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April 17, 2012

Wilson School colloquium examines 'state of the states'

During the keynote discussion kicking off the Woodrow Wilson School’s 10th annual colloquium April 13, Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., likened the past year’s action in Congress to a game of chicken.

“At least part of the car went off the cliff last summer when the bond rating was downgraded,” Holt said.

With hotly contested elections coming up this fall, combined with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and mandatory spending cuts that risk another government shutdown, Holt and fellow keynote speaker Rep. Leonard Lance *82, R-N.J., said the game isn’t over.

This year’s colloquium, “The State of the States,” brought together more than 150 Wilson School graduate alumni and faculty. The gathering focused on state policymaking because most of the action in domestic policy is at the state level. In two days of panel discussions, participants covered education, health care, energy, and economic development, offering a chance to step back and consider both the challenges and opportunities facing policymakers in the months and years ahead.

“It’s an extraordinary moment of political uncertainty, but an opportune time for discussion about the future,” Princeton history professor Keith Wailoo said during the panel on health care.

With a wide range of stakeholders fighting over a shrinking pot, the challenges states face in providing health care and implementing reforms aren’t going away, said Heather Howard, a lecturer in public affairs and director of the State Health Reform Assistance Network.

Continue reading Wilson School colloquium examines 'state of the states'…

April 17, 2012

TigerLaunch 2012 rewards top student entrepreneurs

Fast Company magazine founder Bill Taylor '81 delivered the keynote remarks at Tigerlaunch 2012. (Photo: Emily Trost '13)

The challenge: seven minutes to make a pitch, convince the judges, and win a slice of $20,000 to start a company.

On April 7, Princeton students competed at the TigerLaunch Startup Challenge, a competition now in its 13th year that encourages young entrepreneurs to envision and develop their own companies.

Organized by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club, the competition attracted more than 60 teams composed of 110 students who proposed ideas for start-up companies in either a general entrepreneurship or social entrepreneurship category.

In the general entrepreneurship track, ideas incorporated student-designed technology and ranged from improving mapping for urban development to enhancing the social media experience. The social entrepreneurship projects sought to apply students’ entrepreneurial spirit to address global issues. Student-proposed projects included providing necessary sanitary options to those in developing countries, highlighting sustainable production in goods, and creating social networks to tackle unemployment.

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April 12, 2012

Video: Princeton table tennis prepares for national tournament

Dillon Gym is home to one of the nation’s most accomplished table tennis teams – recognized by those who know the sport but mostly overlooked on Princeton’s campus. “It’s funny,” team member Gabriel Reder ’14 told PAW contributor Jonathan Lin ’13. “I think the team is better-known outside the school than it is here.”

Lin’s video, below, follows the Princeton team as it prepares for a return trip to the College Table Tennis National Championships, April 13-15 in Plano, Texas.

April 10, 2012

Student Latin speakers bring dead language to life

This is a corrected version of a post published on April 10, 2012. It was changed to clarify a quotation in the sixth paragraph.

The Mathey College spoken Latin table is an exercise in anachronism. Like the other language tables held in the residential college dining halls, it meets weekly to provide active language practice and something of the immersion of living in a foreign country. But the Latin table does more than transport students to a different place; it takes them back in time. Every Thursday night, students are bringing a dead language back to life.

Graduate student Jason Pedicone leads the spoken Latin table at Mathey College, held during dinner on Thursday nights. (Photo: Courtesy Jason Pedicone)

The Latin table is led by Jason Pedicone, a Ph.D. student in the classics department. Pedicone attributes his passion for spoken Latin to the charismatic tutelage of Reginald Foster, former Vatican Latinist. For 23 years, Foster taught aestiva Romae latinitas, or Summer Latin in Rome, and inspired a generation of Latin scholars to speak the language of Cicero and Virgil.

This “living Latin” method flies in the face of traditional Latin pedagogy, which stresses translation, memorization, and recitation. Joseph Conlon, a classics graduate student and Latin table regular, criticized the traditional model as “exclusive” and overly pedantic. As a result, “people are scared of Latin,” he said.

The Latin table aims to change that by fostering fluency in speaking in addition to reading and writing. Conlon encourages students to view Latin as a “normal language, just another mode of human communication.” Students talk about a range of topics at the table — de die (about their day), de professoribus (about professors), de cibo (about food), and of course de lingua latina (about Latin).

A dead language poses unique problems for modern speakers. How do you translate a word for something that didn’t exist a thousand years ago? Pedicone’s answer: “By the seat of your pants.” Consider the modern word “computer.” One approach calls for “back-forming” the Latin translation from the English word to computatrum. Circumlocution is another strategy: “computer” could be described alternatively as machinamentum quod putat, or “machine that thinks.”

Continue reading Student Latin speakers bring dead language to life…

April 9, 2012

From chocolate to the Occupy protests, student-led seders draw on creative themes

At the chocolate seder, traditional Manischewitz was served, but most guests preferred to stick to the theme, drinking chocolate milk instead of wine. (Photo: Gavin Schlissel '13)

For Jews, a Passover seder is a time to reflect on the hardship endured by ancient Israelites as they left Egypt. This year at Princeton’s Center for Jewish Life (CJL), students led Passover seders that brought guests together to share the song and prayer of the Haggadah (the Hebrew text describing the delivery of the Jews from Egypt) in perhaps the most unorthodox way possible — over chocolate.

The chocolate seder, organized by Elliott Eggan ’14, Alex Jaffe ’14, and Jake Jackson ’14, was the last of nine seders hosted over two days at the CJL that catered to every manner of Jew and many goyim (Hebrew for non-Jews).

But the chocolate seder stood alone in many respects — most notably in that it was the only seder to replace traditional foods like charoset (a fruit and nut spread eaten with matzo) with chocolate charoset made of bits of dark, milk, and white chocolate eaten atop chocolate-covered matzo. Even the traditional wine was replaced with chocolate milk.

Inspiration for the seder came from Jackson, who was the only of the organizers who had ever been to a chocolate seder before the CJL event. In addition to rethinking traditional foods, Jackson assembled a list of readings to guide the service with references to traditional foods replaced with references to their chocolate counterparts. For example the blessing of the wine, that praises God for the “fruit of the vine,” was replaced in Jackson’s Haggadah with the blessing of the chocolate milk, and praises God for the “juice of the cow.”

Continue reading From chocolate to the Occupy protests, student-led seders draw on creative themes…

April 6, 2012

A win-win for rugby teams and cancer research

The Princeton men's rubgy team beat William Paterson to win the Rickerson Cup March 31. Mike Howard '13, left, was selected as the tournament's most valuable player. (Photo: Courtesy Richard Lopacki)

Princeton rugby posted a perfect record on its home turf at the West Windsor Fields March 31. The men’s team shut out William Paterson University 33-0 in the New Jersey state championship game, retaining the Rickerson Cup, while the women’s team swept its three contests to win the New Jersey Women’s Invitational.

But the rugby program’s most impressive work may have taken place off the field. For the third consecutive year, the tournaments were devoted to raising money for pancreatic cancer research and treatment, and this year’s donations pushed the cumulative fundraising total to more than $100,000.

That milestone was particularly meaningful for Stu Rickerson ’71, a rugby alumnus who is the namesake of the men’s championship trophy. Rickerson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer seven years ago and said that he’s lucky to be alive (five-year survival rates are in the single digits).

Team leaders first pitched the fundraising idea three years ago, and Rickerson said, “It was terrifically gratifying – it was meaningful and it was completely student-initiated.”

Pancreatic cancer had also touched the life of Elaine Bigelow ’10, captain of the women’s team at the time, who lost her father, Doug, to disease when she was a senior in high school. Bigelow now serves as the tournament director.

Continue reading A win-win for rugby teams and cancer research…

April 5, 2012

Geosciences Society takes on 'The Day After Tomorrow'

Professor Daniel Sigman led the first screening in the "Hollywood Science Gone Bad" series. (Photo: Courtesy Christine Chen '13)

As New York City was assaulted by an abnormally high tidal wave and the world rapidly began to freeze into a new ice age, laughter erupted in the Frist Campus Center basement.

The laughter came from an audience of students, faculty, and community members viewing the 2004 blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, a film often criticized by scientists for its unrealistic portrayal of geologic events.

In the film, a rapid climate shift turns today’s conditions into a new ice age in a matter of days. To most viewers, the plot is both frightening and thrilling. To a group of geoscientists, it’s ridiculous, at best.

The screening was the first installment of “Hollywood Science Gone Bad,” a movie series organized by the newly formed Princeton Undergraduate Geosciences Society (PUGS). According to Christine Chen ’13, the group’s president, the series is “dedicated to debunking all the awful science seen in Hollywood blockbuster movies.”

The inaugural event, held March 29, attracted more than 70 viewers who watched The Day After Tomorrow and listened to short lectures and critiques from geosciences professor Daniel Sigman.

Sigman, whose research focuses on nutrient cycling and ocean biochemistry, led the group through a crash course in ocean-atmosphere interactions before the movie began. He explained that even the extraordinarily inaccurate scientific details of the film were inspired by “actual kernels of evidence,” or actual past events studied by geoscientists as well as global processes known to happen on much longer timescales.

“Up to a certain level,” Sigman said, “it’s entertaining to watch the portrayal of natural processes … and to recognize the things I know about the system and see mistakes. And then, at a certain point, you just go, ‘Oh my God.’”

Continue reading Geosciences Society takes on 'The Day After Tomorrow'…

April 3, 2012

Kornbluth '80 to perform comic monologue on math and failure

Josh Kornbluth '80's monologue covers a series of failures from his undergraduate days. (Photo: Courtesy Josh Kornbluth)

Josh Kornbluth ’80’s upcoming performance of “The Mathematics of Change: A Comic Monologue About Failure at Princeton” may be the most unusual event in this year’s public lecture series. Borrowing from the language of math, the comedian says, “It approaches the limit of what might be the most ridiculous lecture that the math department could be sponsoring.”

Kornbluth will speak about the missteps of his undergraduate days, including his struggle to cope with freshman calculus, a tough pill to swallow for the son of a middle-school math teacher. The monologue, to be performed at 8 p.m. on April 5 in McCosh 50, also deals with setbacks outside the classroom, from the undergraduate swimming test to a series of memorably odd work-study jobs.

This is the first Princeton performance for Kornbluth, who has been creating autobiographical monologues since 1989. In fact, he said that he has not seen the campus since 1980, when he left without his degree after failing to complete his senior thesis. (Kornbluth wrote a PAW essay about his new thesis in 2007, and he’s working to complete the politics department’s thesis requirements.)

“The Mathematics of Change” began as a series of improvisations and evolved into a presentation that looks very much like a math lecture, complete with formulas scribbled on blackboards. He’s working on a film of the monologue, drawn from a performance at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, Calif. (See video excerpt below.)

Continue reading Kornbluth '80 to perform comic monologue on math and failure…

April 3, 2012

Mastering matzo: Reflections of a cook-off champ

PAW’s student contributors have a range of hobbies outside the classroom that often inform the reporting that they do for the magazine. For example, last month Eric Silberman ’13 wrote about healthy eating in Princeton’s dining halls in an On the Campus column. Last week, he made headlines for his own work in the kitchen, winning a national cook-off sponsored by the kosher food manufacturer Manischewitz. Below, Silberman explains how family history — and some helpful Princeton voters — propelled him to the top prize.

Eric Silberman '13 (Photo: Habin Chung '12)

By Eric Silberman ’13

There’s an old Jewish saying that’s used to simply describe the celebration of Jewish holidays: They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat. In my family, we observe the principles of that saying, and more: Eat now, talk later, the tradition of my father’s family. Eat now, talk now, the tradition of my mother’s family. Talk now, eat when everyone else is finished eating, the tradition of my youngest brother.

When, over winter break, I entered the 6th Annual Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-off, my entry was resting on more than the fact that all it seems my family does is eat and talk—my entry of “Mod” Matzo Ball Soup, a hearty vegetarian version of the traditional Jewish penicillin, chicken soup with matzo balls, rested on the fact that eating and talking, just like Manischewitz and matzo ball soup, are Jewish traditions that have continued throughout the years, and will continue for many years to come.

But, like certain Jewish foods, especially if they contain prunes, my excitement about entering the competition passed quickly, and by the time I was driving down the highway in Tennessee (visiting a friend over intersession) and received a call from the public-relations company associated with Manischewitz, I had long forgotten that I had even entered. I was quite surprised to hear that I had been named a semifinalist in the competition, which meant that I would be one of five contestants up for online voting to become the fifth of four pre-selected finalists in the live cook-off.

And so I realized that if I wanted to move on in the competition, I would have to do a lot of, well, talking. So thanks to my generous listserv spamming, the campus quickly became acquainted with the matzo ball—the “mod” matzo ball, that is. During the two-week voting period, my spamming became such a time-intensive extracurricular activity that I considered putting it on my résumé. Instead, I won the voting, and was soon named the fifth finalist in the competition, an accomplishment in and of itself!

Continue reading Mastering matzo: Reflections of a cook-off champ…

April 2, 2012

Olmert discusses territorial issues, nuclear Iran in campus speech

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert during his March 28 lecture on campus. (Photo: Sameer A. Khan/Courtesy Woodrow Wilson School)

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke about his country’s future to a packed audience in McCosh 50 on March 28. Olmert discussed the necessity of Israeli territorial concessions, encouraged American and international efforts to stop Iranian nuclear development, and answered some controversial questions from the audience.

President Tilghman introduced Olmert, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2009 and the mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003, as well as in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, for nine terms beginning in the 1970s. A former head of the liberal centrist Kadima party, he resigned from his position in 2009 while under investigation for corruption.

Olmert began his talk with humor, saying, “It’s always amazing to see how sexy is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in almost every corner of the world.”

He discussed the intense difficulty of making decisions “in a position where you are the last stop,” adding, “It is more difficult to be the mayor of Jerusalem than the prime minister of Israel.”

To the Jewish people, he explained, Israel’s territorial possessions, particularly its historic and religious capital of Jerusalem, are “indelibly linked” to their history and experiences. However, according to Olmert, holding some disputed territories has butted against has butted against Israel’s core liberal values of equality and democracy.

Continue reading Olmert discusses territorial issues, nuclear Iran in campus speech…

March 29, 2012

Planned Parenthood president urges better preventive care, sex ed

Cecile Richards' speech on politics and women's health drew a capacity audience to Dodds Auditorium March 28. (Photo: Sameer A. Khan/Courtesy Woodrow Wilson School)

In a talk that ended with a standing ovation by a capacity crowd in Dodds Auditorium of Robertson Hall March 28, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards defended health care rights for women, lauded the work done by her organization, and touted technology as the key to disseminating information.

“In the past year, there has been an unrelenting attack on young women going to Planned Parenthood,” said Richards, whose lecture, “Keeping Politics Out of Women’s Health,” was part of the Woodrow Wilson School’s Leadership and Governance Program that brings prominent policy makers to campus. “Partisan politics is driving sex education in this country,” she said. “We literally now are fighting to keep preventive care in this country.”

Since becoming head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 2006, Richards, daughter of the late Texas governor Ann Richards, has created a significant online presence for the organization. Last year, Planned Parenthood’s website had 33 million visitors and she hopes technology is “a way around barriers to accessing health care. Despite all we have been able to do in this country — we invented the iPad — we are one of the most backward when it comes to reproductive access.”

Continue reading Planned Parenthood president urges better preventive care, sex ed…

March 27, 2012

Committee recommends suspension for violators of freshman Greek ban

A University committee has recommended to President Tilghman that students who violate the ban on freshman affiliation with fraternities or sororities face a penalty of suspension.

The prohibition takes effect this fall. In approving the ban last summer, Tilghman created a committee to make recommendations on enforcement and penalties that would be “effective in encouraging full compliance with the policy.”

That committee, headed by Kathleen Deignan, the dean of undergraduate students, issued its report March 25. The group said that it regarded University policy, “which is to discourage all students from joining sororities and fraternities at any time during their college careers,” as an “institutional value judgment” that was not open to question. The committee acknowledged that some members of the University community disagree with that policy.

The report included these points:

Freshmen would be prohibited from affiliating with a Greek organization or “participating in any activity sponsored by a fraternity or sorority” from the receipt of an offer of admission through the end of spring-term exams of freshman year.
Students would be prohibited from soliciting the participation of any freshman in a Greek organization, including inviting or organizing a sponsored event to which freshmen are invited.
Soliciting freshman participation in fraternities or sororities should result in suspension.
A freshman who joins, pledges, or rushes should expect to be suspended. A freshman who takes part in any other Greek-sponsored activity may be subject to disciplinary probation.
An organization cannot evade the policy by dropping its Greek letters or its national affiliation.
Recognized student organizations should be exempt from the policy. The policy also should exempt the eating clubs.
Casual conversations about fraternities and sororities should not be prohibited.

Continue reading Committee recommends suspension for violators of freshman Greek ban…

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April 17, 2012

Wilson School colloquium examines 'state of the states'

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April 17, 2012

TigerLaunch 2012 rewards top student entrepreneurs

April 12, 2012

Video: Princeton table tennis prepares for national tournament

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April 10, 2012

Student Latin speakers bring dead language to life

April 9, 2012

From chocolate to the Occupy protests, student-led seders draw on creative themes

April 6, 2012

A win-win for rugby teams and cancer research

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April 5, 2012

Geosciences Society takes on 'The Day After Tomorrow'

April 3, 2012

Kornbluth '80 to perform comic monologue on math and failure

April 3, 2012

Mastering matzo: Reflections of a cook-off champ

April 2, 2012

Olmert discusses territorial issues, nuclear Iran in campus speech

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March 29, 2012

Planned Parenthood president urges better preventive care, sex ed

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March 27, 2012

Committee recommends suspension for violators of freshman Greek ban

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