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New Venture Forward video series focuses on Princeton ‘making audacious bets’ on talent and potential

by Advancement Communications
October 28, 2022

What if access to the arts was no longer left to chance? What can happen when two molecules meet for the first time? What if we rethink algorithms as we consider how technology shapes what it means to be human?

In the second year since the public launch of Princeton University’s Venture Forward campaign, a new video series, “Making Audacious Bets,” focuses on faculty and alumni who are asking big “what if?” questions and bringing the unknown within reach through imagination and collaboration. Supported by the generosity and volunteer engagement of alumni and friends, Princeton makes extraordinary investments in individual students and faculty — audacious bets — that will have a transformative impact on the future of humanity.

The first video in the series introduces Lou Chen ’19, founder of Trenton Arts at Princeton; David MacMillan, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry; and Mimi Onuoha ’11, an artist and data researcher. MacMillan is also a first-generation college student and a Nobel Prize winner for his breakthrough research on catalysis.

Subsequent videos will focus on each individual and examine how they are thinking forward “what if” questions of access and opportunity in the arts, data science and digital justice, and sustainable scientific solutions to challenging problems through chemistry.

The Venture Forward campaign has three overall goals: deepening engagement of the alumni community; providing a platform to communicate Princeton’s service to humanity and its vision for the future and securing philanthropic support for the University’s strategic initiatives.