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Princeton gets a $100 million gift

Princeton University plans to announce a $100 million gift today that will establish a major new engineering center to tackle the issues of energy and the environment, with a strong focus on climate change.

Princeton University plans to announce a $100 million gift today that will establish a major new engineering center to tackle the issues of energy and the environment, with a strong focus on climate change.

The gift, from alumnus and business executive Gerhard R. Andlinger, is tied with two others for the largest made to the university.

The money represents the initial piece of what will be $400 million in university spending on these issues over the next decade, Princeton president Shirley M. Tilghman said in a phone interview.

Princeton already has strong programs addressing both policy and basic science related to global warming and energy use. The new Andlinger gift is designed to enable the engineering school to develop technological solutions for the marketplace.

A handful of other universities have strong interdisciplinary approaches like this one, but Princeton has an added benefit purely because of its location, said David G. Hawkins, director of climate programs for the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. Just across Route 1 are two prominent institutions, both with strong ties to Princeton, that study key pieces of the climate puzzle:

The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is in the business of modeling the earth's climate. The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, seeks to harness the power of nuclear fusion.

"This is a big deal," Hawkins said of the new Gerhard R. Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. "This definitely puts Princeton in the major leagues on the interdisciplinary climate work."

Stephen Pacala, a university biology professor and director of the Princeton Environmental Institute, said the concentration of resources will make the university unique.

"We'll be able to deal with everything from looking into the future and forecasting what it is humanity needs to do, all the way through to the policy and technology necessary to get that job done," Pacala said.

H. Vincent Poor, dean of the university's engineering school, said one area of study would address improving solar panels, as his school already is strong in materials science.

The Andlinger center will include a new state-of-the-art laboratory building, several new faculty positions, and endowed funds for research and outreach.

The structure has not been designed, but school officials said it will use no more than half the energy allowed in national building codes - in keeping with the university's new, self-imposed standards for all new construction.

That goal is especially tricky for laboratories, as the sophisticated equipment and related cooling systems demand a lot of energy, said Tilghman, herself a biologist.

"What is the saying about preaching begins at home?" the university president said.

Andlinger, 77, a native of Austria, first visited the United States in 1948 as the winner of a newspaper essay contest. He later entered Princeton on a scholarship as a junior, graduating in 1952.

He is chairman and founder of Andlinger & Co., an investment firm in Tarrytown, N.Y.

Andlinger's son Merrick, who graduated from Princeton in 1980 and is president of the firm, said his father felt the need to address the climate issue after his work with various companies in the "energy and carbon sectors."

Asked whether the benefactor would comment about the gift yesterday, the younger Andlinger said his father preferred to leave that to the university.

"He doesn't want this to be about him," Tilghman agreed. "He wants it to be about this issue."

The other $100 million gifts to Princeton - actually worth a bit more in inflation-adjusted dollars - were from Gordon Wu, announced in 1995, and Peter Lewis, announced in 2005.