Quartet of excellence positions SEAS as leader among its peers


SEAS is built upon a quartet of excellence: an outstanding faculty, a truly superb undergraduate body, exceptionally innovative graduate students, and staff who are unusually dedicated and accomplished. In addition, SEAS benefits from the rich diversity of culture, race, gender, interests and talent in our faculty, students and staff. This year members of all four groups have received many honors from inside and outside Princeton. Here I highlight a few of these wonderful individuals who make SEAS such a special place. Many of them are described in more detail elsewhere in this issue of EQuad News.

SEAS is privileged to have many distinguished faculty members who are recognized internationally for their contributions to research, but who also receive prestigious awards honoring teaching skills and dedication to the classroom experience.

Most recently, David Billington received the Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars from the National Science Foundation (see page 12). Anyone who knows Professor Billington and his classroom manner will not be surprised at this latest recognition.

Yet what is especially impressive is that Princeton is the only institution that has had two faculty members to receive this very prestigious award. H. Vincent Poor received the award in 2002, its inaugural year. In addition, this year our Kenan Trust Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching, Christopher Rogers, also received the award. That's truly amazing.

Students who choose to study engineering are among the most diversified and academically successful at Princeton.

Each year, about 50 percent of B.S.E. students meet the requirements for at least one certificate of proficiency, which is Princeton's version of a minor. This year 170 students earned certificates of proficiency spanning 19 subjects from visual arts and musical performance to African-American Studies and French.

In addition, this year's graduates also claimed a respectable share of the University's general prizes and awards for scholarship and service. Cynthia Lin received the Henry Richardson Labouisse '26 Prize Fellowship (see page 24). Catherine Farmer received both the Class of 1901 medal and the W. Sanderson Detwiler 1903 Prize. The 1901 Medal goes to the senior who, in the judgment of classmates, has done the most for Princeton, while the Detwiler Prize goes to the senior who, in the judgment of classmates, has done the most for the class. Catherine served as senior class president.

Our engineering students also claimed many prizes for athletic prowess in football, lightweight crew, swimming, track, and wrestling. Gregory Parker received the William Winston Roper Trophy. This award, presented by Mrs. William Winston Roper and the Class of 1902, is for a senior "of high scholastic rank and outstanding qualities of sportsmanship and general proficiency in athletics."

Not to be outdone, engineering graduate students also take on campus leadership roles in addition to producing internationally acclaimed research results. Scott Miller, a chemical engineering major, is president of the Graduate Student Government, and Dries Darius is president of the Graduate Engineering Council, a newly formed graduate student organization that provides a voice for graduate student concerns.

James Buchholz, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major, and Hafize Erkan, an operations research and financial engineering major, each received awards from the Graduate School in recognition of their dedication to teaching (see page 23).

Last but certainly not least, I want to mention the achievements of the staff who create the EQuad News. This year our publication won three major awards that are described on page 25. I hope you'll join me in congratulating the two key people primarily responsible for these awards: Ann Haver-Allen, the director of engineering communications, and Sara Peters, our communication assistant.

These four interdependent ingredients--faculty, undergraduates, graduate students and staff--are what make engineering at Princeton unique among its peers. I am very excited to be a part of this and expect to see even greater things happen as we continue to build momentum.