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January 24, 2001: Notebook New professors named: Faculty promotions and reappointments announced Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble play rarely performed Duke Ellington number Big dance for a big event: Graduate School celebrates its 100th birthday in the gym Graduate enrollment and concerns The Prince reborn: After 45 years, the student newspaper gets a new look, new content Seniors win Rhodes, Marshall awards Professor of computer
science Edward Felten got his start in cracking computer security
five years ago when he and two graduate students uncovered a number
of flaws in the software system Java, which had been touted by its
creator, Sun Microsystems, as offering an unprecendented level of
security. Today Felten is considered
one of the world’s foremost experts on Internet and software
security, and last year he testified in the Department of Justice’s
antitrust case against Microsoft. In his testimony Felten showed
that contrary to Microsoft’s claims, its Internet Explorer
Web browser could be separated from its Windows operating systems.
Thanks in part to Felten, the government won its case. Last fall the Secure
Digital Music Initiative -- a consortium of companies that aims
to curb the pirating of digital music -- issued a public challenge
to crack its six-tiered security system. Felten and a team of researchers
from Princeton and other institutions answered the call. “We analyzed the
six technologies that SDMI put forward. The four most interesting
had to do with watermarking [a technology that places a faint sound
into the background of recorded music, marking the music as copyrighted].
The theory is that recording devices will listen for the watermark
and if they hear the watermark, refuse to copy the music. For the
technology to work, it has to be impossible for someone to erase
the watermark.” Felten’s team used
advanced signal processing to pinpoint the watermarks and then removed
them without ruining the quality of the music. Felten, who earned his
Ph.D. in 1993 at the University of Washington and joined Princeton
that year, teaches a number of computer science courses, including
Information Security. By M.G. For more about Felten go to www.cs.princeton.edu/sip/index.php3. New
professors named: The Board of Trustees
approved six new full professors at its November 17 meeting. They
are Christopher Eisgruber ’83, Laurance S. Rockefeller ’32
professor of public affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and the
University Center for Human Values; Carol Greenhouse, professor
of anthropology; Brian Kernighan *69, professor of computer science;
Angel Loureiro, professor of Romance languages and literatures;
Chiara Nappi, professor of physics; and Colin Palmer, Dodge professor
of history. Eisgruber comes from
the New York University School of Law, where he has been on the
faculty for 10 years. He earned a physics degree at Princeton, was
a Rhodes scholar, and earned his law degree from the University
of Chicago Law School. Greenhouse, who earned
her Ph.D. at Harvard, comes from Indiana University. Her primary
anthropological interests are in the ethnography of the contemporary
U.S. and the ethnology of law. Kernighan earned his
Ph.D. at Princeton in electrical engineering and has been for the
last 20 years head of the computing structures research department
at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. His areas of specialty
include software tools, application-oriented languages, programming
methodology, and user interfaces. Loureiro, who earned
his Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania, is a specialist
in modern Spanish peninsula literature and culture. Nappi, who was a research
physicist at Princeton from 1983 to 1988, and a visiting professor
in 1993, earned her Ph.D. in physics at the University of Naples
in Italy. Her research interests include string theory and particle
physics. Palmer is interested
in the African-American and African diaspora, colonial Latin America,
and the Caribbean. He earned his Ph.D. in history at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison. Other promotions are
Robert Shimer to associate professor of economics with continuing
tenure and Kyungwon Hong to assistant professor for a three-year
term. Reappointments are: Guy Nordenson, associate professor of
architecture with continuing tenure; Alessandra Ponte, assistant
professor of architecture with a one-year extension; Jeffrey Carbeck,
assistant professor of chemical engineering with a one-year extension;
and Jean Kehrès, assistant professor of Romance languages
and literatures with a one-year extension. Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble play rarely performed Duke Ellington number
Conductor Michael Pratt
guided the orchestra through the debut performances of resident
composer Dan Trueman’s “Roulette,” which evoked the
sounds of traditional Norwegian instruments. Trueman, who waved
from a balcony seat at the concert following the piece, is a graduate
student in composition at Princeton, where he has worked with professors
Paul Lansky and Steven Mackey. Anthony Branker, a senior
lecturer in music, guest-conducted a swinging rendition of Duke
Ellington’s “A Tone Parallel in Harlem,” featuring
the collaboration of the University Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble.
The work was first performed by the Ellington Orchestra at New York’s
Metropolitan Opera House as part of a fundraising concert for the
national civil rights program, and was recorded in 1951 by Columbia
Records. This performance was not the first time the Princeton Orchestra
and Jazz Ensemble have worked together on an Ellington work. Last
year, the two groups joined with the Gospel Ensemble to perform
and record the ambitious and inspiring “Sacred Concert.” The program concluded
with a stirring interpretation of Ravel’s “La Valse,”
a melodramatic and touching tribute to the Viennese waltz. Ravel
described the piece in a 1922 letter: “Tragic, yes, it can
be that, like any expression -- pleasure, happiness -- which
is pushed to extremes. You should see in it only what comes from
the music: a mounting volume of sound.” By Joshua Sternfeld ’01
Lippincott was known
on campus for his sympathetic counseling of students. “His
personal qualities of modesty, tact, and dignity have caused him
to be liked and admired everywhere,” wrote PAW’s editor
in a February 29, 1962, article about Lippincott. “Most important
of his personal qualities, however, is the unfailing good judgment
he showed in his job as dean of students.” For
the complete article, which includes excerpts from Lippincott’s
diary, see PAW’s Web site (www.princeton. edu/~paw). Robert Axtmann, professor,
emeritus, of chemical engineering, died November 16. He was 75.
A faculty member since
1959, Axtmann taught courses on nuclear engineering and fusion engineering.
He served as chair of Princeton’s Program on Nuclear Studies
from 1965 to 1968 and was named the first chair of the Council on
Environmental Studies in 1970. He retired in 1989. Axtmann was a visiting
fellow at the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and the National Commission
of Nuclear Energy in Mexico. He served as a visiting scientist to
the Department of Science and Industrial Research in New Zealand
and the Institute of Electrical Investigations in Mexico. A member
of the New Jersey Commission for Radiation Protection, he also served
on the U.S. Department of Energy Advisory Committee on Geothermal
Energy and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Safeguards to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. A graduate of Oberlin
College, Axtmann earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. Charles P. Issawi,
Bayard Dodge professor, emeritus, of Near Eastern studies, died
of complications of pneumonia on December 8 at his home in Pennswood
Village, Pennsylvania. He was 84. Born in Cairo, he studied
at Oxford, where he read philosophy, politics, and economics. After
several years of work in the government sector, Issawi began teaching
in 1943 at the American University in Beirut. In 1951 he joined
Columbia University, and in 1975 he joined Princeton’s faculty.
He retired in 1986 and was a visiting professor at New York University
from 1987–91. Issawi’s research
involved contemporary Egypt, the economic history of the Middle
East in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the politics and economics
of the oil industry. A memorial service will
be held next month at the University Chapel. Big dance for a big event: Graduate School celebrates its 100th birthday in the gym t was a night to be merry
rather than harried as more than 1,700 people gathered December
15 to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Graduate School. Most of the gala guests
were current graduate students or alumni, but many administrators
and members of the faculty and staff also attended. Jadwin Gym was transformed
into a grand ballroom for the occasion. The centennial logo, bobbing
on dozens of black and silver balloons, lined the entrance walkway.
Inside, the building was dimly lit. Multicolor lights from above
and well-placed spotlights on the floor added touches of glamour.
The centennial logo, projected onto a large screen, shone brightly
from a stage set up for the event, and the scoreboard flashed “100”
for Princeton and for the Visitors. In recognition of the diverse
backgrounds from which Princeton graduate students hail, international
flags were hung around the room. “This is wonderful,”
said doctoral candidate Marie-Helene Koffi-Tessio, who is studying
French. Like other graduate students, she appreciated the change
of pace the extravagant affair provided. “They should do this
several times a year.” The reception was hosted
under a couple of large orange-and-black tents, where cheese, crackers,
and fruit whetted appetites. Dinner came as quickly as one could
move through the buffet lines. To make the wait seem shorter, some
took to dancing while in line. Graduate students were
offered free ballroom dancing lessons in the days leading up to
the gala. Not everyone took the lessons, but most showed up in the
dancing mood. The music, provided by Jerry Boyle Orchestra out of
Philadelphia, ran the gamut from rock-and-roll to Motown, and from
salsa to big band. Ravi Pillarisetty, a
doctoral electrical engineering student, was having such a good
time, he tried to get others out of their seats as well. “We
don’t get to do this every night,” he lamented after his
efforts failed to rouse. The dinner buffet included
braised chicken, roast beef, spinach and ricotta lasagna, Yukon
potatoes, and black bean salad. John Fleming *63, master of ceremonies
and Louis W. Fairchild ’24 professor of English, told the graduate
students they were welcome to seconds and thirds. But to keep from
running out of dishes, he told them to keep using the same plate. Each of the 150 tables
was topped with goodies -- a chocolate centennial cake as well
as picture frames, masks, bubble-makers, and a snow-globe flashlight
that was a big hit on the dance floor. Throughout the evening,
prizes were given away. Mitsuya Goto *56, won the first prize for
coming the longest distance to attend -- all the way from Japan. The evening’s speechmakers
wisely decided to throw out the scripts or shorten them considerably.
President Shapiro had planned on delivering five pages of remarks,
but in the end, he stilled the crowd just long enough to honor Dean
of the Graduate School John Wilson for 40 years of service to Princeton. By Yvonne Chiu Hayes Yvonne Chiu Hayes is a reporter for the Princeton Weekly Bulletin. Graduate enrollment and concerns
With regard to area of
study, most divisions see little change when looked at broadly.
But when looked at by department over a 10-year period, the 88.9
percent increase in computer science enrollment (now with a total
of 85 graduate students), and the 86.8 percent increase in electrical
engineering (with 170 total graduate students) is notable. The departments
that have shrunk noticeably over the past 10 years are astrophysics
(with 41 concentrators, down from 50), atmospheric and oceanic sciences
(with 9 concentrators, down from 16), geology (with 18 concentrators,
down from 26), mechanical and aerospace engineering (with 72 concentrators,
down from 87), molecular biology (with 90 concentrators, down from
109), physics (with 90 concentrators, down from 118), politics (with
55 concentrators, down from 67), and Romance languages (with 33
concentrators, down from 45). (For a complete chart of enrollment
statistics, visit the registrar’s site: http://ntigger.princeton.edu/registrar/data/data.htm.) Graduate concerns
Another issue that worries
graduate students is health care. At the December meeting of the
Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), graduate student
Karthick Ramakrishnan submitted a report that detailed the concerns
of graduate students. Overall, the students rated the McCosh Health
Center as “fair” to “good.” The report cites
two major areas that need addressing: The university’s health
insurance for graduate students, which does not cover vision care
or offer a dental plan or prescription drug options, and the hours
and availability of health care during the summer, when medical
service is curtailed. Running through April
8 at Firestone Library is an exhibit titled “A Community of
Scholars: Graduate Education at Princeton.” The exhibition
includes more than 100 photographs and documents and artifacts that
give a glimpse into graduate life at the university. Shown here
is a photograph of the Graduate College during construction, which
lasted from 1910 to 1913.
If you happened to pick
up a copy of the Daily Princetonian during the past year, you can’t
help but have noticed that the newspaper has changed a lot from
the previous year, and indeed from the decades before. In addition
to redesigning the layout, a new section has been added, called
Page 3. And a new publication, the Prince Magazine, now accompanies
Monday’s edition. These changes occurred
under the leadership of Richard Just ’01, the Daily Princetonian’s
124th editor-in-chief, who aimed not only to improve the newspaper’s
journalistic quality, but also to broaden its scope and revamp its
format. Indeed, the Prince’s layout had not been changed for
45 years, “which even in 1999 made it look like a college newspaper
from the ’60s,” said Just. In order to bring the Daily
Princetonian up to the award-winning standards of other college
papers like the Daily Pennsylvanian or the Harvard Crimson, the
Prince staff decided to increase the presence of graphics, to vary
the use of photos, and to change the fonts, most significantly the
headline font. Along with the new layout
came Page 3, which covers higher education on Mondays, “Princetonians
Beyond the Gate” on Tuesdays, science and technology on Wednesdays,
“Living It Up” (modeled after the New York Times’s
“Lifestyles”) on Thursdays, and “Campus Notebook”
(a humorous wrap-up of the week’s events) on Fridays. According to Just, Page
3 gave the Prince an opportunity to step back from the daily routine
and look at broader trends. It also allowed the paper to cover Princeton-related
issues that did not necessarily qualify as front-page headliners,
like the day-to-day research being conducted by a physics professor
or the humanitarian work being done by lesser-known alumni. Perhaps the most extensive
change that occurred under Just’s leadership was the advent
of the Prince Magazine. As much as the introduction of Page 3 opened
up a space for longer, feature-like pieces, members of the Prince
staff -- particularly Greg Mancini ’01, the magazine’s
first editor -- were still concerned that there was no venue
on campus for full-length, in-depth feature stories. “So the
Prince Magazine was created as a forum for longer, reflective pieces,”
said Just. “It’s a way to bridge the intellectual divide
between students and professors.” Just also stressed the added
benefit of giving talented student writers another outlet for sharpening
their skills, a place where they could write something other than
just straight news. “After all,” he explained, “the
Prince really has two missions: to put out a good magazine and to
serve as Princeton’s journalism school.” In addition to changing
the physical newspaper, the Prince staff has also revamped its online
version (www.dailyprincetonian.com). By Andrew Shtulman ’01
Seniors win Rhodes, Marshall awards
Brandon Miller ’01,
of Mohrsville, Pennsylvania, is one of 32 American students selected
for a Rhodes Scholarship. Seth Green ’01, of Boca Raton, Florida,
is one of 40 American students chosen for a Marshall Scholarship. Miller, a comparative
literature major who also studies German and Chinese, will complete
an M.Phil. in Chinese studies at the University of Oxford. Among
his many campus activities, Miller has acted, been a journalist,
tutored, and played the oboe. During the summers he has worked as
a research assistant for the London Business School, as an intern
at a personal consulting firm in Frankfurt, Germany, and as a translator
for a German office of the Chinese government. Miller told the Daily
Princetonian that he hoped eventually to become a university president. Green plans to enroll
at the University of London in the world’s only child-focused
master’s program in community disability studies in developing
countries. A politics major, he is interested in improving the care
of special needs children in the developing world. On campus Green is involved
with the Whig-Cliosophic Society, the Center for Jewish Life, and
the Community Based Learning Initiative. During the summers he has
worked as a legislative policy intern for the public policy think
tank Taxpayers for Common Sense. A number of notables
spoke on campus before winter break, including U.S. Senator Frank
Lautenberg, who reflected on his senate career; Harvard professor
Lizabeth Cohen ’73, who talked about the rise of consumerism;
and the author Scott Turow, who read from his work. Chinese dissident Harry
Wu spoke December 7 about human rights abuses in China and questioned
the U.S.’s foreign policy toward China. Wu spent 19 years in
a Chinese labor camp and in 1985, six years after he was released,
came to the U.S., where he was named visiting professor of geology
at the University of California, Berkeley. Wu is now executive director
of the Laogai Research Foundation, which spreads awareness of Chinese
labor camps. J. Stapleton Roy ’56,
a career diplomat, and N. Lloyd Axworthy *72, until last fall Canada’s
minister of foreign affairs, will receive the university’s
highest awards for alumni and deliver speeches on Alumni Day, February
24. Roy will receive the
Woodrow Wilson Award, given to an undergraduate alumnus or alumna
who exemplifies “Princeton in the Nation’s Service.”
Axworthy will be given the Madison Medal, which recognizes an outstanding
alumnus of the Graduate School. Axworthy, who earned
a Ph.D. in political science, was elected to the Manitoba legislature
in 1973 and to the Canadian parliament in 1979. The next year he
became a cabinet minister, but after 1984, his party, the Liberals,
lost power, and Axworthy then served in several opposition positions.
During the early 1990s, he served as minister in various departments,
and in 1996 he was appointed foreign minister. Axworthy is known
as the architect of the Ottawa Convention, which outlaws landmines,
and he has pushed for a permanent International Criminal Court,
which would try people accused of committing crimes against humanity.
Last fall he stepped down as foreign minister and is currently director
of the Liu Center for Global Issues at the University of British
Columbia.
Toni Morrison, professor
of humanities and prize-winning author, received the National Humanities
Medal on December 20 from President Clinton in Washington, D.C.
Given in recognition of her contributions to American cultural life
and thought, the award, said President Shapiro, “pays tribute
to Toni Morrison’s extraordinary impact not only on the world
of literature, but on the world of thought, on the lives of her
many readers, and on human society in this country and around the
world.” Among her many other honors, Morrison won the Nobel
Prize for literature in 1993 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. On the Monday before
the holiday break, rock star Bruce Springsteen, who grew up in New
Jersey and maintains a residence in the state, dropped by the Frist
Campus Center to sit in on a class that was discussing Alan Ginsberg’s
poem “Wichita Vortex Sutra.” The poem was part of the
assigned reading for the course Prophecy and the American Voice,
taught by Greil Marcus, a lecturer in the American Studies program.
The class was one that Springsteen had hoped to audit this semester,
but according to the Daily Princetonian did not, because of concern
over keeping a low profile on campus. The Office of the Provost
announced in December that the university would probably increase
its endowment spending for fiscal year 2001. A Board of Trustees
meeting in late January was to decide the percentage, which typically
runs about 5 percent. A fuller story about the university’s
endowment will appear in an upcoming issue. Another book in the news
of late was brought to light by Princeton English professor Elaine
Showalter. In the early 1990s, Showalter, while shopping in Paris
at a used-book stall, found an Old West romance, described by the
New York Times as “replete with whorehouses, lesbian affairs
and attempted rapes, written by an author whose name was all too
familiar to academics in the humanities.” It was a novel written
by Lynne Cheney, former chair of the National Endowment for the
Humanities and wife of Vice President Dick Cheney. The book, called
Sisters, was printed in 1981 in a Signet Canadian paperback, said
Showalter. Showalter’s review of Sisters appeared in the Chronicle
of Higher Education this fall and prompted a news story in the Times. Karim Adrian Branford
’04 was arrested at the U-Store on December 12 for shoplifting.
He had allegedly stolen a video game and lightbulbs. He was released
by Princeton Borough police on his own recognizance. Log on to www.be-a-friend.com
and you can see the Web site that Ted Cai, a second-year graduate
student in the chemical engineering department, designed along with
David Attis *00. At the site, which functions as a clearinghouse
for homeless dogs and cats in the Princeton and Trenton areas, viewers
can look at pictures of animals that need homes, and through a series
of links find out other ways to help. Cai was happy to work on the
site. “I’ve always had a passion for pets,” he said.
“I would love to help them, especially the homeless ones.”
After receiving his master’s degree this summer, he will join
IBM in its global services division as an information technology
consultant, focusing on e-commerce applications.
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On
two nights in early December, the Princeton University Orchestra
performed one of its most challenging and thought-provoking concert
programs of recent date. The 
This
year the Graduate School enrolled 1,884 students, including 792
international students, the largest percentage -- 42.0 percent --
in the school’s 100 years of existence. The ratio of females
to males is 35.8 percent, not significantly different than in recent
years.
On
December 14, a group of graduate students protested in Firestone
Plaza the lack of affordable housing. Carrying signs with such slogans
as “Homeless preceptors grade angry,” the students were
calling attention to the fact that stipends, ranging from $10,000
to $16,500, do not cover the cost of housing in Princeton, where
many apartments rent for around $800 a month. Many graduate students
are married and have children, making it especially difficult to
find space large enough. According to university officials, the
university does not guarantee housing for graduate students, but
was able to provide it for approximately 75 percent of them this
year, and there are plans to build as many as 150 units by the fall
of 2002. In the meantime a committee is being formed to address
the issue.
