The Fastest of Them

00paw0424_coverfinalNOBOX_00paw0707_Cov74 4/11/13 10:16 AM Page 1 Science and art Princeton come together Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80 Alumni to become emerita The war in Iraq: What Weekly was accomplished? THE FASTEST OF THEM ALL DAN FEYER ’99, KING OF CROSSWORDS April 24, 2013 • paw.princeton.edu PAW_1746_AD_dc_v1.4.qxp:Layout 1 4/2/13 8:07 AM Page 1 Welcome to 1746 Welcome to a long tradition of visionary Now, the 1746 Society carries that people who have made Princeton one of the promise forward to 2013 and beyond with top universities in the world. planned gifts, supporting the University’s In 1746, Princeton’s founders saw the future through trusts, bequests, and other bright promise of a college in New Jersey. long-range generosity. We welcome our newest 1746 Society members.And we invite you to join us. Christopher K. Ahearn Marie Horwich S64 Richard R. Plumridge ’67 Stephen E. Smaha ’73 Layman E. Allen ’51 William E. Horwich ’64 Peter Randall ’44 William W. Stowe ’68 Charles E. Aubrey ’60 Mrs. H. Alden Johnson Jr. W53 Emily B. Rapp ’84 Sara E. Turner ’94 John E. Bartlett ’03 Anne Whitfield Kenny Martyn R. Redgrave ’74 John W. van Dyke ’65 Brooke M. Barton ’75 Mrs. C. Frank Kireker Jr. W39 Benjamin E. Rice *11 Yung Wong ’61 David J. Bennett *82 Charles W. Lockyer Jr. *71 Allen D. Rushton ’51 James K. H. Young ’50 James M. Brachman ’55 John T. Maltsberger ’55 Francis D. Ruyak ’73 Anonymous (1) Bruce E. Burnham ’60 Andree M. Marks Jay M. Schwamm ’51 BECOME A MEMBER William P. Carter *75 Russell E. Marks Jr. ’54 John T. Scott III ’75 To learn more about being Carey Congdon Elizabeth A. Martin S81 Maureen Kelly Scott ’75 one of Princeton’s visionaries Mark Crane ’52 G. Kelly Martin ’81 Alexis Fuerbringer Selwood S61 and joining the 1746 Society, Leroy Eakin III ’66 J. Paul Mills ’64 Pierce T. Selwood ’61 please contact the Office of Gift Floyd R. Everhart Jr. ’66 Richard H. Missner ’65 G. Lynn Shostack W69 Planning: (609) 258-6318 Miriam L. Goldberg *80 *82 Jane V. Perr ’76 Eric A. Simonson ’67 or [email protected] Princeton University also gratefully acknowledges Society members who passed away in 2012, as well as those not previously enrolled from whom a bequest was received: giving.princeton.edu/1746-society 01paw0424_TOC_01paw0512_TOC 4/5/13 12:37 AM Page 1 Princeton Alumni Weekly An editorially independent magazine by alumni for alumni since 1900 COURTESY APRIL 24, 2013 VOLUME 113 NUMBER 11 ART OF President’s Page 2 SCIENCE/PRINCETON From Princeton’s Art of Science Inbox 3 Exhibition: “Smoke in the Water” by James Buchholz *06 UNIVERSITY From the Editor 5 and Alexander Smits, page 22 Campus Notebook 6 Students get more housing options • Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80 to leave Four down 18 for new job • An app to “pounce” on Dan Feyer ’99 is the fastest in the land — when it comes to course openings • Advice for “women completing crossword puzzles, that is. PAW visits the American of Prince ton” • IDEAS: New take on Crossword Puzzle Tournament, where Feyer won his fourth evolution • Research has implications consecutive title. for cancer, aging • Science curriculum By Mark F. Bernstein ’83 revised • Donation benefits music groups • Admission rate drops again • In Memoriam: Rabbi Jim Diamond, Science as art 22 who led the Center for Jewish Life • A museum exhibition with Princeton roots highlights the visual ON THE CAMPUS: Being a postdoc beauty in the world of science. Sports 14 By Vivienne Chen ’14 Ashleigh Johnson ’16 stars in water polo • EXTRA POINT: Women’s basketball falls in first round at NCAAs • Sports shorts What’s n ew PAW ONLINE A Moment With 17 @ Assistant Professor Jacob Shapiro, on SOLVERS IN ACTION the 10th anniversary of the war in Iraq Watch video highlights of Princetonians at the American Alumni Scene 26 Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Brother-and-sister team promote unique way to tour cities • STARTING OUT: Chanel Carmona ’10 • TIGER PROFILE: PAW ARCHIVE Marty Krasney ’67 and Dalai Lama Read Stella Daily Zawistowski Gregg Lange ’70’s PATERNOSTRO Fellows • Newsmakers • READING ROOM: ’00’s essay about the crossword Rally ’Round the Cannon Terry Mort ’64 writes about a terrible competition. Great expectations: The (ZAWISTOWSKI); time at the Apache Pass • New releases origins of Princeton’s Honor Code. Class Notes 30 A SCENE IN MOTION ART OF View time-lapse video of SCIENCE Memorials 48 this issue’s Final Scene near Tablet users COMPETITION/PRINCETON Robertson Hall. Download a Princeton Exchange 53 PDF of the Final Scene 56 SCIENCE AS ART April 24 Browse more selections from issue. UNIVERSITY the Art of Science photo ON THE COVER: Crossword wizard Dan Feyer ’99 holds a crossword mosaic that was his prize in a 2009 competition. exhibition. Photograph by Michael Falco/Black Star. THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE The Cold Wind of Sequestration ven as winter loosens its grip, Princeton is bracing for the chilling effects of sequestration—the major across-the-board cuts, chiefly affecting federal discretionary spending, that took effect March 1. EA device designed to force much-needed agreement on federal deficit reduction measures has now become a bludgeon, subjecting both civilian and defense programs to indiscriminate reductions of roughly one trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Not only does this approach unfairly target areas of spending that constitute only a third or so of the federal budget, it also fails to differentiate between programs we can reasonably curtail or eliminate and those that are essential to our nation’s future. Among the latter are investments in higher education and fundamental research. I say this not because I lead a university, but because these investments immeasurably strengthened America’s social and economic fabric in the second half of the 20th century and, to a large extent, will The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, located on the Forrestal determine whether we continue to prosper under the far more Campus, is one of 10 National Laboratories operated by the competitive conditions of the 21st. Department of Energy. Hunter Rawlings *70, president of the Association of American Universities, put it well when he testified on Capitol everything from the acceleration of chemical reactions on which Hill in February. “These investments produce the educated major pharmaceutical discoveries are predicated, to the study people and the ideas that lead to new products, new businesses, of the intricate workings of the brain, to the publication of the and entire new industries, as well as to the jobs that go with papers of Thomas Jefferson, to the acquisition of Near Eastern them. More than half of economic growth since World languages by both undergraduates and graduate students War II has resulted from technological advances, almost none at a time when this competency is critical to the effective of which would have been possible without federally funded pursuit of international relations. Still another component innovations.” In other words, there are many paths to deficit of federal support takes the form of pre- and post-doctoral reduction, but hobbling a major engine of economic progress is training grants, a vital means of preparing young scientists and not one of them. engineers to assume a leadership role in their respective fields. I wish I could say that Princeton’s private status and The single largest enterprise sustained by federal dollars— robust endowment will insulate us from sequestration’s representing an additional $81.5 million—is the Department of consequences, to say nothing of what The New York Times has Energy-sponsored and University-managed Princeton Plasma aptly described as a “perpetual cycle of deadline-driven short- Physics Laboratory. Its contributions to fusion research and the term fiscal policy” in Washington. But though we stand on quest for clean, safe, and abundant energy are as far-reaching firmer ground than our nation’s public research universities, as they are important, and the further erosion of its funding already reeling from reductions in state support, we are base threatens not only jobs and recent progress in this field not immune to the 5.1 percent cut in civilian discretionary but also a unique body of skills and knowledge built up over spending that took effect March 1, or even the cut in defense many decades. I am grateful to the laboratory’s leaders and spending, given the research support we receive from the federal officials for doing their utmost to mitigate the effects of Department of Defense. As I write, the precise impact sequestration and other budgetary stringencies. of sequestration on our University community remains Any reduction in federal funding, including possible uncertain, and bullets dodged this fiscal year or next may “clawbacks” from existing grants, will be widely felt, at an well be unavoidable later. Suffice it to say that our exposure is individual, departmental, and institutional level. Multi-year substantial. Even in the realm of undergraduate financial aid, research projects cannot be conducted in fits and starts or even where Princeton is far less dependent on federal funds than scaled up and down without compromising their integrity other colleges and universities, our students are supported by and disrupting the careers of those engaged in them; indeed, $4.7 million in Pell, Supplemental Educational Opportunity, the pursuit of new knowledge requires precisely the kind of and Work Study Grants. stable, predictable funding environment that hyperpartisanship Sponsored research is another story, however, with federal precludes. My colleagues and I are making every effort to funds accounting for 84 percent of the grant expenditures persuade our elected representatives to safeguard the crucial we received last year—all told, $161.5 million from major investments I have described, but the current climate in players such as the National Science Foundation and National Washington—in which short-term political advantage is Institutes of Health and small but indispensible sources of frequently pursued at the expense of long-term national support such as the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Load more