This semester, I had the incredible opportunity to spend seven weeks in Kenya with the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology department’s Semester in the Field program. 

The program involves taking four courses, each for three weeks, in subjects ranging from Biology of African Animals and Ecosystems to Terrestrial Paleoecology (basically trying to understand what ancient ecosystems looked like). Since I went abroad as a senior (most EEB students go abroad during their junior spring), I was there for the first two classes and returned to campus after spring break to finish my thesis. 

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Nothing I could have imagined compared to the feeling of waking up to the sound of birds chirping and monkeys calling to one another right outside my tent every morning. To be so immersed in nature was indescribable. We saw endangered Grevy’s zebras and African wild dogs, of which there are only a few thousand remaining in the world, as well as lions, hyenas, rhinos, and elephants. In the first week alone, we saw 35 different species of mammals! 

The classes I took provided amazing opportunities for hands-on fieldwork. During the first course, we planned, executed, and analyzed data for four complete research projects — in just three weeks! It was definitely fast-paced, but I came out of it with a much greater understanding of the scientific process, and I’m so grateful for the experience. 

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One of the best parts of going to Kenya was the people - the 10 fellow Princeton and Columbia students I traveled with, our professors and TAs, and the Kenyan researchers, staff, and community members we got to know during our stay there. We bonded over trips to overlooks to watch the sunset after a game drive, games of soccer and darts at the research center (which we often lost), and most of all, our climb of Mount Kenya during spring break (I credit the bond between us as the reason we somehow all made it to the summit!). 

Going to Kenya was the best experience of my life so far, and I can’t recommend studying abroad enough. As sad as I was to leave Princeton’s beautiful campus and all my friends there, it was so worth it to get the chance to experience new places, cultures, and ecosystems with such an amazing group of people. If I had one piece of advice for anyone considering studying abroad, it would be to just go! You never know where it can take you. 

On a recent Tuesday, the usual lecture for the course CEE311, Global Air Pollution, was replaced with an atypical data collection session. Each student signed up for a different time slot throughout the day, and small groups met at the parking lot by the E-Quad in order to be driven by Professor Zondlo in the Princeton Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Mobile Lab.

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This car is equipped with various sensors for measuring wind speed, methane, and other greenhouse gasses in the ambient air. It's fully electric, so there are no emissions from the car that could influence the measurements. Inside the car, there's a GPS sensor so that we can pair the measurements to their exact latitude and longitude coordinates. 

Professor Zondlo drove us by a nearby wastewater treatment plant, and we recorded the methane levels coming from the plant. Gas plume measurements are highly variable, so to get a better estimate, we drove past the plant ten times (making U-turns in a nearby parking lot) in order to get more data. Once we had this data, we analyzed it and were able to use the Gaussian plume model we'd learned about in class to get an estimate of the methane emission rate from the plant. 

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This experience was both a welcome change of pace to the usual routine (How often do you get to be driven around by your professor in a decked-out electric car?) and an opportunity to see how an atmospheric chemistry scientist collects and analyzes data. Professor Zondlo uses the mobile lab in his own research, and his group recently published a paper where they performed a similar exercise at a variety of wastewater treatment plants throughout the United States. In being exposed to the real-world methods my professors use in their own research, I've been able to experience what working in different areas of environmental engineering would be like. This has made me feel more prepared to choose my own niche field (water, air, soil, etc.) for graduate school and my future career. I've been consistently impressed with how dedicated my professors are to creating courses that allow me experience what working as an environmental engineer will truly be like. 

If you see a car with some strange metal instruments on top driving by, and then see it turn around and drive by you again, don't be alarmed. You might be witnessing the mobile lab in action, collecting data to help understand and combat climate change.

You might have heard that seniors at Princeton have to write a (dundundunnn!) thesis before we graduate, and to some that can seem like an overwhelming prospect; crafting a culminating piece of original work is no small feat! But I’m here to tell you that, thanks to Princeton’s incredible support, it’s really not as scary as it sounds. And the process can even be – dare I say it – fun! 

This summer, I spent seven weeks in Irvine, California studying the impact of wildfire on large mammal community ecology for my thesis in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB). Due to the COVID pandemic, I hadn’t yet been able to do ecological field work, so diving into it for the first time was exciting. I loved being able to apply the theoretical concepts I had learned in my EEB classes on campus to the dynamic, real-world landscape I found myself in. Being out in the field was incomparable – everywhere I looked there was something new to see and learn about. 

Seniors at Princeton can apply for funding to cover research (on- or off-campus) during the summer before their senior year. I received funding from the Office of Undergraduate Research, EEB Department, and High Meadows Environmental Institute. Thanks to their generosity, I was able to travel across the country to study something I’m interested in for my thesis, and didn’t have to worry about whether I could afford it. 

Living on my own far from the Orange Bubble was at first a bit overwhelming, but I was grateful for the support I found once I got there. Each senior at Princeton is matched with a faculty advisor before beginning their thesis work, and my advisor, one of the leading experts on wildlife conservation, connected me with the director of the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, a nonprofit land management organization in Southern California where I did my research. Having that network of support was helpful and I knew that if I ever had a question on aspects of my research I had several people I could turn to. 

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As with any research project, I encountered obstacles while out in the field; malfunctioning cameras, waking up at 5am every day, and even an encounter with a rattlesnake! But it was all worth it when my data collection started and I began seeing footage of mountain lions and other elusive mammals, getting to think more deeply about their interactions and how human influences are changing the way that they relate with their habitat. It’s exciting to me that my research could possibly have larger implications for land management and wildlife protection as the climate changes, and this motivated me to continue despite the setbacks I faced. This is one of the reasons that, in my mind, the Princeton thesis is so special; you get the chance to take a topic that’s excited you academically during your time here and bring it to the next level, contributing your own original research to the field. 

My experience this summer was one I won’t forget, and I’ll take with me everything I learned as I venture into the field of ecology going forward. Though being back on campus this fall had me missing the sunny California weather, I’m (actually) excited to dive into analyzing my data and finishing writing my thesis. The senior thesis truly is the capstone of your college experience here, and I’m grateful that Princeton has given me this opportunity for learning and discovery. 

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Princeton professors are incredibly willing to take the seed of a research idea and help make it into a full project. Near the end of last summer, I proposed an independent study project to Professor Barry Rand, whose lab I'd been working in during the summer. I wanted to do some type of analysis about the potential for rooftop solar energy in the U.S., but I didn't have a fully formed idea. When I asked to speak with him, I wasn't sure if he would think my idea had any merit, and I wasn't confident he'd take me on as an independent study student for the fall. When I proposed my idea, though, he was enthusiastic and encouraged me to pursue it. He pointed me towards the Google Project Sunroof database, which became the main dataset upon which I based my analysis.

Throughout the summer and fall, I carried out my project as an Independent Study course, with input from Professor Rand and Professor Wagner to guide me. As my project took shape, I asked Professor Rand if he thought I could present my work at an academic conference. I was looking to share my work to others, and I wanted to see what other types of solar research were happening. He suggested the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference. I checked out the website and saw that last year's conference was held in Philadelphia, and that the 2023 conference would be in... Puerto Rico. A bit farther away! This conference looked like the right fit for my research, but who would pay for me to go?

Fortunately, when students have a vision of an independent project they'd like to pursue, Princeton will truly make the funding for it available. I logged into the Student Activities Funding Engine (SAFE) to see what I could find. After inputting some information about my project, several options popped up. One of them seemed ideal: the Undergraduate Fund for Academic Conferences. (Who knew there was a fund specifically for undergraduates going to academic conferences?) I filled out a short application form detailing my project and planned itinerary. Several days later, I heard back—I'd been awarded a grant! The grant would cover half of my travel expenses. I then returned to SAFE to search for funding for the other half. I decided to apply for independent project funding from the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Again, after a short wait, I received notification that I would be awarded the funding that would cover the other half of my expenses. After I return from Puerto Rico, I'll submit a short report about my trip to each office telling them what I learned and gained from the experience.

Princeton ascribes a high value to undergraduate original research, so they really make funds available to students to pursue their research and the experiences that will enrich it, like conferences. I was surprised and pleased at how straightforward the process was to secure funding for the opportunity to present my work, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm incredibly grateful that Princeton sees the value in making it possible for students to travel and gain greater context and insight about their research fields. Look out for a blog post this summer about the solar conference!

If you’re a prospective student, you may have heard of the (in)famous senior thesis—a year-long independent project that incorporates original research, relating to your field of study. In my department, that often means a research paper on a form of literature, but there is a lot of freedom and seniors often choose creative and fun themes. 

I still have several months to go on my own thesis, but I’ve just returned from my research trip and would like to share my experience. I went to Czech Republic, visited the central depository for the National Literary Archives, and viewed original manuscripts and other writings.  

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The first step in the process was to find an adviser—and a topic. From the beginning, I knew I wanted to focus on an author from Eastern Europe. Back in high school, I had applied to Princeton specifically because the Slavic Languages & Literatures department here offered more than just Russian language. During my time here, I’ve taken three different Slavic languages (Russian, Czech and Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian). With the help of my adviser, I decided on Czech author Ladislav Fuks.  

Next, I had to apply for funding for my research. Using the University’s funding engine, I described my topic and proposed research. The University granted me the money to pay for my plane tickets, lodging, local transportation and meals. 

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Then, of course, came the trip! I flew from Denver International Airport in my home state of Colorado to Prague. I then traveled to the city of Litoměřice in north Czechia, where the central depository was located. I stayed in a small apartment I rented over Airbnb that was close enough to walk to my work site. Each day, I walked to the depository and signed in. The amazing director of the Litoměřice archives spoke with me about my research and brought me boxes of material from the depository. In the research room, I sorted through hundreds of folios in the boxes to find papers and writings that would be useful to my research. I scanned and saved those that I could use, and repeated the process over the two weeks of my stay until I had gone through all of the material. 

I’m now back on campus, and am excited to start writing my thesis. I feel lucky to have a real, independent archival research experience as an undergrad. The senior thesis might seem scary, but when you hit upon a topic you’re passionate about, the process can actually be a lot of fun!

Deep within the C floor (one of three below-ground levels) of Firestone Library, you’ll find my favorite aisle, QL. This aisle is home to books on some of my favorite subjects: zoology, wildlife conservation and natural history. Sometimes I’ll find myself wandering down there to check out a book or two, just because. 

I like to think that there is an aisle in Firestone for everyone, regardless of your academic or personal interests, whether it be French cinema or feminism, cellular immunology or ancient Chinese texts. With over 70 miles of bookshelves –– if you laid them end to end they’d reach from Princeton to New York City –– you can always find something to spark your curiosity here. 

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Aside from the extensive variety of genres held within Firestone’s walls, there are several other aspects of the library that I think make it really special. As a Firestone Tour Guide, I give tours of the library to prospective students, and I like to share some of these lesser-known discoveries with my tour groups whenever I can. 

• Personal librarians: Every undergrad at Princeton is matched with a personal librarian. This is someone you can go to with any questions regarding your research or book-finding needs at Princeton, whether for writing a paper for a class or compiling sources for your thesis. I’ve gotten personalized emails from my librarian every semester checking in on how I’m doing, which always puts a smile on my face.

• ReCAP / IvyPlus: Princeton students have access to ReCAP, a storage facility located near campus that holds 17 million volumes. If there is ever a book, manuscript or journal that Firestone doesn't have, chances are it can be found at ReCAP. Requests submitted to ReCAP are often fulfilled within the same day. Princeton is also part of the IvyPlus network, which allows students to have materials sent from Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Stanford and other universities in the event that Princeton does not have them. 

• Data and statistical services center: This center can help with any data processing or visualization needs you might have in any research you do at Princeton. They have specialists on staff you can meet with about any and all questions you have relating to data. 

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• Collaboration Hub: This space on the first floor of the library has Apple TVs, soundproof collaboration rooms with floor-to-ceiling whiteboards and more. I think that this space really reflects the attitude of collaboration over competition at Princeton; working on projects or studying together is common here. 

• Dixon Collection: Something that I think is fairly little-known on campus is that Princeton students have access to thousands of e-books and audiobooks of pretty much any genre for free. Whether you’re looking for a good beach read or the next crime thriller, you can find it here! 

• Special Collections: This is definitely one of my favorite parts of Firestone. The special collections is home to Princeton’s rarest and most valuable books and manuscripts. Through a student tour of the Scheide Library within special collections, I've seen a Gutenberg Bible, an original Bach manuscript, and a recipe in Emily Dickinson's handwriting. Many rare items are available for Princeton students to request, handle, and research, which I think is pretty amazing.

I hope I’ve convinced you that there really is something for everyone in Firestone (or, one of Princeton’s eight other libraries!). Who knows, with enough exploration you just might find a favorite aisle of your own.

One of the facets of the Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree at Princeton is that you are required to complete junior independent work (in addition to the famous senior thesis). Some departments require two, one for each semester, while others only require one for the academic year. As an East Asian Studies concentrator, I have to write two junior research papers, the first of which is written in conjunction with the mandatory junior seminar (EAS 300) and under the guidance of the designated faculty adviser –– the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the department –– while the second is written with any available adviser of the student’s choosing. 

For East Asian Studies, there are no set parameters for our projects for either semester, meaning that we are genuinely allowed to write about anything that interests us. The freedom is both liberating and daunting, especially since I now had to consider my certificate requirements in my independent work. Two of my certificates: Gender & Sexuality Studies and Translation & Intercultural Communication, require me to write about a topic related to my certificate for at least one of my two junior papers. I remember walking into my classroom on the first week of the semester and sitting in a semicircle with the rest of my classmates when one of the first questions our professor asked us was, “Why don’t we go around in a circle and talk about what your junior paper topic is?” My mind went completely blank. I had a vague subject matter I wanted to research, but one that was nowhere near the stage in which I could share it with other people. I blurted out that I wanted to write something about the feminist movement in Korea and then sat around nervously as my peers described (what seemed to be) well thought out ideas for their independent work. 

However, as the weeks passed, my favorite part of the seminar soon became seeing how other people’s junior paper topics changed and evolved –– and how mine did as well. Now, I am writing my junior paper about the historical legacy of the patriarchy in South Korea, comparing the government response to the Gangnam Murder Case of 2016 with that of the general public, namely women. 

Although my junior independent work is far from finished, here are a few tips I have gathered from the past semester:

• Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm! 
  • The more you brainstorm and think about your project, the easier the writing itself will become. 
• Work a little every day, whether it be 5 minutes or 5 hours. 
  • You will have accomplished more than you think by the end of a few weeks. 
• Ask questions, and ask for feedback.
  • Find a few people to bounce ideas off of and tell them to ask you questions to test gaps in your logic. 
• Don’t be scared!
  • I spent weeks putting off working on my Junior Paper (JP) because I was overwhelmed, but once I started that it really is an enriching experience once you take it one day at a time. 

During fall break, I had the opportunity to travel to Greece with the Humanities Sequence. After dedicating much time and energy during our first year at Princeton to the rigorous reading schedule and thought-provoking discussions of the HUM Sequence, my peers and I were ecstatic to pursue our individual research questions during our sequence sponsored fall break trip to Athens.

Upon arriving in Greece, I was struck by the extraordinary view of the Acropolis from my hotel room balcony. Our days were filled with guided tours, museum trips and excursions. While we spent most of the break in Athens, we were lucky enough to venture out to visit the Archeological Site of Delphi and to swim in the Aegean Sea at Nafplio.

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During my research day in Greece, I visited the Parthenon and the Acropolis Museum. I came to Greece hoping to study the Parthenon Marbles and to get a sense of Greek opinion on the marbles’ ownership debate. I cannot fully describe the sense of awe that flooded me when I finally arrived at the Parthenon. As a Classics student studying Greek, I found myself trying to translate every ruin I saw. This trip held extreme significance for me, and I was moved by the museums, ruins, sites and the homes of the authors whom I have dedicated myself to studying at Princeton.

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On the flight back to campus, I remember reflecting on the entire experience. I was overwhelmed by an extreme sense of gratitude––for the opportunity to travel to Greece, for the hospitality of the Greek people and mostly for the community fostered by the HUM sequence. The HUM sequence has been a defining element of my experience at Princeton, and I highly recommend that anyone who has an interest in the humanities or literature consider it. While abroad, I grew closer to my classmates and professors. Later this week we will all come together and present our projects from the trip.

Over my summers, I've performed research at Princeton through internships funded by the High Meadows Environmental Institute. I've really liked both experiences so far, but they've been incredibly different, not only being in different departments but requiring very different skill sets. Two summers ago, I worked remotely from home with the Interfacial Water Group in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department running simulations of contaminants in water and air. I connected to the Princeton computing clusters from my laptop, and Professor Bourg taught me over Zoom how to create files to run and submit to the supercomputer. This past summer, I worked in the Rand Lab in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department to try to create energy-efficient OLEDs. This work required using specialized equipment like the spin coater and thermal evaporator located only in lab B427. The two internships have been useful in allowing me to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of coding lab work and manual lab work.

For both types of research, there was a steep learning curve at the beginning. For molecular dynamics simulations, I had to become familiar with the coding language of the software LAMMPS, in order to create input files to run, and with the scheduling language "slurm" as well as the Linux command line for submitting files to the supercomputer. In the Rand lab, a different set of abilities are required. The lab demands physical dexterity that is not required for running simulations, such as being able to insert my hands into the gloves that enter the nitrogen glovebox (easier said than done) and handling the fragile glass substrates with tweezers through the thick glovebox gloves. It also demands a certain vigilance, as one wrong move could spill an acid onto the floor or disturb someone's multi-day experiment.

I like the convenience of running simulations, in that I can work at it whenever I choose and from any location with a VPN connection. And at an earlier point in my OLED internship, I'm was much more familiar with running simulations than working in the lab, therefore simulations felt much more comfortable to me than the newness of the Rand lab. But there is something rewarding about seeing tangible and physical results that I achieve in the lab, like handling a shiny and finished OLED or viewing the color transformation of a compound I synthesize. I don't get quite the same feeling from seeing a display on a computer screen of a simulation I run as when I can hold the physical result of my work.

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There are other similarities between the two types of research aside from the learning curves. For instance, both lab groups hold weekly group meetings where a few members of the group give updates on their projects, asking the Head Principal Investigator (PI) and the other group members for feedback. There is a strong sense of community among the different graduate and undergraduate students in each group, revealed in the thoughtful advice they offer to one another. For instance, at a group meeting I spoke about my attempt with my mentor, Jesse, to synthesize a certain solution to use as one of the layers of our OLEDs. I described our problem getting the powder to fully disperse in alcohol. One of the graduate students mentioned that she knows several researchers from a group in France who work specifically on synthesizing solutions like the one we're attempting to create, and she offered to put me in contact with them. I'm really grateful to have had the chance to work in two very different fields.

This summer, I'm working on a sustainable energy project creating OLEDs to power photocatalysis through a High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) internship. This means I'm living in Princeton, and I was initially worried that it would feel a little lonely to be on campus when classes aren't in session. When I was speaking with friends about their summer plans, though, I was pleasantly surprised by how many would also be in Princeton this summer. A few of my friends have other HMEI internships that take place in labs, while others have research internships through the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (ACEE). Contrary to my worries, campus is still humming with activity in over the summer.

There's a community of about 50 HMEI interns on campus, and we recently had a group dinner where I caught up with friends and was introduced to several new ones. We had Nomad Pizza (restaurant that serves brick oven pizza) in Guyot Hall, and I got to hear about one friend's fieldwork at the nearby Watershed Institute and about another's work at the Plasma Physics Lab.

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There are also around 20 ACEE interns on campus, one of whom, John, works in the same lab as I do with a different graduate student mentor. It's nice that I'm not the only undergrad in the lab, because I'm reminded that it's normal to face a steep learning curve when adapting to operating the specialized instruments! While the graduate students make operating a thermal evaporator with three pairs of gloves on seem effortless, John and I still have practice to do to achieve that level of dexterity.

Being on campus in the summer is nice because it gives me a chance to explore the Princeton area at a time when I'm not overwhelmed with coursework. On weekends I like to visit the shops on Nassau Street, like Nearly New thrift shop or Labyrinth Books, or explore the area by running on the towpath or biking around town. Another perk of Princeton in the summer is the farmers' market, which is held every Thursday. New Jersey summer fruit absolutely cannot be beat!

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When I was applying for HMEI internships for the summer, I initially considered several of the offerings with international travel. There were opportunities to study grasslands in Madagascar of Mozambique, for example, which would certainly have made for a unique and memorable summer of travel. I decided against it, though, when I realized that I'd really prefer to gain more wet lab experience and spend time with my Princeton community. I'm truly enjoying spending summer on campus, and I would recommend it to any student as a way to appreciate the lovely area during a calmer time of year.