made literally hundreds of people happy — by serving nearly 9,000 hot and cold meals over five days," he said. "When Frist Campus Center opened its doors on Wednesday, not many restaurants in town were open, so members of the Princeton community started coming in, and we were selling as much as we do when all our students are back."

Elsewhere on campus, hundreds of employees, many of whom were unable to reach their homes, worked in shifts to keep critical University functions running. The storm felled about 110 trees, which blocked roads and damaged vehicles, fences and other property. No injuries were reported.

Throughout the storm the University coordinated its efforts with a joint emergency operations center for Princeton Borough and Princeton Township.

The University's response to the hurricane was coordinated through an emergency operations center on campus, which was staffed by representatives from the Department of Public Safety, Facilities, Dining Services, University Services, Office of Information Technology (OIT), Office of Environmental Health and Safety, University Health Services, Campus Life, Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, Office of the Dean of the Graduate School, Office of Human Resources, and Office of Communications, among others.

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0 FACULTY AWARD: Nineteen Princeton professors named inaugural AMS Fellows

Posted November 7, 2012; 10:00 a.m.by Staff

The American Mathematical Society selected 19 Princeton professors to be among its inaugural class of Fellows. The class includes 1,119 researchers from more than 600 institutions worldwide.

The inducteees from Princeton are: Michael Aizenman, professor of physics and mathematics; Manjul Bhargava, the Brandon Fradd, Class of 1983, Professor of Mathematics; Peter Constantin, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Mathematics and Applied and Computational Mathematics; Weinan E, professor of mathematics and applied and computational mathematics; David Gabai, chair and Hughes-Rogers Professor of Mathematics; Robert Gunning, professor of mathematics; Philip Holmes, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Joseph Kohn, professor of mathematics, emeritus; Janos Kollar, the Donner Professor of Science and professor of mathematics; Elliot Lieb, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics; William Massey, the Edwin S. Wilsey Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering; John Moore, professor of mathematics, emeritus; John Nash Jr., senior research mathematician; Edward Nelson, professor of mathematics; Yakov Sinai, professor of mathematics; Christopher Skinner, the Henry Buchard Fine Professor of Mathematics; Elias Stein, the Albert Baldwin Dod Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus, and lecturer with the rank of professor in mathematics; Anna Wienhard, assistant professor of mathematics; and Paul Yang, professor of mathematics.

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0 FACULTY AWARD: Llinás receives Gates Foundation grant

Posted November 6, 2012; 04:30 p.m.by Staff

Manuel Llin?s, an associate professor of molecular biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, received a Grand Challenges Explorations Round 9 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to seek more effective malaria drugs. Llin?s was among more than 80 recipients of the award, which includes an initial grant of $100,000 with a potential follow-on grant of up to $1 million.

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0 STORY: Fired up! Schedule for bonfire

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Mudd Manuscript Library's archives include the construction of the "Championship Fire of 1901."

? Posted November 17, 2012; 06:18 a.m.by Staff

A traditional campus bonfire to celebrate the Princeton football team's wins over Harvard and Yale this season will be held at 7?p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, on Cannon Green. The bonfire festivities also will be webcast live on the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students website. The Undergraduate Student Government and the four undergraduate class governments are sponsoring the event. Commemorative T-shirts and posters also will be sold at the bonfire, with proceeds benefitting Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.

Also, the Princeton football team hosts Dartmouth at 1 p.m. Saturday. Visit Princeton Athletics for details.

Read more:

Each class assists with the construction of the bonfire. Breakfast is included for students:

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0 University thanks alumni and friends for Aspire's success

President Shirley M. Tilghman welcomes more than 1,000 alumni and friends to the Oct. 19 Aspire "thank you" celebration in Jadwin Gymnasium, noting that their contributions to the recently concluded fundraising campaign "helped to ensure that future generations of Princetonians will continue to receive the finest education of its kind." Many others joined the event via the Internet through live streaming.

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Photos by Kevin Birch

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"Princeton Is the Place" videos show Aspire's impact on international, arts and engineering initiatives.

? Posted October 22, 2012; 03:30 p.m.by the Office of Development Communications

Princeton University expressed its gratitude to more than 1,000 alumni and friends who contributed to the success of its recent fundraising campaign on Friday night by showcasing Aspire's impact.

The Oct. 19 "thank you" celebration, which took place in a transformed Jadwin Gymnasium, combined multimedia presentations with speeches and performances. A pair of 60-by-30-foot screens displayed images and video of programs and facilities that have been enhanced by the campaign, including recorded messages from Bridge Year students as they began their year of service abroad. On a stage in front of the screens, artists performed, Princeton faculty and researchers — including undergraduates — described their work, and alumni and students spoke of the ways in which the University has touched their lives.

President Shirley M. Tilghman, who served as emcee for the evening, told those attending in person and via the Internet through live streaming, "Together, you have helped to ensure that future generations of Princetonians will continue to receive the finest education of its kind and, thus equipped, will continue to make our world a better place for all."?

The five-year campaign ended on June 30 after raising $1.88 billion, exceeding its goal of $1.75 billion. More than 65,000 donors — including more than 77 percent of all undergraduate alumni — contributed 271,559 separate gifts.

Aspire's areas of priority were Annual Giving, which provides unrestricted funds that the University can use immediately in the areas of greatest need and that typically provide significant support to the financial aid program; neuroscience; engineering and the environment; the arts; global initiatives; and "the Princeton experience," which encompasses all aspects of teaching, learning and campus life.

Speakers during the evening included international business executive Gerhard Andlinger of the Class of 1952, whose 2008 gift created the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. He told of arriving in Princeton from war-torn Europe and finding a wealth of support and opportunities as a scholarship student at the University. Leslie-Bernard Joseph of the Class of 2006, a former Teach for America corps member who is now a student at Stanford Law School, and senior Brittany Sanders also shared personal stories of their Princeton experiences.?

Lively performances throughout the evening featured the Princeton University Band; the breakdancing group Sympoh; Princeton Bhangra, which performed a South Asian folk dance; and the Triangle Club. Professional dancers Silas Riener of the Class of 2006 and Sydney Schiff of the Class of 2010 performed an original interpretive piece, accompanied by the Princeton University Orchestra conducted by Michael Pratt.

The program also showcased innovations in neuroscience and engineering. Jonathan Cohen, the Robert Bendheim and Lynn Bendheim Thoman Professor in Neuroscience and founding co-director of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, presided over an experiment in which the audience saw the real-time brain activity of Research Specialist Jessica Jones as she viewed photos and live video from the event, while inside an fMRI scanner at another location on campus. Naveen Verma, assistant professor of electrical engineering, and Alexandra Landon and Eric Kuto, both of the Class of 2012, described their novel research projects.

The evening concluded with several student a cappella groups leading the crowd in "Old Nassau," Princeton's anthem. The students then launched orange and silver streamers into the crowd while the "Cannon Song" played and photos of alumni, parents and friends appeared on the screens.

During the event, campaign co-chairs Robert Murley of the Class of 1972 and Nancy Peretsman of the Class of 1976 presented Tilghman with a box containing an "honor roll" — the names of all 65,120 donors to the campaign. A final report about the campaign is available online.

The festive evening was the culmination of a day of gatherings on campus sponsored by the Office of Development and the Alumni Association. Visiting alumni, parents and friends could choose to attend panel discussions and workshops led by faculty members and alumni. Panelists included Eric Schmidt of the Class of 1976, executive chairman of Google Inc.; Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, professor of economics and international affairs; and former Secretary of State George Shultz of the Class of 1942.

Activities concluded on Saturday with a panel discussion, the Tiger Tailgate and Princeton football's 39-34 victory over Harvard.

Tilghman now will travel around the country and abroad to thank donors at events in seven U.S. cities, Hong Kong and London.

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0 Hurricane relief efforts being organized at Princeton

Posted November 6, 2012; 04:55 p.m.by Emily Aronson, Office of Communications

As communities across the East Coast continue to recover from Hurricane Sandy, Princeton University faculty, staff and students are helping organize relief efforts for affected individuals.

A Hurricane Sandy supplies drive will collect nonperishable food, clothing, blankets and other items through Nov. 16. Donation bins are located at: the Center for Jewish Life; Dillon Gym; Engineering Quad, Room 232; Frist Campus Center; Murray-Dodge Hall; Maclean House; 200 Elm; the residential college dining halls; and the laundry rooms inside Spelman, Patton and Dod halls. Supplies will be delivered throughout Princeton, Trenton and Keyport, N.J., as well as Staten Island, N.Y.

The Pace Center for Civic Engagement is working with various University offices and community groups to coordinate student volunteer opportunities. Students may visit the Pace Center website or Princeton University "Sandy Relief" Facebook group for information on how they may help storm-ravaged areas as it becomes available. Student organizations also may contact the Pace Center if they are interested in organizing hurricane aid events on campus.

In addition to aiding nearby communities, the University also is assisting faculty and staff affected by the hurricane. The Office of Human Resources is a resource for employees seeking assistance for such issues as displacement from their homes, financial hardships due to the storm, assistance with child or elder care, or concerns about medical insurance. For more information, employees should contact 609-258-3300 or hr@princeton.edu.

Updates will be posted on individual department websites as more efforts and events are organized.
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0 Quick, high-volume test offers fast track in search for Alzheimer's drugs

Posted November 15, 2012; 12:30 p.m.by Morgan Kelly, Office of Communications

An efficient, high-volume technique for testing potential drug treatments for Alzheimer's disease uncovered an organic compound that restored motor function and longevity to fruit flies with the disease, according to new research that could help put the search for an effective Alzheimer's drug on a faster track.

Princeton University researchers report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry that they discovered an organic compound that prevented the formation of protein clumps, or aggregates, found on human brain cells afflicted by Alzheimer's disease. The researchers realized the compound's potential via a high-throughput — meaning many materials can be examined at once — screening process developed at Princeton that examined the ability of 65,000 molecular compounds to inhibit protein aggregation.

When administered to fruit flies bred to exhibit Alzheimer's-like symptoms, the compound — which the researchers call D737 — restored climbing ability and increased the flies' lifespan by several days in comparison to flies that did not receive the compound, the researchers reported.

The compound worked by stopping the accumulation of a peptide known as amyloid beta 42 (Aß42), which disrupts cell function, is found in high quantities in Alzheimer's plaques, and is thought to initiate the disease's characteristic neural deterioration. The fruit flies were genetically engineered at the University of Cambridge to have human Aß42 collect in their neurons. As in humans, this accumulation results in memory and mobility loss, disorientation and early death.

Senior researcher Michael Hecht, a Princeton professor of chemistry, said the findings demonstrate a quick and efficient screening method that could help in the search for a medicinal defense against Alzheimer's. Currently, he said, the disease's proliferation in an aging population has outpaced the success of efforts to develop a treatment for it.

"As the population ages, Alzheimer's is the big disease," Hecht said. "There are drugs to control symptoms, but nothing to treat the disease itself. One approach could be to control peptide aggregation as we have done, but the compounds tested so far often fail.

"Our technique would allow scientists to create an artificial genetic system, examine it with a high-throughput screen and find whether it works," Hecht said. "From that they can fish out the best results and test them in other models."

Furthermore, an effective compound such as D737 can reveal information about Aß42's structure that can be used to formulate other treatments, said lead author Angela Fortner McKoy, a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University who received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Princeton in 2011. Fortner McKoy and Hecht worked with second author Jermont Chen, who earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Princeton in 2008, and Trudi Sch?pbach, the Henry Fairfield Osborn Professor of Biology.

The Princeton researchers used a screening process developed in the Hecht lab to specifically identify Aß42 aggregation. First reported in the journal ACS Chemical Biology in 2006, the technique hinges on a fusion of Aß42 and green fluorescent protein — which glows under ultraviolet light and is found in animals such as jellyfish — that is expressed in the bacteria E. coli. The fluorescent protein does not glow when Aß42 is able to aggregate. When a compound such as D737 inhibits peptide clumping, however, the E. coli bacterium appears bright green. The efficiency of the screening system stems from the relative simplicity of attaining and working with E. coli, a standard laboratory bacterium, Hecht said.

For the current research, Hecht and his co-authors examined 65,000 randomly chosen organic compounds that Chen acquired from the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. The technique revealed 269 compounds that halted the buildup of Aß42 aggregates. Of those, Fortner McKoy selected the eight most readily available for further testing. Fortner McKoy found that D737 best prevented the accumulation of Aß42 and reduced mortality in cell cultures. In addition, the researchers found that the compound reduced the production and accumulation of reactive oxygen species, which damage cells.

The researchers then tested the compound on healthy fruit flies with no Aß42 accumulation, as well as on flies with a regular human-form Aß42 gene and flies with a mutant gene — which is found in some humans with Alzheimer's — that causes extra buildup of the peptide. For each of these three fly types, one group of flies did not receive D737 while another group was given the compound in concentrations of 2, 20 or 200 micromolar.

In the flies with regular and accelerated Aß42 buildup, those receiving D737 lived an average of four to six days longer than similarly altered flies that were not fed the compound. The healthy fruit flies that received D737 showed no change in lifespan, demonstrating that the compound is non-toxic in fruit flies, Hecht said.

To test mobility, the researchers put 20 flies from both of the genetically altered groups into the bottom of a vial and recorded how many had climbed to the top. After 38 days, only 6 percent of untreated flies with normal Aß42 accumulation could climb, as opposed to as many as 34 percent of the flies receiving D737.

In flies with the mutant Aß42 gene, all those left untreated lost mobility after 27 days. Of those given the compound, however, 50 to 78 percent — depending on the dosage — could still climb after the same time period.

Damian Crowther, a group leader in the Department of Genetics at Cambridge who created and supplied the flies used in the Princeton research but had no active role in the work, said that D737 demonstrated a notable ability to suppress in fruit flies the same neurological, physical and mental deficits seen in humans with Alzheimer's.

"It's not common to see such a strong effect in the fly model. Of the compounds that my lab tests, which have been through rigorous in vitro screening, we see effects as good as this in only 5 to 10 percent," Crowther said. "To find that a compound administered orally is able to show beneficial effects on both of these fly phenotypes indicates that the drug can access the neurons and, once within the brain, presumably control the aggregation of amyloid beta peptides."

Crowther said the Princeton research further supports the approach of curbing the buildup of Aß42 and related variants of the amyloid beta peptide to treat Alzheimer's. In the middle stages of accumulation, variations of the peptide can be highly toxic to neurons and kill them, he said. But the work by Hecht and his co-authors helps show that blocking amyloid-beta aggregation can be safe and potent.

"There is always a worry when looking for aggregation-blocking agents that the aggregation process may be interrupted at the wrong point," Crowther said.

"Further work should try to characterize in an in vivo system exactly where this compound halts or modifies the aggregation process," he said.?"For a beneficial effect we don't need to completely block aggregation — indeed, amyloid formation is a thermodynamically inevitable process. It could be that the compound simply modulates the aggregation process so that the most toxic intermediates are less populated."

Although the compound's success in flies would not necessarily translate to humans, Fortner McKoy said, its effectiveness illustrates that worthwhile treatment candidates can be uncovered with the Princeton screening method.

"It inhibited the peptide aggregation effectively enough so that we could see an improvement in the flies," Fortner McKoy said. "In general, a compound like this would be further developed and changes would be made to it to test its efficacy in humans. But the fly results show that it is worth testing this compound in another model."

The paper, "A novel inhibitor of Aß peptide aggregation: From high throughput screening to efficacy in an animal model for Alzheimer's disease," was published Nov. 9 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The research was funded by grants from the Alzheimer's Association, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

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0 Princeton endowment earns 3.1 percent return, boosts 10-year average

Posted October 19, 2012; 03:00 p.m.by Martin Mbugua, Office of Communications

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2012, Princeton University's endowment earned a 3.1 percent investment gain, raising the 10-year annualized return to 9.9 percent. The endowment value stood at $17.0 billion, a decrease of about $100 million from the year before. The decrease in market value was primarily due to University spending from the endowment that exceeded investment gains.

The Princeton University Investment Co. (PRINCO), the University office that manages the University's endowment, certified the results at its directors meeting on Oct. 18, 2012.

The 10-year average return on the endowment places the endowment among the top percentile of 294 institutions reporting to the Trust Universe Comparison Service.

"Despite the extreme market volatility of the past decade, PRINCO’s excellent stewardship of the endowment has generated significant growth and ensured that the University can successfully pursue its key priorities. We have maintained our commitment to generous financial aid, supported superb teaching and world-class research, and attracted excellent faculty and staff," Princeton University Provost Christopher Eisgruber said.

The University increased the financial aid budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year by 5.6 percent to $116 million, continuing a trend in which Princeton's scholarship spending has outpaced fee increases for a decade. As a result, the average "net cost" for Princeton students today is lower than it was in 2001, even before adjusting for inflation. About 60 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid in the form of grants that do not have to be repaid, making it possible for them to graduate debt free, Eisgruber said.

"As a result of the endowment’s performance over the last three years, the loyalty of our alumni and friends, and the budget discipline of managers throughout the campus, Princeton has successfully rebaselined its budget in the wake of the market losses we experienced four years ago. We are pleased that we were able to achieve this result while continuing to provide our students with the generous financial aid that enables them to graduate from Princeton with little or no debt," Eisgruber said.

Eisgruber said that the University’s spend rate of 4.4 percent of the market value of the endowment in fiscal year 2012 was well within the spending policy that aims for spending between 4 percent and 5.75 percent. The spend rate for the current fiscal year is expected to rise to approximately 4.7 percent.

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0 Video feature: 'French Theater: Behind the Scenes'

Princeton students interested in developing their French and dramatic skills may decide to enroll in the French Theater Workshop, with the potential of joining the troupe L'Avant-Sc?ne. Both under the direction of Florent Masse, a senior lecturer in the Department of French and Italian, students learn and perform a range of French plays. Above: Juniors Dayna Li (left) and Olivia Nice note that the variety of the material and the deep immersion in rehearsing dialogue and pronunciation are hallmarks of learning about French theater at Princeton.

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Video stills courtesy of Evelyn Tu

? Posted November 5, 2012; 12:00 p.m.by Nick Barberio and Karin Dienst, Office of Communications

The stage is a classroom for Princeton students honing their skills in French and acting. Since 2001, students have developed their fascination for French language and culture by learning and performing classic French plays under the guidance of Florent Masse, a senior lecturer in the Department of French and Italian.?

Annually, about 18 students participate in L'Avant-Sc?ne, a troupe that focuses on linguistic as well as dramatic training, culminating in the public performance of full-length plays from the French canon.

Students from the troupe often also are enrolled in the French Theater Workshop (FRE 211), an academic course that provides approximately 16 advanced-level students in French with performance-quality training in the language. The workshop serves as a steppingstone to students interested in joining L'Avant-Sc?ne.

This video gives a behind-the-scenes look at students involved in French theater as they rehearse dialogue and practice their pronunciation.

Masse said students are attracted to the French workshops from academic fields across the University and from a range of backgrounds. He noted that about a third of the students are from countries other than the United States.

About his training method, Masse said: "First I make sure the students master the pronunciation of the texts, and fully understand them. Then we move on to the acting part. The more prepared they are linguistically before taking the stage, the better it is."

Students have a rigorous rehearsal schedule, which includes individual training with Masse. The students often rehearse in pairs, which allows for intense practice in dialogue. As the performers recite lines, Masse observes and follows the scenes of each play, occasionally interjecting to correct pronunciation.

Senior Christina Bott said the French workshop, which she took her first year at Princeton, was one of her "favorite courses," and she "loved every second of it." A French major, she now performs with L'Avant-Sc?ne.?

"Florent really takes the time to work with each student individually," Bott said. "You learn about the intricacy of language and just how important pronunciation is."

She added, "French theater is much more about the text and a lot less about what you're doing with your arms, and all that jazz, which took a lot for me to learn."?

The repertoire of plays the students learn is expansive. They have performed works by 17th-century playwrights Moli?re and Racine; by the Belle ?poque playwright Georges Feydeau; by 20th-century playwright Eug?ne Ionesco; and "Incendies" by contemporary playwright Wajdi Mouawad, among others.

The students perform across campus to audiences Masse said are "very attentive," hailing from the University as well as from francophone communities in New Jersey and New York. The students have acted in theaters in the residential colleges, outside in the Butler College amphitheater and in Rockefeller College's Holder Court, as well as in the Chancellor Green Rotunda and the Princeton University Art Museum.?

Farther afield, a highlight for members of L'Avant-Sc?ne is the opportunity to participate in one trip to Paris. During the eight-day trip over intersession, students attend a play every night and take acting and directing classes at the Paris National Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. The trip is supported by the Department of French and Italian, the David A. Gardner '69 Magic Project, the Lewis Center for the Arts, the Center for French Studies, and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.?

Students also may have the opportunity to work with practicing French artists at Princeton. This term, they are benefiting from the visit to campus of Com?die Fran?aise actor Guillaume Gallienne, who is a short-term vising fellow at the Council of the Humanities. He will participate in a public conversation with Masse in English at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 and in French at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, both in East Pyne, Room 010.

Upcoming performances by L'Avant-Sc?ne are "Les Femmes savantes" by Moli?re on Dec. 12 at the Rocky/Mathey Theater; "Le Cid" by 17th-century playwright Pierre Corneille on Feb. 22-23 in the art museum; "Les Mamelles de Tir?sias" by early-20th-century writer Guillaume Apollinaire on April 19, location to be determined; and "Partage de midi" by 20th-century author Paul Claudel on May 10 in the Butler amphitheater. Admission is free but reservations are recommended.

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0 John Templeton Foundation grant supports Princeton neuroscientists to study cognitive control

Posted November 8, 2012; 04:00 p.m.by Catherine Zandonella, Office of the Dean for Research

Princeton neuroscientists have been awarded a $4 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to explore how the human brain enables us to pursue goals and juggle priorities in an environment full of distractions.

The grant will fund brain imaging and other experiments aimed at discovering how the brain exerts "cognitive control" over our thoughts and behavior, keeping us on task and able to achieve long-term goals. Cognitive control is fundamental to higher-level mental activities such as planning, problem-solving and social interaction, according to project leader Jonathan Cohen, the Robert Bendheim and Lynn Bendheim Thoman Professor in Neuroscience and co-director of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI).

"Our studies will reveal how the brain accomplishes real-world tasks — everything from ignoring distractions when driving to sticking to your diet," said Cohen, whose work centers on developing theories of cognitive control as well as testing those theories using brain imaging. "This understanding may point the way to new interventions for strengthening cognitive control in healthy individuals," Cohen said, "and restoring it where it is impaired, as in neuropsychiatric disorders." 

The project will explore how parts of the brain interact to decide what goals are important and how to pursue them. In addition to using Princeton's world-class brain imaging equipment, the researchers will develop computational models of brain function, as well as new brain imaging methods tailored to studying cognitive control.

The foundation grant will support five research questions:

—How do we exert self-control over impulses, such as resisting the urge to scratch a mosquito bite or the temptation to cheat on a diet? (Led by Cohen and Matthew Botvinick, associate professor of psychology and PNI) 

—How does the brain manage and remember goals and competing subgoals? For example, if you need to study for a test, how do you decide how long to spend studying each of the particular topics that may be on the test? (Led by Botvinick and Yael Niv, assistant professor of psychology and PNI)

—What goes into prospective memory and planning? For example, how do we decide when to commit a plan to long-term memory and return to it later, rather than keep it actively in mind? (Led by Kenneth Norman, associate professor of psychology and PNI and Cohen)

—How do we balance goal-directed behavior with discovery and learning? When immersed in achieving a goal such as completing a homework assignment, how do we decide to postpone that goal in favor of exploring and learning about other things — for example, going to a seminar rather than completing the homework assignment?  (Led by Cohen and Niv)

—How can we improve on the machine-learning algorithms that take brain scans and decode what people are thinking about at a particular time? (Led by Norman and Cohen)

Support from the foundation will enable researchers to move away from simplified models of human behavior that neuroscientists use because they are relatively easier to study in the laboratory and interpret than the complicated behaviors of real life. "The grant will enable Princeton researchers to design experiments that are much closer to what goes on in the real world," Cohen said. 

The John Templeton Foundation, established in 1987, serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the fundamental questions of human purpose and ultimate reality.

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0 Program will support employees aiding hurricane relief efforts

Posted November 16, 2012; 03:36 p.m.by Office of Communications

Princeton University has established a humanitarian relief program that will allow University employees to assist ongoing relief efforts following Hurricane Sandy, which devastated parts of the Northeast in October.

The program, effective Nov. 19 through June 30, 2013, may grant regular and term employees a paid leave of up to five days while they participate in recognized relief efforts. The University recognizes that some staff members have unique skills and training that could be useful in the recovery efforts under way in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

In addition to granting leave time, the program will support reimbursements for transportation, accommodations and other expenses incurred by employees while they are helping relief efforts.

Among the conditions to participate, employees must get approval from their supervisor.

The Office of Human Resources website provides a complete overview of the program and eligibility requirements. Employees may also contact 609-258-3300 or hr@princeton.edu.
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0 'Sharing the Stage: Science and Art at Princeton'

Chemistry majors Anna Wuttig and Gary Fox have immersed themselves in the arts during their time at Princeton — discovering a creative synergy between their endeavors in the lab and on the stage. Wuttig, concertmaster of Princeton University Orchestra, and Fox, who is pursuing a certificate in theater, appear in the world premiere of "Der Bourgeois Bigwig," an adaptation of the 17th-century Molière comedy "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme."

 

Video stills courtesy of Nick Barberio

  Posted November 15, 2012; 12:00 p.m.by Nick Barberio and Jamie Saxon, Office of Communications

Creativity is a passion for Princeton seniors Gary Fox and Anna Wuttig — as scientists and as artists.

On a typical weekday afternoon, the two chemistry majors can be found in the lab.

When not in the lab, they are immersed in the arts. Fox and Wuttig have successfully found a way to share the stage in pursuing both art and science at Princeton. They are bringing their talents to the fore in "Der Bourgeois Bigwig," an adaptation of the 17th-century Molière comedy "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme."

The play had its world premiere last weekend and will be performed Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 15 to 17, at the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center.

This video shows what inspires Fox and Wuttig as they pursue their dual roles on and off the stage.

Fox and Wuttig do research in the lab of Robert Cava, the Russell Wellman Moore Professor of Chemistry. When Wuttig isn't recording and analyzing results for Cava's research group, which is focused on finding new materials with unique electronic and magnetic properties, she can be found playing her 1871 Georges Chanot violin with her custom-made German bow in the McAlpin Rehearsal Hall in the Woolworth Music Center.

And when Fox isn't pulling synthesized compounds out of the Newman furnace in the lab, he may be found balancing an iPad displaying a theater script in one hand while gesturing emphatically with the other in a rehearsal room at the Lewis Center for the Arts.

For the past nine weeks, the students have been rehearsing for "Der Bourgeois Bigwig." The production, a collaboration between the Department of Music and the Program in Theater, is directed by Tim Vasen, a lecturer in theater and the Lewis Center for the Arts and director of the theater program. Michael Pratt, conductor of the Princeton University Orchestra and director of the Program in Musical Performance, conducts. The new adaptation is by James Magruder, a well-known translator of Molière and a visiting faculty member in the Program in Theater this year.

Fox, who has appeared in the annual fall theater show each of his four years at Princeton and is pursuing a certificate in theater, plays the title role of Mr. Jordan in "Der Bourgeois Bigwig."

"Mr. Jordan is a middle-aged man, who, with all of this money, decides that he wants to buy himself culture," Fox said. The character realizes his one aim in life is to rise above his middle-class background and be accepted as an aristocrat.

After graduation, Fox, who is earning a high school chemistry certification through the Program in Teacher Preparation, plans to pursue other interests before becoming a teacher. 

During his time at Princeton, he has found a good balance between taking on roles such as Mr. Jordan and pursuing experiments in the lab.

"I like to think of research and performance as two entities that are built out of a toolbox, and those tools are different for each discipline," Fox said. "In science, we have balances, we have furnaces, we have mortars and pestles, we have all of these things that we need to put together in a way to create something new, something that can solve problems.

"Similarly, on stage, we have techniques, we have to rehearse lines, we have certain gestures we can rely on, props that we can use, and all of those work together to create something that's much greater than the sum of its parts," he said.

In "Der Bourgeois Bigwig," Mr. Jordan even hires a house orchestra — made up of 35 members of the 118-member Princeton University Orchestra — to impress his friends. Conductor Pratt picks up the baton with the ensemble onstage, performing the original score that Richard Strauss composed for an early-20th-century German musical adaptation of "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme."

Wuttig is the orchestra's concertmaster and has a lengthy violin solo in the play. "The music department at Princeton is really great because it offers opportunities for students who are not even music majors," she said.

One of those opportunities enabled Wuttig to have a private session to work on her solo with David Kim, concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Another paved the way for her to study at the New England Conservatory of Music last year — and to decide whether to pursue violin professionally.

While Wuttig said the experience was extraordinary, she "wanted to choose a more science-oriented career path" and returned to Princeton. Along with chemistry, she is pursuing a certificate in materials science and engineering. She plans to attend graduate school in chemistry, but said she will always find time to perform.

Like Fox, Wuttig has found a meaningful connection at Princeton between what may appear as contradictory interests.

"Science and music are really interwoven because they are both creative," Wuttig said. "In science it's important to study known systems and reactions but also it's important to be innovative so we can make new technologies for society.

"In music it's important to study the score, to know a little bit about the composer's life, to practice and work hard. But when I'm actually performing, I forget all of that. I am just living in the moment, and every note that I play is something new and organic. That experience is motivation for science and vice versa," she said.

Fox echoed this observation. "If we're not creative in the lab, we're not going to be able to solve any of the problems that we're currently facing here in the United States and around the globe. Similarly on stage or with music, if we're not creative, we're not inspiring people to think about the world in a broader context."

Remaining performances of "Der Bourgeois Bigwig" will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Nov. 15 and 16; and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, in the Berlind Theatre. Tickets are available by visiting University Ticketing online or calling 609-258-9220 or the McCarter Theatre box office at 609-258-2787.

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