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Conduct Research Get Started with Research

From Lab Bench to Laptop: Exploring Computational and Experimental Research

A screenshot of a simulation of thousands of water molecules and a larger organic molecule on top.
A molecular simulation of a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”) molecule at the air-water interface — part of my research experience this past summer.

The image that scientific research conjures is that of a lab coat-clad scientist hunched over cell cultures or mixing unknown chemicals in a fume hood. I bet you wouldn’t believe it if I told you my summer research experience was more like a 9-to-5 desk job — running Excel formulas across five spreadsheets and refilling my coffee mug every two hours. 

Coming into Princeton, I was undecided about my academic and research interests. I had done wet-lab chemistry research in high school and enjoyed it, but I also liked computer science and wasn’t ready to leave it behind either. Thus, early on, I set out to gain both experimental and computational research experience. A first-year seminar on computational molecular modelling led me to continue this work over the summer through a High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) internship. This semester, I am turning to the experimental side, conducting independent work on making porous materials called zeolites for natural gas purification and carbon capture. Working on both theory and experiments has given me a clearer picture of what research looks like from either side, and I hope my experience helps if you’re also drawn to both.

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Conduct Research Research Life

The Realities of Researching Babies

Princeton Baby Lab waiting room
Princeton Baby Lab, Princeton’s developmental psychology lab, located in Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI). Photo Credit: Jamilah Araf

Often, when we picture research, we think of beakers or microscopes. However, the study of humans looks very different. I hope to shine light on social science research, specifically psychology research, at Princeton using my experience at the Princeton Baby Lab.

This summer, I worked alongside five other research assistants in the Princeton Baby Lab, Princeton’s developmental psychology lab. All of the projects in the Baby Lab work towards understanding how we learn language during development. However, the projects used a variety of methods to approach this question.

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Conduct Research Get Started with Research Research Life Resources

Close One Door, and Another Will Open

A field ecologist looks through an endless field of seaweed.
Fieldwork in the Intertidal. Photo Credit: Marshall Mumford.

It’s okay to fail. No, really, it is. You may feel that the achievements that brought you here have put you on a pedestal, destined to keep rising higher and higher, but someday that pedestal will break or crumble, and you must figure out how to keep going. 

This is true especially in research. Having been involved in scientific research from the early days of doing science fair, to analyzing my data for my senior thesis, I feel like I have rather good authority to speak on failure. These are my four tips for coping with failure as you embark on your research journey. 

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Independent Work Research Life

The Importance of Community in Research

Multiple hands joined together
Finding community

I spent this past summer in the lab on campus, and while that may not be a glamorous Eurosummer, it gave me the opportunity to get to know my lab members better as well as my own research. The supportive community I found not just changed my summer, but also how I view research as a career. 

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Independent Work

Exploring and Engaging with the Literature

Forbes Library with a laptop in the foreground
An evening in Forbes Library

With senior year well underway, it’s still pretty hard to wrap my head around the fact I’m actually working on my senior thesis. What isn’t hard to wrap my head around is the fact it means I’ll be producing yet another literature review. Whether it was my R2 during writing sem (an assignment from a now ancient version of the course) or what is shaping up to be the largest thing I’ve ever done, there’s always a lit review. This makes plenty of sense, given that literature reviews allow you to perform a necessary survey of the scholarly landscape, and can be used to teach necessary skills related to analyzing and synthesizing a broad range of perspectives and narratives. Despite this ubiquity, not every literature review is cut from the same cloth, and after writing my fair share of them, I’ve come to understand the practices that allow a quality literature review to stand a cut above.

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Get Started with Research Independent Work Research Life

Diary of a Thesis

Part 1: Brainstorming

Medea attempts to cure Aeson, her lover Jason's father. She dramatically points a wand to a cauldron. Above her, the gods Diana, Neptune, and Hecate watch.
Corrado Giaquinto (1703–1765), Medea Rejuvenating Aeson (1760). A scene from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Medea attempts to “cure” her love Jason’s father of his old age

As I begin to plan for my senior year, the quintessential Princeton trial looms over me: the senior thesis. For such a large and talked-about project, I felt the familiar feeling of “Where do I even start?”

As I embark upon my thesis journey, I’m hoping to take a self-reflective and forward-planning approach. In doing so, I hope to harness a productive and proactive energy that will help me treat this project as a series of small, feasible, and exciting tasks, and to help others who may be struggling.

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PCUR News

Welcome to the 2026-2027 Academic Year

A group picture of the correspondents. From left to right: Jamilah Araf ’29, Mai Tran ’29, Maya Cabrera ’27, Angel Toasakul ’27, Haya Elamir ’27, Gabriel Ascoli ’27, and Stanley Stoutamire ’27.
From left to right: Jamilah Araf ’29, Mai Tran ’29, Maya Cabrera ’27, Angel Toasakul ’27, Haya Elamir ’27, Gabriel Ascoli ’27, and Stanley Stoutamire ’27. Photo by David Galarza Castro.

Welcome to another year with PCUR! To start the semester off, we already have many great posts lining up starting next week. Please stay tuned for our first post of the academic year and join us on the journey of reflection and exploration through Princeton undergraduate research.

Returning as Chief Correspondent, it is my great pleasure to welcome back our returning PCUR correspondents: Gabriel Ascoli ’27, Haya Elamir ’27, Aishah Shahid ’28, and Stanley Stoutamire ’27. I am also honored to introduce our new correspondents: Jamilah Araf ’29, Maya Cabrera ’27, and Mai Tran ’29.

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Conduct Research Independent Work Present & Publish Findings Research Life Resources

How to Make a Poster: 5 Things I Learned from a Poster Workshop

Over the last few weeks of the semester, I needed to make two posters. In preparation, I attended a poster workshop that made me think more intentionally about how to make an effective poster. I’ve outlined some of my key takeaways below that I hope can offer guidance to anyone preparing a poster of their own. 

Image of Princeton Research Day from a higher vantage point in the Princeton University Art Museum
Princeton Research Day in the Princeton University Art Museum. Photo credit: Sameer Khan / Fotobuddy.
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Independent Work Present & Publish Findings

Reflections on the Writing Process for Humanities Work

An ink quill and parchment.
An ink quill and parchment. Photo credit: Mushki Brichta.

With two junior papers under my belt now, I’ve been taking some time to reflect on my writing strategies as I gear up to tackle my senior thesis next year. I’ve accumulated a list of what I think I would have benefited most from hearing, and I intend to take these lessons with me for my next year of work.

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Conduct Research Independent Work Resources

Traveling with Purpose: How Academic Travel Enriched My Experiences

Just this year, I had the opportunity to travel through Princeton twice: once over winter break for my senior thesis and PIIRS Undergraduate Fellowship fieldwork in Taiwan, and again over spring break through ART 481: Alaskan Art, Spirit, and Being: Healing Histories of Dispossession, when I traveled to Alaska for class. As a senior in my final spring semester, spending both my last winter and spring breaks traveling for academic purposes has been more than fulfilling. It has been one of the most meaningful parts of my Princeton experience.

Both trips reminded me that academic travel is about much more than going somewhere new. Traveling with purpose changes what you notice, who you meet, and what you are able to learn. It opens up conversations, relationships, and opportunities for insight that you likely would not have had otherwise.

Local fishermen sitting near fishing rod on shore, looking out into a horizon of oyster aquaculture and an offshore wind farm
Local fishers on shore against a backdrop of oyster aquaculture and the Yunlin Offshore Wind Farm.
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