Dr. Jennifer Rexford Supporting a Thriving Academic and Research Enterprise

Dr. Jennifer Rexford’s journey to becoming provost of Princeton University has been filled with many exciting accomplishments and milestones. As a celebrated leader in computing, researcher in computer science, and Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor in Engineering, the Princeton graduate was honored to step into this new role and give back to the institution where she grew up as both a student and a faculty member. “I completed my undergraduate work at Princeton in electrical engineering in 1991 and pursued my Ph.D. work in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Michigan, where I became very interested in parallel computing,” shares Rexford. “Halfway through my Ph.D., the internet was taking off and I was intrigued by this new global network. It was similar to parallel computing, but with greater potential to change society.”

During her last couple years of graduate school, Rexford began pivoting her work to computer networking before working as a researcher at AT&T Labs for nine years creating techniques for monitoring, traffic engineering, and router configuration deployed in AT&T’s backbone networks. “I loved my time at AT&T Labs, but when there was an opportunity to come back to Princeton in 2005, it was too good to pass up,” shares Rexford. “I joined Princeton’s Department of Computer Science as a professor, and then after a few years on the faculty, I gradually started to dip my toe into more administrative roles and later became chair of my department in 2015.”

“There is an aspect to academic ‘architecture’ that scratches an itch that is not unlike the research work I was doing,” continues Rexford. “I’m compelled to think about the organizational structure of things, and that is very interesting in its own right. After being named provost, the past year and a half has been full of exploration and learning about the different parts of Princeton’s mission. As department chair in computer science, I certainly saw the University from the perspective of one department and our collaboration with other disciplines. Now I have a much deeper appreciation of the entire academic enterprise and our support infrastructure and how each is related to our overall mission as a university.”

Harnessing the Transformative Effect of AI
With a focus on computer networking, Rexford’s research explores ways to make the Internet a safer place for society. “I think of myself as an ‘internet plumber’ who looks at the infrastructure and how to make it faster, more performant, more secure, and easier to manage,” explains Rexford. “I want the internet to be worthy of the trust that society increasingly places in it, so my work focuses on software-defined networking, or often called programmable networking, to make it easier to innovate within the inside of the Internet. Adding new applications and services that early internet designers never thought of is easy, but actually changing the infrastructure itself is remarkably difficult. I’m interested in how to make the inside of the Internet more amenable to innovation so it at least can keep pace with all the innovation happening around it.”

Among the key drivers fueling today’s innovation and scientific discovery are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, which are transforming industries and academic disciplines by turning raw data and knowledge into better decisions. “While much of the core commercial work in AI is taking place in Silicon Valley, Boston, and New York, the transformation will be much broader, and every region has a set of industry verticals that will be impacted,” explains Rexford. “In the case of New Jersey, this will include healthcare and pharma, finance, energy and climate, and engineering. We want to enable innovation in those industries using AI, both in terms of startups, as well as helping established companies evolve and run more successfully. In addition, the New Jersey state government is going to be adopting AI to improve services and is thinking about policies around this technology.”

“We also need a workforce that is educated in AI and chooses to build a career in New Jersey with that education and experience,” continues Rexford. “Princeton wants to be part of the regional ecosystem and encourages our faculty and students to see opportunities to participate in all of these areas, whether it’s a faculty member or graduate student launching a start-up or finding ways to have a greater influence in educational areas beyond the halls of our own campus.”

Recognizing the transformative effect of AI, the office of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy approached Princeton last year to discuss creating a collaborative space to advance AI research, promote ethical use, and support workforce development. “The Artificial Intelligence Hub was announced by Governor Murphy and Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber in December 2023,” says Rexford. “This past April, we hosted a New Jersey AI Summit on our campus with over five hundred attendees. There was great energy and excitement, and the event provided a great opportunity to bring people together from higher education and the business world to share ideas and gather insight into how the AI Hub could help pioneer new discoveries.”

To continue building out the direction of this space, Rexford says the State announced a request for information and Princeton is currently reviewing these responses to understand what ideas are of the most interest and importance. “We’ve recently hired a project manager who will be working to help us shape the vision of the Hub, and we have several collaborative events coming up this fall that will go deeper into individual topics. While Princeton is helping drive this initiative, we want this to be a partnership, not only with other educational institutions in the state, but other national and international companies as well. This fall, we’ll have a convening event focused on education and workforce development to explore how the Hub can be leveraged to support students and employers in NJ.”

“We want to see people that are involved in the Hub directly go out into classrooms all over the state,” continues Rexford. “This may include helping create a model curriculum. We have amazing community colleges in New Jersey and a very strong pipeline from those schools into our four-year colleges and universities. A similar curriculum at the two-year community college level could feed into the curriculum those same students would pursue when they later move to a four-year institution. This prevents students from having to reset when they make the transition and promotes a smoother journey to graduation.”

Building a Workforce of Diverse Innovators
To inspire the ethical use of AI and expose a larger group of young individuals to a variety of AI topics, Princeton hosts the AI4All summer program for low-income rising 11th grade students living and attending high school in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Female applicants and students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups are encouraged to apply and get to experience lectures and mentoring sessions with Princeton AI professors, small-group research projects, and field trips to see the career opportunities that are available at the intersection of AI and public policy. “There is a critical part of the pipeline where you don’t want to lose students who could contribute significantly to the field,” says Rexford. “By addressing these key juncture points, students are exposed to new topics, can explore their interests, and begin to build a close-knit community. We want to reach diverse innovators and build excitement around AI and the societal impact it can provide.”

As AI initiatives and the Hub continue to take shape, Rexford is excited to see what lies ahead. “As we move forward, we want New Jersey to be a leader in applying AI in a responsible and effective way within industries that help serve society and enable innovation. Education and workforce development are such an integral part of this goal, and we want our graduates to stay within the state to be a part of strengthening our local economy and community.”

“From an academic perspective, there is great potential within AI and the deep innovations that could happen on the technical side when AI is applied,” continues Rexford. “It will be interesting to learn more about AI itself; how to make AI better, faster, and more energy efficient; along with understanding how it works and when it doesn’t. I’m also curious about how we can apply AI to socially relevant problems, as well as how to navigate the societal problems that AI itself introduces. I wonder how we’ll push the limits of AI and accelerate discovery, while also including societal implications as part of the conversation when developing AI methods. This is a perfect opportunity for industry, government, and academia to work together and create partnerships between AI experts who can tackle these complex demands.”

For students beginning their college journey who are interested in exploring AI topics but unsure what major to choose, Rexford encourages them to think strategically. “Since AI has the potential to transform every human endeavor, it can be combined with pretty much any discipline. For example, if you’re interested in health, you may want to major in biology or genomics with a minor in computer science or data science. I suggest gaining mastery of the AI ‘hammer’ and finding a nail, because many people may know the domain, but not AI, and you’ll gain advanced skills that not everyone will have. To employ AI effectively, I also encourage students to gain a strong mathematical and programming foundation, and to take a look under the hood to understand what makes our computing and network infrastructure work.”

Bridging Intellectual and Institutional Divides
Earlier this year, Edge partnered with FABRIC, Princeton, Rutgers University, and the State University of New Jersey to provide high performance network infrastructure connecting university researchers and their local compute clusters and scientific instruments to the larger FABRIC infrastructure. Princeton also partnered with Edge and Rutgers to foster national and global research collaboration with New Jersey’s first Internet2 GigaPOP access point. Now with the spotlight on AI, Edge looks forward to helping Princeton advance research and unite AI researchers, industry leaders, and collaborators through the AI Hub. “Edge is thrilled to support the partnership between the State of New Jersey and Princeton University for the NJ AI Hub by providing advanced technology solutions and high-performance connectivity,” says Dr. Forough Ghahramani, Assistant Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Sponsored Programs, Edge. “Our robust network infrastructure, cloud services, and collaborative platforms empower New Jersey’s academic and research communities to drive innovation and scientific discoveries.”

“Specifically, Edge’s high-performance optical network significantly bolsters Princeton’s mission of education and research by offering reliable, high-speed internet access, supporting data-intensive AI projects, and facilitating seamless learning and global collaboration,” says Ghahramani. “Through efforts for enhancing AI Capabilities and fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation, Edge is dedicated to supporting NJ AI Hub to position New Jersey as a leader in AI research and education.”

Rexford adds, “Whether AI is being used for cybersecurity, network operations, or student engagement, Edge will be helpful in connecting researchers with the data they need to study these areas. There is also an important role that Edge can play as organizations evolve their network security strategy and modernize IT operations with evolving, AI-based capabilities. Edge is also integral in bringing people together and helping to bridge the intellectual and institutional divides that can keep people from solving the most important problems.”

“Oftentimes, people are working on AI in isolation and by building a community of researchers, students, adult learners, and industry leaders, we can make great strides in education and workforce development,” continues Rexford. “Networking events like the ones hosted by Edge ensure people are in dialogue with one another and are sharing challenges, solutions, and best practices. These convening events also provide an opportunity to team up and collaborate, especially within the world of AI. By becoming a tool that we can wield, AI can empower us to find real solutions and lower the barrier to discovery and innovation.”