Equad News Winter 2013 Volume 24, Number 2
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EQuad News Winter 2013 Volume 24, Number 2 School of Engineering and Applied Science DEAN’S MESSAGE EQuad News Winter 2013 Volume 24, Number 2 Dean “Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: Study the science of art. H. Vincent Poor, Ph.D ’77 Study the art of science. Develop your senses — especially learn how to see. Vice Dean Realize that everything connects to everything else.” Pablo Debenedetti ~Leonardo da Vinci Associate Dean, Undergraduate Affairs Peter Bogucki Art and engineering: Connections that create Associate Dean, Graduate Affairs What does it take to solve a problem? What does it take to make some- Brandi Jones thing of beauty? Associate Dean, For the past five years, my colleagues and I have talked a lot about Development Engineering News 1 some big topics — energy, the environment, human health, security. These Jane Maggard Aspire Update 3 critical areas of societal need have been the focus of our fundraising Director of Engineering Art Form Function 6 Communications efforts through Princeton University’s Aspire campaign. In this issue of Steven Schultz EQuad News, we celebrate the successful conclusion of that campaign Senior New Media Editor and the tremendous advances it has put in motion. But we also are taking Teresa Riordan this opportunity to consider a topic that may seem removed from the usual Staff Writer problems engineers tackle: the intersection of art and engineering. It’s a John Sullivan subject that reveals a lot about what engineering is at its best. Graphic Designer As Professor Mike Littman points out in his essay on page 6, engineers Matilda Luk can be artists, artists can be engineers, or the two professions can work Additional editing together in ways that yield entirely new and unexpected results. This type Morgan Kelly of interplay between seemingly disparate fields is essential in all areas EQuad News is published of engineering. Pressing societal issues inevitably involve a mix of techno- twice a year by the Office of Engineering Communica- logical and human factors, whether it’s ensuring a sustainable supply tions in collaboration with of energy or improving health around the world. In the end, creativity is the the Princeton University Office of Communications. spark that expands knowledge, engages the senses and improves the It serves the alumni, faculty, students, staff, corporate human condition. affiliates and friends of the At Princeton, we deeply value the interactions that come from having Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied a vibrant engineering school in the midst of a liberal arts institution. Science. This collaborative, barrier-crossing spirit stays with our students long EQuad News after graduation. I am proud of the great creativity and innovation our C-222, EQuad alumni bring to their endeavors and am very grateful for the support and Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544 generosity toward Princeton that they have shown in return. T 609 258 4597 F 609 258 6744 Warmest regards, [email protected] www.princeton.edu/ engineering/eqnews H. Vincent Poor, Ph.D. ’77 Dean and Michael Henry Strater University Professor of Copyright © 2013 by The Trustees of Princeton Electrical Engineering University In the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations 350234-12 NEWS Photos by Frank Wojciechowski 2012 Freshman class is largest ever Princeton Engineering welcomed a record 374 fresh- Many of the challenges society faces today, Following introductory men in September, surpassing last year’s record- whether supplying energy or water, or the future talks by representa- setting freshman enrollment of 333. of megacities, “are at their core technical but not tives of the school’s six departments on The enrollments bring to more than 1,200 the exclusively technical. You can’t solve these problems Sept. 10, freshman total number of Princeton students pursuing a without dealing with the cultural aspects and without engineering students Bachelor of Science in Engineering, a 36 percent dealing with the social aspects,” Debenedetti added. walked with upper- increase over five years. Nationally, the “That requires a seamless integration with classmen to meet number of students enrolled in full-time under- the social sciences and the humanities,” he said. their faculty advisers graduate engineering programs grew 26 percent “Princeton is an ideal place for that both because of for the first time. during the five years from 2006 to 2011. our small size and because of the very low barriers Although it is difficult to identify a single reason that we have, by design, for you to take courses in for a growing interest in engineering at Princeton, different departments and different programs.” –Staff Peter Bogucki, the associate dean for undergraduate affairs, said an important factor is the tight integra- tion of the engineering school with the rest of the University. “You are not isolated in a boutique program,” Bogucki said. “Students recognize that engineering is a significant presence at Princeton.” Acting Dean Pablo Debenedetti struck a similar theme in welcoming students during the school’s orientation program. The connection between teach- ing and research at Princeton “is really etched into our DNA,” Debenedetti said. “The result of it is that our program combines the best aspects of a research university and a liberal arts college. You will get to meet faculty members at the top of their game in both teaching and in research.” 1 NEWS Synthetic fuels could eliminate entire U.S. need for crude oil The United States could eliminate the need for crude with synthetic fuels rather than relying on oil. Floudas’ oil by using a combination of coal, natural gas and team, including graduate students Josephine Elia non-food crops to make synthetic fuel, a team of and Baliban, Ph.D. ’12 and lecturer Vern Weekman, From left, Profes- Princeton researchers has found. also analyzed the impact that synthetic fuel plants sor Christodoulos Besides economic and security benefits, the plan were likely to have on local areas and identified Floudas and graduate students Richard has potential environmental advantages. Because locations that would not overtax regional electric Baliban Ph.D. ’12 plants absorb carbon dioxide to grow, the U.S. could grids or water supplies. and Josephine Elia cut greenhouse emissions from vehicles by as much “The goal is to produce sufficient fuel and also to developed a compre- as 50 percent by using non-food crops to create liquid cut CO2 emissions, or the equivalent, by 50 percent,” hensive system for fuels, the researchers said. said Floudas, the optimizing the produc- Synthetic fuels would be an easy fit for the trans- Stephen C. Macaleer tion of synthetic liquid fuels as an economi- portation system because they can be used directly in ’63 Professor in cal replacement for automobile engines and are essentially identical to fu- Engineering and petroleum-based els refined from crude oil. That sets them apart from Applied Science. “The fuels. currently available biofuels, such as ethanol, that question was not only have to be mixed with gas or require special engines. can it be done, but can In a series of scholarly articles over the past year, it also be done in a team led by Christodoulos Floudas, a professor of an economically chemical and biological engineering, evaluated sce- attractive way. The narios in which Americans could power their vehicles answer is affirmative in both cases.” –JS Photo by Frank Wojciechowski Photo by Frank Wojciechowski Breakthrough offers new route to large-scale quantum computing In a key step toward creating engineering who is part of the research team, which a working quantum computer, published the results Nov. 18 in the journal Nature. Princeton researchers have To make the transfer, the researchers used a developed a method that may stream of microwave photons to analyze a pair of allow the quick and reliable electrons trapped in a tiny cage called a quantum transfer of quantum informa- dot. The “spin state” of the electrons — information tion throughout a computing about how they are spinning — serves as the qubit, device. a basic unit of information. The microwave stream The finding, by a team led allows scientists to read that information. by physicist Jason Petta, could In an ordinary sense, the distances involved are From left, physicist Jason Petta, electrical engineer Andrew Houck ’00 and postdoctoral eventually allow engineers to very small: The entire apparatus operates over a little researcher Karl Petersson discuss their recent build quantum computers more than a centimeter. But on the subatomic scale, advance in transferring quantum information consisting of millions of quan- they are vast. It is like coordinating the motion of a through a computing device. tum bits, or qubits. So far, top spinning on the moon with another on the surface quantum researchers have of the Earth. only been able to manipulate small numbers of “It’s the most amazing thing,” said Jake Taylor, qubits, not enough for a practical machine. a physicist at the National Institute of Standards “The whole game at this point in quantum comput- and Technology, who worked on the project with the ing is trying to build a larger system,” said Andrew Princeton team. “You have a single electron almost Houck ’00, an assistant professor of electrical completely changing the properties of an inch-long electrical system.” –JS 2 Aspire campaign helps engineers address ASPIRE! critical societal needs Princeton’s Aspire Sponsoredfundraising researchcampaign campaign, we are doing more thanSpace ever committed to to Sponsoredengineering research Space committed to engineering concluded June 30,(millions 2012, havingof dollar raiseds) prepare all Princeton students to(thousands be lead- of gross square(millions feet) of dollars) (thousands of gross square feet) 80 1,000 $327 million to support “Engineering and ers and to make wise use of technology.