June 2024 - AI at Princeton and NJ Officials Visit Campus

June 13, 2024

At the recent New Jersey AI Summit at Princeton, President Christopher L. Eisgruber said, “The AI hub advances two of Princeton University’s highest strategic priorities: helping to cultivate a robust regional ecosystem and accelerating AI innovation and education. This hub presents an extraordinary opportunity for us to come together to make bold investments that will positively impact the region and the state, as well as the nation and the world.”

The Capital Connector highlights the enthusiasm surrounding the NJ AI Summit, four outstanding New Jersey secondary school teachers honored at this year's Commencement ceremony, and several campus visits by New Jersey officials to learn more about the University's significant investments to enhance opportunity and access in higher education and to upgrade Princeton's clean-energy infrastructure.

AI at Princeton

Governor Murphy speaking at the AI Summit

AI Summit spotlights an “extraordinary opportunity” to lead in AI technology and its responsible development

The New Jersey AI Summit brought together 600 leaders from academia, business and government at Princeton University on April 11 to explore the rapidly evolving possibilities and challenges of artificial intelligence and to begin charting a course for New Jersey’s role in the future of AI.

The event featured rapid-fire presentations from world-class AI experts at Princeton and across New Jersey, along with broader perspectives provided by Gov. Phil Murphy, Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, and Princeton Provost Jennifer Rexford. It also marked progress in the development of a New Jersey AI hub, announced in December by Murphy and Eisgruber, in collaboration with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA).

Learn more about the Summit. And watch the Summit session recordings here.

 

Computer wiring

AI at Princeton: Pushing limits, accelerating discovery and serving humanity

At Princeton, interdisciplinary collaborations of researchers are using artificial intelligence to accelerate discovery across the University in fields ranging from neuroscience to Near Eastern studies.

Princeton experts are also pushing the limits of AI technology to make it more accurate and efficient, to understand how AI’s uncanny large language models work, and to address the technology’s ethical, fairness and policy implications. Learn more about artificial intelligence at Princeton.

 

People sitting working on computers

Science has an AI problem. This group says they can fix it.

AI holds great potential, but a growing body of evidence has revealed deep flaws in how machine learning is used in science, a problem that has swept through dozens of fields and implicated thousands of erroneous papers.

Now an interdisciplinary team of 19 researchers, led by Princeton University computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, has published guidelines for the responsible use of machine learning in science. The good news is that a simple set of best practices can help resolve this newer crisis before it gets out of hand. Read more about the AI guidelines here.

University News

Princeton building with daffodills

Trustees set 2024-25 budget, increasing spending for undergraduate financial aid and graduate student support

The trustees of Princeton University have adopted an operating budget for the University which includes a 7.8% increase in undergraduate financial aid.The increase underscores Princeton’s commitment to access, affordability and socioeconomic diversity, and reflects the continued expansion of the student body.

Princeton’s financial aid program is recognized as one of the most generous in the country. In 2001, the University was the first in the country to eliminate loans from undergraduate aid packages, enabling students to graduate debt-free. The University made substantial enhancements to its aid program starting in the 2023-24 year, providing even more generous support to undergraduates and their families. “At Princeton we make big bets on human talent from all sectors of society,” Provost Jennifer Rexford said. “We attract amazing students — at both the undergraduate and graduate levels — and go the extra mile to make their educational ambitions affordable.” Read about financial aid and graduate student support here.

 

Four NJ teachers

Four outstanding N.J. secondary school teachers honored at Princeton Commencement

Princeton University announced the four outstanding New Jersey secondary school teachers chosen to be honored at its 2024 Commencement on Tuesday, May 28.

This year’s recipients of the Princeton Prize for Distinguished Secondary School Teaching are Ahmed Hassanein of Joseph H. Brensinger Elementary School, P.S. #17, in Jersey City, Sandra Keel-Huff of Orange High School, Bess Spero Li of Crossroads South Middle School in South Brunswick, and Theresa Riccardi of High Point Regional High School in Sussex. They each will receive $5,000, as well as $3,000 for their school libraries.

“These four prize winners remind us that there are truly exceptional people who are teaching in the nation’s schools,” said Todd Kent, director of Princeton’s Program in Teacher Preparation, when the recipients were announced. “These incredible teachers were selected for the impact they have on their students and on their school and local communities.” Read about the outstanding NJ secondary school teachers honored at Princeton's Commencement.

Campus Visits

David Reiner, Senator Cryan, Petra Gaskins

NJ Senator Joe Cryan visited campus to learn about opportunity and access at Princeton

On April 30, Chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, Joe Cryan, visited campus to meet with University leadership to learn about the University's groundbreaking efforts to expand access to and opportunities in higher education at Princeton and beyond through the Emma Bloomberg Center and the Program for Community College Engagement.

 

Board of Public Utilities members tour the geo-exchange plant

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities staffers tour T.I.G.E.R. geo-exchange plant

NJ Board of Public Utilities staff members visited campus on April 30 to learn from operational and academic experts about the University’s campus energy plan for getting to net-zero carbon emissions by 2046, the campus-wide investment in geo-exchange infrastructure, and efforts to optimize energy efficiency and cost through the variable rate structure.

 

 

Assemblyman Bailey, Assemblyman Marenco, Assemblywoman McCoy, Assemblyman DeAngelo

New Jersey Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities committee members learn about the University's energy plan

In May, the Office of State Affairs and our campus energy experts welcomed members and staff of the NJ Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities committee. Chairman DeAngelo, Assemblyman Bailey, Assemblyman Marenco, and Assemblywoman McCoy, visited Princeton's campus to learn more about the University's energy plan and tour the geo-exchange plant.