News

"The architect of Biden's 'Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights' [Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science] Alondra Nelson talks to Christiane Amanpour about the threats and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence."

On May 19, 2023, the IAS community came together to celebrate Founders Day, an annual event that honors sibling philanthropists Louis Bamberger and Caroline Bamberger Fuld, whose visionary gift secured the foundation and endowment of the Institute for Advanced Study on May 20, 1930.

Harel Shapira, past Member (2021–22) in the School of Social Science, provides a first-hand account of civilian firearms training and offers insight into the psychology of gun ownership and its broader societal impact.

Angelos Chaniotis, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, has been elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS), one of the oldest learned societies in the United States, composed of top scholars in a wide variety of disciplines. 

Christina Dunbar-Hester, current Member in the School of Social Science, argues that people’s health and mobility should take precedence over goods movement in the quest for cleaner air in California.

Karen Uhlenbeck, current Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Mathematics, has been elected to the Royal Society for her “substantial contribution to the advancement of science.”

By Alyssa Battistoni, current Member in the School of Social Science:

"When the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law last August, it was celebrated as the biggest piece of federal climate legislation ever passed in the United States. This was an astonishingly low bar to clear: the IRA is also the country’s only real climate legislation."

The IAS Board of Trustees has elected John Overdeck as its next Chair. Overdeck, a philanthropist, business leader, and dedicated supporter of the Institute, will succeed software entrepreneur Charles Simonyi, who served as Chair since 2008.

IAS archivist Caitlin Rizzo outlines research conducted into Thayyoor K. Radha, one of the earliest women of color at the Institute. Although her history has been difficult to trace, Radha's career was marked by incredible success. The new research demonstrates how even some of the least-known Members play a critical part of the intellectual ecosystem of the Institute. 

Akshay Venkatesh, Robert & Luisa Fernholz Professor in the School of Mathematics, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors in recognition of advancements in original research. 

"For three days last April, the Institute for Advanced Study resembled its 1950s self. Actors wearing mid-century-appropriate clothing were spotted in and around Fuld Hall and Olden Manor, shooting scenes for a feature film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, famed theoretical physicist and Institute director from 1947 to 1966."

New research published by Lev Arzamasskiy, current Member in the School of Natural Sciences, and his collaborators, which include past Member (1999–2001) and Visitor (2005) Eliot Quatert, has provided "invaluable" insights into the basic plasma physics that occurs in astrophysical systems.

Christopher Bonura, current Member in the School of Historical Studies, is one of 36 artists and scholars to be awarded a Rome Prize for 2023–24 by the American Academy in Rome (AAR).

Toni Mikael Annala, current Member in the School of Mathematics, has received the 2023 CMS Blair Spearman Doctoral Prize from the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS).

Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science, has received an honorary doctorate from Northeastern University, in recognition of her work as a “groundbreaking advocate for scientific discovery and technology innovation that focuses on ethics, racial and gender equity, and access.”

Nine scholars across all four Schools—Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Historical Studies, and Social Science—have been elected as members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAA&S), an honor that recognizes accomplishments and leadership in academia, the arts, industry, public policy, and research. 

In 2014, Nathan Seiberg, Charles Simonyi Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, "demonstrated that the most important symmetries of 20th-century physics could be extended more broadly to apply in quantum field theory, the basic theoretical framework in which physicists work today."

Lia Medeiros, current Member in the School of Natural Sciences, has led a group of researchers from the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration in producing a groundbreaking new image of the M87 black hole, using machine learning algorithm PRIMO to achieve the full resolution of the array for the first time.

Four years ago, astronomers released the first ever image of a black hole. Now a subset of that team, led by IAS scholar Lia Medeiros, has used artificial intelligence to produce a vastly improved version of the image.

Grigory Kessel, past Member in the School of Historical Studies (2021–22), has played a key role in the rediscovery of a "hidden chapter" of Biblical text nearly 1,500 years after it was first written.