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June 22, 1998, Volume 87, number 30 | Index

See you in September!
This issue of the Princeton Weekly Bulletin, the last of the academic year, covers the summer months from June 22 through September 12. The copy deadline for the first issue of 1998-99, which covers September 13 through 20, is September 4.

N.M. telescope sees first light (full text)
Years of work on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope at Apache Point, N.M., culminated in first light on the night of May 9. The first high-quality images of a large swath of sky in the constellations Serpens and Ophiuchus were made on the night of May 27.
    Provost Jeremiah Ostriker, who chaired the Astrophysical Sciences Department for many years and organized the consortium for the Sky Survey, expressed delight at the results. "When I saw the incredibly beautiful images on the 30 foot scroll of stars, galaxies and nebulae produced by the first seven minutes of observation, I knew that it was worth the wait and the hard work of so many people, as well as the trust and support of those institutions -- Princeton prominent among them -- that backed this project from the beginning." ...

President Shapiro's 1998 Commencement address, delivered June 2
Beyond FitzRandolph Gates (full text)
It is a special privilege to be the speaker at these Commencement exercises -- the 251st Commencement at Princeton. We have an unusual tradition here regarding Commencement speakers. Except on very rare occasions, it is our custom to allow the University's president the prerogative to be the last to address the graduating students.
    Thus, it is the University's president who has the opportunity to leave with them the final parting words and thoughts that will accompany them as they leave this historic green and travel out through FitzRandolph Gates into a new phase in their lives and into a world that they will serve in so many diverse ways. ...

PPO replaces indemnity plan (full text)
The University is contracting with United HealthCare, one of the nation's largest health care management services companies, to administer a preferred provider organization (PPO) plan that will replace the existing Aetna indemnity plan, effective January 1. ...

A state between solid and liquid (full text)
By JoAnn Gutin
A team of physicists led by research associate Chia-Fu Chou has discovered a new thermodynamic phase between the solid and liquid states.
    The existence of this new phase, which was observed in liquid-crystal films only two molecules thick, dramatically extends scientific understanding of the way materials behave when reduced to what is effectively two dimensions. The discovery also sheds light on previously unexplained aspects of phase transition (the process by which materials change from solid to liquid or liquid to gas) and may eventually affect research on phenomena as disparate as liquid crystal displays, high-temperature superconductors and cell membranes. Chou and his team announced the discovery in the May 29 issue of Science. ...

Making a difference

University librarian Karin Trainer (l), Susan Albert of library technical services, Vivian Shapiro and anthropology professor Hildred Geertz were among those honored at a May 20 reception for People Who Have Made a Difference in the Lives of Women at Princeton.
    Some 80 people attended the event, which was sponsored by the President's Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

Celebrating
Andras Hamori (c), chair of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, congratulates his retiring department manager Mary Craparotta at the May 5 dinner in Prospect House that honored the 90 University employees who retired during 1997-98.
    Joan Doig, vice president for human resources (l) and President Harold Shapiro look on.

People
Professor of Mathematics and Applied and Computational Mathematics Ingrid Daubechies, Professor of Psychology Charles Gross and William and Edna Macaleer Professor of Engineering and Applied Science Andrew Yao have been elected members of the National Academy of Sciences.

Obituaries
Jeanette Richardson, 44, senior food service worker for Dining Services, died on May 6. She had been a University employee since 1981. She is survived by her mother Lillie.
Robert Teiss, 59, senior technician in Chemistry, died on May 21. With the University since 1961, he was in charge of the electronics shop in the Chemistry Department's Instrument Facility. A native of Trenton, he was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Holy Name Society and a parishioner of the church. He is survived by his wife Barbara; daughters Megan, Jennifer Calamia and Amy Wiegartner; and three grandchildren.

Winners
Two film projects associated with Princeton's 250th Anniversary recently won professional awards.
    Princeton: Images of a University, by Gerardo Puglia, won a second-place Silver Screen Award at the U.S. International Film and Video Festival, and Looking Back: Reflections of Black Princeton Alumni, by Melvin McCray '74, won a Bronze Medal from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

Princeton Picnic
June 9
Photographs by Ron Carter

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