The years were formative in ways that shaped her interests as a Princeton undergraduate and that continue to take her abroad.

The high school football team is the common denominator in his 1,000-person community, in which 30 percent of high school graduates pursue higher education. “In regard to academics, my school did the best with what they had, and I really appreciated them,” he says.

Fletcher considers himself lucky. As a member of the Cherokee Nation, he had a lot of support from the elder members. “My tribal councilor is the reason why I am at Princeton,” he says. 

Coming to Princeton was a cultural leap.  She had never traveled far from home.   Her first flight was a trip she took to the University to attend Princeton Preview, the University’s program for recently admitted students.

In addition, Morales Nuñez also was not used to the simple things many people take for granted, but were not accessible to her at home.

Parton broke that mold not only because he left Tennessee, but also because he believes he is one of only two students from his school who has ever studied as an undergraduate student at an Ivy League institution.

Her enthusiasm did not cool after enrolling. In her first year, she took the integrated science curriculum, one of the reasons she chose to attend Princeton. The curriculum breaks down the traditional barriers among the disciplines of physics, chemistry, biology and computer science, using mathematics as the unifying element.

“It was a big surprise. You get the call, and you're famous for about two days,” he explains. “Then the world goes on, and you go back to all the nice things in your regular life — teaching, lab work, family.”

It isn't that Wieschaus didn't enjoy winning the award, which was presented in honor of his pioneering work on the way genes in the fruit fly determine how body parts are formed. Wieschaus recalls his time in Stockholm where he received the Nobel Prize as “very special,” a whirlwind of ceremonies and events that he was happy to share with his family.

According to cosmologists, the big bang describes the onset of the expansion of the very fabric of the universe’s space-time, which commenced about 13 billion years ago. The CMB is therefore the oldest light in the universe, and carries with it clues to how the universe was created and how it continues to expand.

His recent honors include the 2006 Blackwell-Tapia Prize from the National Science Foundation and induction as a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

Massey’s interest in math started at an early age. As a child, he was fascinated by numbers. His mother, an educator, encouraged him by creating math-related games. Out of that early encouragement grew a lifelong passion. Massey majored in mathematics at Princeton and later earned his doctoral degree in the same field from Stanford University.

“I had synthesized a new molecule, and I was asking someone else in the lab where I could find a picture of what it should look like,” MacMillan recalls. “I was told there was no such picture because the molecule had never existed before.”

As a mechanical and aerospace engineer, Leonard is fascinated by synthesis, and she watches it happen in exciting ways in her classes and projects and across campus. “For someone who enjoys math and science and likes to integrate, design and create things, this is a wonderful place to be,” says the Class of ’85 alumna.