With a mission to explore and better understand the aging process and its societal implications, Columbia University has established a university-wide, interdisciplinary aging center located at the Mailman School of Public Health. Its inaugural director is Dr. Ursula M. Staudinger, vice president of the German National Academy of Sciences. “We are proud to have created this new center that will mobilize the intellectual resources of the entire University to address the challenges and opportunities that demographic changes pose for individuals and society alike,” says Columbia University Provost John Coatsworth.