Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research

The Experience of Writing a JP: Straight from the Primary Source

Posted on April 21, 2026April 20, 2026 by Haya Elamir

Student sits in a chair on a sunny day at Cannon Green — *Thinking in Cannon Green (probably about a JP*!). *Photo Credit: Matt Raspanti.*

It’s that time of year: I am writing a Junior Proposal as a molecular biology major. There are a few things I found about this experience that have humbled me very deeply. I obviously did not expect a cakewalk. I think it’s a good time for me to let juniors know; it’s not necessarily a difficult experience, but it’s strangely timed. The deadlines (at least for my major) are right in the middle of a somewhat hectic time between exams and the long stretch of spring semester post-spring break. Many of my peers (including myself) have been doing experiments for a while now, and working on the paper feels like coming up for air from a very deep lair at the bottom of the ocean. It can be very disorienting. The issue is that it requires a different way of thinking than when you’re in the midst of experimentation.

Writing a Historiography

Posted on April 16, 2026April 15, 2026 by Alison Fortenberry

Historiographies are historical analyses of the historical scholarship written about a given subject. Rather than just identifying gaps in a scholarly conversation, historiographies analyze how that historical literature has been produced and how it has changed over time. Writing a historiography gives you the chance to make a historical argument about how the knowledge in your field has developed and evolved. However, approaching a whole new field of literature as an undergraduate researcher can be overwhelming. Here are some strategies I’ve used to parse historical literature and write historiographies for my independent work.

Shelves filled with books in Firestone Library. — *I start my historiographies in Firestone looking for a wide range of literature.* *Photo credit: Denise Applewhite*.

Incorporating Lessons from Coursework and Research Into Day to Day Life

Posted on April 9, 2026April 9, 2026 by Gabriel Ascoli

A sarcophagus depicting Priam kneeling and kissing Achilles' hand. — *Sarcophagus depicting king Priam imploring Achilles for the return of the body of his son, Tyre, 2nd cent AD. Photo Credit: National Museum of Beirut.*

I am a Classics major on the pre-medical track, which means I spend roughly equal parts of my intellectual life in ancient texts and clinical/STEM spaces. Most people, when I tell them this, assume I’m describing a contradiction – humanities on one side, medicine on the other, and me shuttling awkwardly between them. How can my work with Ancient Greek and Latin texts possibly inform my time with patients who live in a modern world and are treated with modern medicine? How can all the time I’ve spent thinking about literature, philosophy, and art from different time periods be relevant to my day-to-day life, or my future career as a physician?

Understanding the Invisible: Rishika’s Work in Space and Plasma Physics

Posted on April 7, 2026April 7, 2026 by Aishah Shahid

*Rishika at the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics 2025 Conference.*
*Funding acknowledgement: Received a student travel grant and outstanding student presenter award from the American Physical Society. Picture taken by Rishika Porandla.*

At Princeton, research does not always look the way people imagine. It is not always telescopes pointed toward the sky or chalkboards filled with equations. Sometimes, it happens in quiet laboratories where the goal is to understand things you cannot even see, like streams of charged particles moving through space.

For Rishika Porandla, a member of the Class of 2028 majoring in astrophysics, this is exactly where her work lives. Her research sits at the intersection of space, plasma, and the instruments that allow scientists to study both.

5 Tips for Building Your Grad School Application List

Posted on April 2, 2026March 31, 2026 by Alison Fortenberry

The exterior of Sonia Sotomayor Hall photographed from University Place. — *Sonia Sotomayor Hall, home of the Center for Career Development, which I visited as I built my graduate school application list.*

So you’ve decided to apply to graduate school. Congratulations! Now comes the next step: deciding where to apply. As someone who just completed the Ph.D. application cycle, I was surprised to find that this was one of the hardest parts of the process. Researching programs was challenging, and I didn’t know where I would be admitted, so it felt like each school on my list needed to be somewhere I could actually see myself attending. Here are five factors I considered that helped me build a strong application list.

Let Research Help Guide Your Major Decisions

Posted on March 31, 2026March 31, 2026 by Stanley Stoutamire, Jr.

Stanley Stoutamire standing in front of the Anthropology Department Declaration Day Banner on Cannon Green in front of Morrison Hall. — *A photo from Declaration Day 2025*.

Princeton and research go together so well they can almost feel synonymous. From the first-year writing seminar to the Junior Paper two years later, core milestones in the Princeton experience are research experiences. Every step of the academic journey undergraduates undergo feels as though it’s building up to the ever-looming thesis. However, nestled between Writing Sem and the JP is sophomore year, when students pursuing AB degrees declare their major. It’s a time to explore diverse courses and meet new faculty, an opportunity to engage with Princeton as the liberal arts institution it is. Often in the process it can be easy to forget about the role research plays in the experience of a major. As someone who needed until Declaration Day to decide his major, considering potential future experiences with research was crucial in my decision to declare Anthropology on the Medical track. With Dec. Day on the horizon again, I wanted to share some of the thinking that was useful for my decision-making process.

Tiny Models, Big Impact: Erika Yeung’s Work in Edge AI

Posted on March 26, 2026March 26, 2026 by Aishah Shahid

When Erika Yeung arrived at Princeton, she knew she was drawn to the intersection of hardware and intelligence, the idea that physical systems like chips and sensors could not only compute, meaning process information, but also perceive the world, learn from data, and adapt over time. As a sophomore in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, she took a bold step into that space through independent research with Professor Hossein Valavi. Her work focused on how neural networks, which are computer models inspired by the way the human brain processes information, can be redesigned to run efficiently on edge devices. These are small, local devices such as phones, sensors, or embedded systems that operate without relying on distant cloud servers.

At the heart of Erika’s work was quantization, a technique that reduces the numerical precision of neural network weights, which are the internal values that determine how the model makes decisions. Instead of using highly precise numbers, quantization simplifies them into smaller, more compact representations. This allows the model to take up less memory and run faster while still maintaining strong performance. This idea is central to fields like Edge AI and TinyML, which aim to move machine learning out of large data centers and into everyday devices, from wearable health monitors to autonomous systems operating far from the cloud. Running AI locally means the models must be not only accurate, but also lightweight, fast, and energy efficient. Quantization offers one of the most promising ways to make that possible.

Navigating Research with Disability: An Interview with ODS

Posted on March 24, 2026March 20, 2026 by Alison Fortenberry

A photo of the AccessAbility Center in Frist Campus Center, with text reading "AccessAbility Center: Beyond Limits." — *The Office of Disability Services’ AccessAbility Center in Frist Campus Center. Photo Credit: Denise Applewhite.*

I have a physical disability, and when I entered Princeton, independent research was something that really daunted me. I have been surprised to find that independent research has been very accessible to me because of the flexibility and control it has given me over my work. Two years ago, I started an archival research project right after a surgery, which put increased limits on my ability. Since the project was self-managed, I was able to schedule archival research appointments around physical therapy appointments. I also received simple accommodations in the archive, like archivists moving boxes for me to support my limitations post-surgery.

That said, disability is diverse, as are research methodologies. Accommodations and approaches to research look different based on the kind of disability you have and the kinds of questions you want to answer. I spoke with Asha Nambiar, the director of Princeton’s Office of Disability Services (ODS), to gather advice on getting involved with research as a student with a disability.

“With Focus Comes Depth, and with Depth Comes Complexity”

Posted on March 19, 2026March 5, 2026 by Gabriel Ascoli

A statue of a man sitting on a rock, thinking — *Le Penseur* (The Thinker) Statue, by Auguste Rodin (1904)

As I wrapped up the first of my two independent junior research papers and began brainstorming for the second (and much larger) one, I hit a familiar wall: too much possibility, with no clear direction.

This next paper is supposed to be around 30 pages. The topic is broad. My notes are abundant and scattered. Every passage and source I consider seems to open a new direction I could take. In theory, this is a researcher’s dream – I have abundant evidence, rich material, and intellectual freedom. In practice though, it can feel paralyzing. What is even relevant? How do I start this? What am I actually trying to say?

My high school English teacher gave me the most useful writing advice I’ve ever heard: “With focus comes depth, and with depth comes complexity.”

Congrats, You Got Accepted: Now What?

Posted on March 17, 2026March 16, 2026 by Shannon Yeow

Presenters and attendees at Princeton Research Day in the Princeton University Art Museum — *Princeton Research Day – Undergraduate Edition, Photo Credit: Sameer Khan / Fotobuddy*

Getting accepted to a conference can feel like the end of a long marathon. After months of conducting research and several iterations of writing, you hit submit, you wait, and you refresh your inbox until finally, the email arrives. You’ve been accepted! Now, you have the opportunity to poster at a conference and share your work with a broader research community.

First of all, congratulations! It is no small feat to get your work reviewed and accepted, and you should be very proud of your accomplishments.

After the excitement and the celebration, you might be wondering what comes next. Acceptance is not just a milestone, but also the beginning of a series of steps to actually poster at a conference. It’s now time to finalize your submission for publication, decide how you will attend, and determine how you will present your research. I hope this practical guide helps you navigate the steps after acceptance.

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