Joanne Ramos, Class of 1995, tackles issues that are both timely and eternal in her powerful new novel exploring surrogacy as big business. She shines a light on social class, immigration, and the trade-offs women often make to secure independence and their children’s future.  Joanne’s plot imagines a world just over the horizon from existing surrogacy … Continue reading "Joanne Ramos: On motherhood, literature and her fictional debut"

Jen Rexford, Class of 1991 and chair of Princeton’s computer science department, has seen it all. From tinkering with the first consumer PCs in 1984 to saving the internet as we know it, Jen has been at the forefront of her field during an epoch of extraordinary advancement … and there’s much more to come. … Continue reading "Jennifer Rexford: On the exciting, exponentially enriching delights of a computational life"

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Class of 2000, has produced and directed award-winning documentaries all over the world, most recently the jaw-dropping “Free Solo,” for which she won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Film. In the film, Chai documents the physical and emotional journeys of world-class climber Alex Honnold as he attempts to summit Yosemite’s … Continue reading "Chai Vasarhelyi: On making a difference through film — and winning an Oscar"

PowerPoint presentations on global warming aren’t usually met with standing ovations, but Kathleen Biggins and her group of traveling speakers are getting used to them — even in the most conservative communities they visit. Their roadshow is called C-Change Conversations. They bring it to the curious and the skeptical in country clubs, rotary clubs, garden … Continue reading "Kathleen Biggins: On changing minds about climate change – one non-partisan conversation at a time"

How hard could it be? After working her way through Georgetown, Harvard, Stanford and now Princeton, Sadaf Jaffer has just become the mayor of Montgomery Township in New Jersey. Sadaf is the state’s first mayor from the South Asian community and she’s committed to ensuring that she is not the last. But that’s just in … Continue reading "Sadaf Jaffer: On breaking political boundaries"

Lynn Loo, a 2001 graduate alumna and director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, says this is an “all-hands-on-deck” moment for everyone with skills or technology to address climate change. She describes the Andlinger Center’s mission to mobilize engineers such as herself and academics across the University to form partnerships with each … Continue reading "Lynn Loo: On climate change and the “all-hands-on-deck” moment"

Mellody Hobson, Class of 1991, speaks out on the latest episode of the “She Roars” podcast to demystify principles of investing and discuss her own efforts to combat dangerously high rates of financial illiteracy in America today. “I find that children become the gateway drug to parents, and I mean that in the best way. … Continue reading "Mellody Hobson: On being a national leader in financial literacy"

Courtney Banghart, head coach of Princeton’s women’s basketball team, “talks the walk” about team building, shedding fears of failure and taking every three-point shot that opens up in life. She discusses basketball, too — as well as the surreal experience of joining the Pope and Bill & Melinda Gates on Fortune Magazine’s list of 50 … Continue reading "Courtney Banghart: On taking every three-point shot that opens up in life"

As deputy director of science and technology for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Patricia Falcone ’74 has been at the forefront of women in science since becoming one of the first female engineering majors at Princeton. She now oversees the strategic development of Livermore’s scientific capabilities and is responsible for its collaborative research with academia and … Continue reading "Patricia Falcone: On women in science and weird stories from the front lines"

Laura Trevelyan, host of BBC World News America and Princeton parent, has a rare perspective on the United States’ role in the world. She covered her first U.S. presidential election campaign in 2004 and began focusing on the United Nations in 2006. It all became personal in 2016 when the British-born journalist was sworn in as … Continue reading "Laura Trevelyan: On Brexit, America’s role in the world and ‘having it all’ at the same time"