In Short

Could FACEBOOK be heading for “a rapid decline”? That was the conclusion of a research paper posted online by two graduate students in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Their work — which predicted Facebook would lose 80 percent of its users by 2017 in a flameout that was compared to the spread of an infectious disease — drew national media attention. Facebook had a quick retort: It posted its own study, which it said used the same methodology to forecast that by 2021, Princeton would have no students.

Amaris Hardy/Office of Communications

DAVID DOBKIN will step down June 30 after 11 years as dean of the faculty and return to teaching. Dobkin launched initiatives to increase faculty diversity, put in place family-friendly policies, and created an enhanced retirement plan to encourage faculty turnover.

Princeton received 26,607 APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION to the Class of 2018, slightly more than last year and the third-largest total in the University’s history. Princeton offered early-action admission to 714 students in December.

CAROLINE SHAW, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in music, won a Grammy Award Jan. 26 for best performance in chamber music/small ensemble as a member of the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth.