For Princeton students, it’s not premature to start thinking about summer. If anything, this post may be a little behind for some of those proactive students. Rest assured though, you are not behind if you have not started the search for summer internships (even though many students will say they’ve already applied). Opportunities are aplenty, and no, you are not behind if you didn’t start applying for research internships back in the womb.
Continue reading Looking Ahead to Spring (And Summer)
From philosophy, theology, history, and politics to taxonomy and medicine, Latin is doubtless one of the most important academic languages in history. Unfortunately, its status as a ‘dead language’ tends to repel many, and myths of its arcane and difficult nature often discourage learners. Another problem is that this mystique is perpetuated in many Latin language classrooms: the ‘dead language’ is truly treated as such, with little to no emphasis placed on speaking or pronunciation and all stress (in both senses of the word) lying on the rote memorization of grammar tables.
However, learning Latin need not be cumbersome, nor strike fear into our hearts. Rather, noli timere (be not afraid). The Classics Department offers excellent instruction and tutoring. Moreover, since course prerequisites can and often do interfere with language study during the semester, there are also great alternatives for self-study. Online and print resources abound for this timeless language and are tailored to a variety of learning styles.
Continue reading Latin Revival: Some Approaches and Language Learning Tools
When asked about what courses I’m taking and I share the list, I’m often greeted with blank stares or curious expressions. The response I elicit is, “Why are you making life so hard on yourself?” And no, it’s not because I’m loading up on a truckload of courses like physics, math, chemistry, and computer science.
As a classics major-turned-premed, my schedule has me jumping from subject to subject across disciplines. My days consist of learning about synthesis reactions in organic chemistry in a massive lecture hall, and puzzling over Plato in ancient Greek with a circle of 7 classmates. My head spinning with Greek letters and grammatical constructions, I head for immunology, and then back again to read Latin literature. As STEM and humanities classes are often located on opposite sides of campus, I find myself trekking up and down Washington Road multiple times a day. Aside from getting my daily steps in, what exactly do I get for doing this?
For most STEM majors at Princeton, one of the requirements is a course known informally as Core Lab. This class aims to equip students with laboratory skills required to succeed as a scientist in the field. It is usually composed of two 3-hour labs and one lecture per week. As a neuroscience major, I am currently taking NEU 350: Laboratory in Principles of Neuroscience, a class designed to introduce students to modern methods of analyzing neural activity—from the level of single neurons to large-scale networks underlying cognition. The course covers a range of techniques, including intracellular and extracellular recordings, optogenetics, EEG, and fMRI. After weeks of conducting designed experiments, it culminates in an independent research project where students design and conduct their own experiments based on knowledge and skills learned throughout the semester.
Continue reading Inside the Neuroscience Lab: How Core Lab is Shaping My Research Journey
“Big data” and “data science” are some of the buzzwords of our era, perhaps second only to “machine learning” or “artificial intelligence.” In our globalized, Internet-ized society of plentiful information galore, data has become perhaps the most important commodity of all. Across all kinds of academic disciplines, working with large amounts of data has become a necessity: universities and corporations advertise positions for “data scientists,” and media outlets warn ominously of the privacy risks associated with the rise of “big data.”
This isn’t an article that discusses the broader, societal implications of “big data,” although I highly encourage all readers to learn more about this important topic. Instead, I’m here purely to provide you some (hopefully) broadly applicable tips to working with large amounts of data in any academic context.
In my own field of climate science, data is paramount: researchers work with gigantic databases and arrays containing millions of elements (e.g., how different climate variables, such as temperature or precipitation, change over both space and time). But data, and opportunities for working with data, are present in every field, from operations research to history. Below is an overview of some existing data operation tools that can hopefully assist you on your budding data science career!
Continue reading Demystifying Big Data: An Introduction to Some Useful Data Operation ToolsYou’ve finished a research project and now you’re on to the final step: presenting your work! It’s time to share the incredible work you’ve done with the general public, and one of the best ways to do so is to create a poster conveying the significance and conclusions of your research. This will be an essential skill during your time at Princeton whether for a course or as a part of your junior and senior independent work. If this is your first time creating a poster presentation, check this blog out!
The author presenting at the American Geophysical Union 2023 Fall Meeting.
Imagine the following scenario: after months of committed, in-depth research on the academic topic of your choice, you’ve finally obtained some pretty cool and novel results. Your adviser is excited, and their reaction is enthusiastic—“Hey, what if we submit an abstract to an academic conference?” This was the situation I found myself in last year, when my advisers suggested I present my research on reconstructing past Antarctic snowfall patterns at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco. I felt honored and excited, but also a bit nervous. How was I, a lowly undergraduate, going to present my work to a massive academic conference the size of a midsized town?
Luckily, I was fortunate enough to receive a lot of great advice from mentors and peers, and in the end it turned out great! Now, I’ll try and share some of that advice with you all—I hope you’ll find it useful!
Continue reading Presenting at Academic Conferences: Tips and Tricks
Research is always top of mind here. Princeton is a research university. Princeton faculty are engaged in research. Princeton students complete independent research to graduate. These are just some of the ways that we collectively understand what research is as Princeton. Yet, the images that can come to mind when thinking about “research” are quite limited. The idea of research conjures up images of bubbling chemicals and expensive technical equipment. That picture of grueling lab work is illustrative of some disciplines, but it’s largely immaterial to the work of many researchers. This can lead to a misunderstanding of what skills are necessary to succeed in research environments. Getting involved with research is daunting enough without confusion about the skill set required. This past summer, when I worked in public health research, I identified core skills that are critical, no matter what your research experience looks like.
Continue reading The Skills for the Job
As a Princeton student, the possibilities for summer are exciting but can also feel overwhelming. Between research opportunities, internships, volunteering, and even traveling, it’s easy to feel like everyone around you is planning something impressive. But the key to a fulfilling summer isn’t about packing in as much as possible—it’s about finding what fits your personal goals and needs, whether that’s academic growth or much-needed rest.
Continue reading Crafting Your Ideal Princeton Summer
After having discovered a potential funding opportunity, you might be reading the requirements for the application and find that you need to write a “research proposal” as a part of the application. This might be your first time writing a funding proposal. Here are a few tips to assist you in writing your funding proposal!
Continue reading A Quick Guide to Writing a Funding Proposal
