Join us for First Fridays, a monthly recurring event for undergraduate and graduate Princeton alumni, graduate students, and parents.  On the first Friday of each month, area alumni and their guests will meet to enjoy a prix fixe luncheon buffet at the Nassau Club in downtown Princeton.  As a special bonus for PA3, a Princeton University PhD candidate will present his/her work to the group in this informal setting.  Topics vary monthly and are always interesting!

This month, we will be joined by Jon Gudmundsson, a fifth year graduate student in the Department of Physics.  Jon will talk with us about the recent cosmological results from the Planck Mission, an experiment designed to study the cosmic microwave background radiation of the universe, namely the relic radiation from the big bang.  The data reveal the structure of the universe over a vast range of angular scales and frequencies and have opened new avenues of research for astrophysicists.  Jon will discuss what we have learned from the Planck data and will describe ongoing efforts in the field.  Read this NY Times article for more information on the Planck Mission.


Specially priced at $25/person (or $30 if you choose not to pay PA3's annual dues), lunch includes the Nassau Club’s full buffet as well as a complementary beverage (wine, beer, soft drink). Pre-registration is required.

Lunch Reservation

Non-PA3 Dues Payer $30.00 USD PA3 Dues Payer $25.00 USD

PA3 welcomed Jason McSheene, a PhD candidate in the Molecular Biology department at our First Friday lunch at the Nassau Club on April 5th, 2013.  The group was riveted by Jason's description of, among other things, the development of the zebrafish embryo.  To get a sense of how this development looks, Jason recommended watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQNxHGpK7Wc.  He also described for the group the importance of the Nodal gene and how it is expressed in left-right patterning.  The following schematic provides more detail.



http://dev.biologists.org/content/139/18/3257/F1.poster.jpg

Jason also mentioned Professor Bonnie Bassler's fascinating work and suggested watching her TED Talk on bacterial communication at  http://www.ted.com/talks/bonnie_bassler_on_how_bacteria_communicate.html .

What a wonderful and interesting luncheon!

First Friday Lunch - Andra Geana, third year graduate student in Psychology will discuss her work

Lunch Reservation

Non-PA3 Dues Payer $30.00 USD PA3 Dues Payer $25.00 USD

The Alumni Council's Committee on Academic Programs for Alumni (CAPA) is proud to sponsor the 2013 Emerging Alumni Scholars Award Program, which will honor three outstanding graduate students and introduce their work to Princeton's alumni and campus community. 

The three recipients have all accepted the honor and are looking forward to presenting fifteen-minute talks on their research and taking questions from attendees in this special event on April 30. The three honorees and their presentation titles are:

• Brian Ell, Molecular Biology, "Small RNAs as novel therapeutics for bone metastasis"
  
• Ilissa Ocko, Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies, "How tiny particles in the atmosphere change temperature, rainfall, and the transport of heat"
  
• Manu Sebastian Mannoor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, "Bionic nanosensors"

This special event, introduced by Dean Russel, will be held on Tuesday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m. in 219 Aaron Burr Hall. These presentations are meant for a general audience and a brief dessert reception will follow, giving you the opportunity to interact with these exceptional students. 

We hope to see you there!

The Alumni Education Team
Office of the Alumni Association
alumnied@princeton.edu
609.258.8230 

Communiversity 2013 is on Sunday, April 28, from 1 to 6 p.m. Please stop by the PA3 table on the front lawn of Nassau Hall for kids' crafts!