In Short

SIMON LEVIN, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at Princeton, and MICHAEL ARTIN ’55, professor emeritus of mathematics at MIT, will receive the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest scientific honor. CATO LAURENCIN ’80, professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Connecticut, will be awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. They will be honored at a White House ceremony along with 14 other recipients.

Levin’s research focuses on how large-scale patterns are maintained by small-scale behavioral and evolutionary factors at the level of individual organisms. Artin’s work focuses on algebraic geometry, while surgeon-scientist Laurencin studies regenerative engineering, materials science, and nanotechnology.

Princeton offered EARLY ADMISSION to 785 students after receiving 4,229 early-action applications for the Class of 2020. The number of candidates increased 9.8 percent from last year.

Rooms in the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding have been assigned to the following CULTURAL-AFFINITY GROUPS: black and African American students, Asian and Asian American students, Latino students, and Arab and Middle Eastern students. In February, the groups began furnishing their respective rooms with sofas and chairs, books, and artwork. Work on permanent renovations to the Fields Center is expected to begin this summer.

Courtesy Vassar College Communications

JUDY JARVIS has been named director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Center. Before coming to Princeton in January, she served as director of Vassar College’s LGBTQ Center and Women’s Center. “I hope to partner with students and colleagues to facilitate a University culture that values diversity and inclusion across a range of identities,” Jarvis said.

Courtesy Harvard Law School

RANDALL KENNEDY ’77, a Harvard law professor and author, will deliver the address at the Baccalaureate ceremony May 29 in the University Chapel. Kennedy, a Rhodes scholar who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, served as a University trustee for 14 years.