The groundbreaking, held near a grove of cherry trees overlooking the construction site, featured remarks by Eric Schmidt ’76 and his wife, Wendy Schmidt h76, and by President Christopher L. Eisgruber ’83 and Provost Jennifer Rexford ’91. Guyot Hall, the longtime home of environmental sciences, is being transformed into a new home for Princeton’s Department of Computer Science and a hub for “computational thinking.” 

“Thanks to Eric and Wendy’s generosity, Princeton has the opportunity to reimagine and repurpose a treasured campus landmark to best serve our mission as a liberal arts research university,” said President Eisgruber in his remarks. 

Eric and Wendy Schmidt Hall will more than double the size of former Guyot Hall. The existing structure’s interior will be renovated extensively, but the historic character of Guyot’s exterior and its primary interior spaces, such as the central Commons, will be restored to the original configuration. 

Wendy and Eric Schmidt’s remarks acknowledged the future potential of computer science, grounded in the values of the University. 

“With the groundbreaking of this new facility and all it represents and promises, I trust Princeton will help lead this new conversation about the appropriate use of computer-based technology and the commitment we all need to make to limit its dangers and to mitigate its harm, so that it might be possible to achieve the potential of appropriately scaled and regulated AI tools to actually support human well-being and the health of our planet,” Wendy Schmidt said. 

“I benefited from the union of the liberal arts and engineering in Princeton in a way that is incalculable to me, and Princeton is the correct place to solve the alignment problem between the engineers, the scientists, the liberal arts people and the philosophers,” said Eric Schmidt. “It is a remarkably productive institution, and once you have a building [like this], then you have the people, then you have the projects, then you have breakthroughs, and then eventually all the issues that Wendy has described will come to fore.”

Visible from the groundbreaking ceremony, construction fencing surrounding the site displays architectural renderings and details of the theoretical work of Alan Turing *38, which bridged biological and computational science. “The Turing patterns adorning the façade, windows and walls of Eric and Wendy Schmidt Hall will serve as a reminder of the building’s proud history and an invitation to creative exploration at the boundaries of knowledge,” said Eisgruber. 

In attendance at the ceremony were Class of 1976 engineering alumni and class leaders on campus celebrating their 50th Reunion, computer science faculty, University administrators, and current and former trustees. 

Rexford, who is the Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor in Engineering, noted that when Eric and Wendy Schmidt Hall is complete and the computer science department is unified under one roof, it will “make a tremendous difference in our research, our teaching, our collaboration and our outreach.” 

“It might seem a little strange that physical proximity matters so much to people working in this field,” she said. “Internet, email, instant messaging, Zoom, Google Meet — we all use these technologies and, in some cases, helped create them, but it really matters to be together. We all know that serendipitous encounters, chance encounters and discussions, a whiteboard are really what make innovation happen. … The best ideas emerge from those conversations, and when you put people in a common space, ideas collide. Princeton understands this and Eric and Wendy understand this.” 

The Schmidts‘ remarks were followed by a groundbreaking ceremony. Wielding orange shovels and wearing hard hats, the Schmidts, Eisgruber and Rexford turned the dirt, symbolically launching the construction project. 

This extraordinary gift came from DAFgiving360, made possible by the generosity of Eric and Wendy Schmidt.