The inaugural workshop of the Princeton-First Republic Bank Research & Lifelong Learning Initiative was held June 6-10 on the Princeton campus. This was part of a $7.5m grant over 5 years which funds 3 research projects, postdocs and graduate students each year, as well as 3 workshops at Princeton. It is spearheaded by ORFE Professors Ronnie Sircar (Program Director), Sanjeev Kulkarni and Mete Soner. The first workshop brought 31 bank executives to campus for tutorials on Probabilistic Thinking, as well as the special topic Cryptocurrencies and Digital Money, with guest lectures by Princeton faculty Arvind Narayanan (Computer Science) and Markus Brunnermeier (Economics). ORFE alum Katy Milkman '04, Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, also gave a guest lecture on the science of decision making. The workshop began with remarks and a ceremonial bell ringing at Prospect House by First Republic Bank CEO, Mike Roffler.
From left to right, Mike Roffler, Ronnie Sircar, Mete Soner and Sanjeev Kulkarni.