Dean’s Welcome 2014

November 2014

Pablo Debenedetti

Pablo Debenedetti
Dean for Research, Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Welcome to Discovery: Research at Princeton.

I invite you to explore the innovative and inspiring quests of our academic researchers. Through their efforts, these scholars and scientists are bringing to fruition Princeton’s unofficial motto, “In the nation’s service and in the service of all nations.”

This year’s issue of Discovery recounts many fascinating stories. A few are highlighted below.

The story on strategies for building a resilient coastline to combat rising global temperatures is a testament to Princeton’s leadership role in our region, the northeastern United States, which was hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. A team of Princeton faculty is leading a four-university effort to explore a new vision for coastal planning that includes flexible strategies such as “amphibious suburbs” to tolerate periodic flooding.

The work of Abigail Doyle, an associate professor of chemistry, illustrates the application of basic knowledge for the public good. Learn how researchers in her laboratory are developing new catalysts for the synthesis of molecules used in cancer imaging. William Bialek, the John Archibald Wheeler/Battelle Professor in Physics and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, is applying his background in physics to the search for unifying principles that underlie biological systems. Princeton’s computer science research spans many exciting areas including 3-D modeling, object recognition, visual arts and design, and Internet traffic and security.

In addition to Princeton’s strengths in technical and scientific fields, the University is a leader in humanities research, as demonstrated by Associate Professor of English Meredith Martin’s work on the creation of the Princeton Prosody Archive. Martin leads Princeton’s new Center for Digital Humanities, which opened this fall.

Throughout Discovery you will find stories about researchers, from full professor to undergraduate, who are dedicated to advancing knowledge and making a difference in the world. I hope you enjoy the 2014- 2015 issue of Discovery.

-Pablo Debenedetti
Dean for Research