Seasonal Series

Since Fall 2015, PCUR has highlighted a particular research-related topic, on which each correspondent shares their perspective. Check out a summary of our seasonal series so far:

Spring 2025: Collaboration and Mentorship Across the Disciplines

• Encounters with Mentorship
• The Beauty of Mentorship
• Cracking Cold Emails: Reaching Out to Professors in a Way that Works
• Paying it Forward: A Faculty Perspective on Mentorship in Research
• “The Luckiest Man in the World”: An Interview with Professor Robert P. George
• Research is Better with the Right Mentor – How I Found Mine

Spring 2024: Pathways to Research Projects

• An Interview with Eric Ahn
• Journeying through Statistics & Machine Learning Research: An Interview with Jake Snell
• Interview with Bjarke Nielsen, EEB/HMEI
• An Interview with Gemma M. Sahwell

Spring 2023: Princeton Perspective Project Collaboration: Resisting Effortless Perfection in Research

• Effortless Perfection at Princeton: An Introduction to PCUR’s 2023 Seasonal Series
• Reflections on Fear, “Failure,” & the Beauty of Organic Chemistry Part 1: Thank You ORGO LEGEND Tom Silldorff
• An Interview with Kelly Finke on Finding your Way in Research and the Meaning of Failure
• Effortless Perfection at Princeton: The “Perfect” Thesis is Really Hard Work
• PPP from a Student’s Perspective: An Interview with Alexis Wu
• Preparing for ORGO, Overcoming Fear, & Rejecting Effortless Perfection: Interview with Tom Silldorff, Part 2
• An Interview with Cara Khalifeh, PPP Treasurer

Winter 2019-2020: Research Resources: Unsung Heroes

• An Interview with Writing Center Fellow Johanne Kjaersgaard ‘22
• An Interview with Chief Correspondent Ellie Breitfeld ’20
• An Interview with Gender and Sexuality Studies Librarian Sara Howard

Spring 2019: Post-Princeton Life: The Experiences of PCUR Alumni

• An Interview with Nicholas Wu ’18
• An Interview with Bennett MacIntosh ’16
• An Interview with Emma Kaeser, ’18
• Interview with Melissa Parnagian ’17
• An Interview with Stacey Huang ’16
• Interview with Jalisha Braxton ’16

Winter 2018-2019: Professorship and Mentorship

• An Interview with Geosciences Professor Frederik Simons
• An Interview with Molecular Biology Professor Zemer Gitai
• An Interview with Professor of Religion Anne Marie Luijendijk
• An Interview with Professor Bernadette Pérez
• A Conversation with the Woodrow Wilson School’s Professor Udi Ofer

Spring 2018: Graduate Student Reflections: Life in Academia

• Graduate Student Reflections: Nathan Li
• An Interview with Herrissa Lamothe
• An Interview with Jonathon Catlin
• An Interview with Mike Hepler
• An Interview with Ole Agnersnap 
• An Interview with Hadiya Jones
• An Interview with Alex Wheatley ’16 *20 and Nathan Eckstein ’16 *20

Winter 2017-2018: Looking Back on Undergraduate Research: Alumni Perspectives

• A Conversation with Jacob Schatz ’15
• A Conversation with Teri Tillman ’16
• An Interview with Masi Yamada ’94
• Chris Lu ’88 on Public Service 

Spring 2017: Princeton Research Day 2017

• Princeton Research Day: Spotlight on Costume Designer Julia Peiperl ’17
• Presenting at Princeton Research Day 2017!
• Behind the Scenes at Princeton Research Day: A Call for Student Judges

Fall 2017: Senior Theses: A Celebration

• An interview with Aubree Andres ’17
• An interview with Alex Ford ’17
• An Interview with Claire Ashmead ’17 
• An Interview with Nadia Diamond ’17
• An Interview with Xuewei Ouyang ’17

Fall 2016: Looking Back on Undergraduate Research: Alumni Perspectives

• Lindy Li ’12 from Philosophy to a Career in Politics
• A Conversation with Kristin Schwab ’09
• Dumpster Diving with Alex V. Barnard ’09
• A Conversation with Shayla Reid ’15

Summer 2016: The Inaugural Summer Series

• Exploring Budapest’s Present and Past
• Researching Abroad? Here’s some advice!
• Four Tips for Summer Research
• A Summer of Surprises in the Windy City
• Zooming In and Stepping Back: A Two-Sided Approach to Research
• On Action and Optimism: Notes from the Coral Reef Symposium
• Post-Fieldwork Blues
• Science, the Absurd
• My Lesson in Research Rehearsal

Spring 2016: Mentorship in Research

• Don’t go alone!
• What’s “networking” all about?
• Getting by with a little help from my friends
• Overcoming Originality
• Advisers vs. Mentors
• An ode to the grad student (and one grad student in particular)

Fall 2015: The Project That Made Me a Researcher

• Hands-On Journalism and a World-Renowned Cathedral
• Beatniks, Buddhists, and Me
• (No?) Lab Coat Required
• Engineer or researcher—why not both?
• The Project That Made Me a Researcher… Sort Of
• 8 Things Infancy Teaches Us About Research
• Rain in the rainforest