Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research

Research Courses at Princeton

Posted on March 27, 2024March 26, 2024 by Xander Jenkin

Eight students and a lab engineer are wearing white coverall suits while working in a cleanroom. — *Group Photo of the AST251 students with Precision Assembly Specialist John Teifert all geared up in the cleanroom!*

The structure of a “standard” Princeton course usually includes a mix of lectures, precepts, or seminars which likely have a midterm and final. While some of these courses may have “lab” components where you spend a couple hours once a week doing a hands-on assignment, there exist many courses at Princeton which are instead entirely focused on conducting hands-on, lab-based research with a small team that works closely with professors who provide mentorship as you work on an original research project. If you’ve ever wanted to take a class that is far different from anything else at Princeton by teaching you hands-on skills and giving the opportunity for a new project, these types of courses might be for you!

Some of these courses are year-long sequences like AST250 Space Physics Lab I and AST251 Space Physics Lab II, which I took during the 2022-2023 academic year. This was one of my favorite course experiences at Princeton and was certainly the most engaging. The skills we learned were invaluable, and as we worked closely with the professors and each other, our year-long project became an unforgettable experience.

Research Communication and Community: Reflecting on the Princeton Correspondents for Undergraduate Research

Posted on March 22, 2024March 22, 2024 by Caitlin Larracey

Each month in the Office of Undergraduate Research newsletter, we highlight recent posts by Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research (PCUR) authors. This month, we are looking back on ten years of PCUR as we celebrate the tenth anniversary of OUR.

PCUR began the same year as OUR – with the first posts published in September 2014. We invited PCUR alums to share their perspective on their time as a correspondent, including two who were part of the very first PCUR cohort. Read on to learn about how PCUR serves individual correspondents and the larger Princeton community alike, and if this all sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, Princeton first-years through juniors are encouraged to apply here to join PCUR next fall.

A Guide to Citations

Posted on March 20, 2024March 20, 2024 by Rebecca Cho

Whether writing a paper or providing a presentation, you will often find yourself relying on the completed work of others to synthesize information about a subject. An essential part of using these outside sources is to give their owners rightful credit in your references! Read some tips below on making citations easier.

Someone reading an article they would reference if they were doing research on the topic — *Citations can be the most dreaded section of your writing. Finish your references with ease using this guide!*

Tips for Recruiting Interviewees: My Qualitative Research on ChatGPT Use in CS Education

Posted on March 8, 2024March 5, 2024 by Alexis Wu

Last semester, I interviewed Albert Lee ‘24 to get a glimpse of what conducting qualitative research for sociology Junior Papers can look like at Princeton. (If you’re interested in reading that piece, click here!). Discussing qualitative research with Albert was exciting because his words of advice were quite applicable to the qualitative Computer Science research I was conducting in COS 436: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

Image of text, with a question from a student and answer from ChatGPT regarding what the OUR does.

An example user prompt and ChatGPT response.

Prior to taking COS 436, I had little idea of what qualitative research looked like in Computer Science, particularly because many of the CS courses I had taken were quantitative, involving systems, mathematical models, or theory. Taking the course opened my eyes to a whole side of research: interview-based qualitative research. For my semester-long research project, my team and I aimed to dive deeper into educators’ opinions on the use of ChatGPT in CS education.

Research Insights Series: An Interview with Claire F. Gmachl

Posted on March 6, 2024March 5, 2024 by Shannon Yeow

Claire F. Gmachl stands at the forefront of groundbreaking research in mid-infrared photonics as the Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University and the Head of Whitman College. She also serves as the Associate Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. With her expertise in semiconductor devices and photonics, Professor Gmachl delves into the realms of quantum-cascade lasers and beyond.

As a student surrounded by peers working on their junior papers or senior theses, as well as constantly hearing about groundbreaking faculty research, I came to seek a way to better engage with the research around me, and to synthesize current research and processes to bring insights to others. I decided to create a series of research insights, interviewing faculty and students, to learn more about their research topics, their personal research process and interests, as well as the potential implications from their findings.

In this article, I’m excited to have had the opportunity to interview Professor Claire Gmachl, who has also previously taught me in EGR 151: Foundations of Engineering: Mechanics, Energy, and Waves, the first physics course in the Engineering Sequence. In our interview, Professor Gmachl graciously shared insights into her research journey, shedding light on the multifaceted landscape of mid-infrared photonics and semiconductor devices.

Enhance your Research with Princeton’s Coin Collection

Posted on February 28, 2024February 26, 2024 by

Students at Princeton are fortunate to have access to one of the largest collections of coins anywhere in the United States. Made up of roughly 115,000 items, the collection includes coins, paper money, medals, and other tokens covering almost the entire history of human money— in fact, the university has coins minted in the 6th century BC by Croesus, who is credited with inventing the first system of gold and silver currency. The university’s collection serves many purposes. For example, you may have been in a class which has gone down to Firestone C Floor to look at coins from the time and place you were studying. The coins are also used for exhibitions and workshops. I’m writing here to explain to you how you can use these coins to do great research.

A small gold coin in the photographer's left hand.

Yours truly holding a 1500 year-old coin in Firestone Library

Getting it Done: Balancing your JP with a Full Course Load

Posted on February 26, 2024February 26, 2024 by Amaya Dressler

A laptop with a notebook and pen set aside from a coffee mug.

While it may feel like the semester has only just begun, classes are in full swing and, already, junior paper (JP) deadlines are fast approaching. For many majors, the spring semester is where the bulk of the JP work actually takes place. Whether that means writing thousands of words, crunching monstrously large datasets, or debugging hundreds of lines of code, I think we all can agree that a JP draft is better not left to the last minute.

One of the biggest challenges all Princeton students face with independent work, however, is figuring out where they can even find the time to start. With a full course load, weekly assignments, and a myriad of extracurricular obligations, just when exactly is a student to work on their JP? Read on for three tips on how you can fit your JP into a hectic schedule. With the right daily habits, supports, and mindset, you may even find that you enjoy the process more than the final product.

Need a New Place to Study? 4 Niche Study Locations for all Princeton Students!

Posted on February 23, 2024February 20, 2024 by Alexis Wu

As I enter my sixth! semester at Princeton, I find myself still asking the age-old question: where should I go and work today? The challenge with finding the right study space is that they’re frequently mood and assignment-specific.

Image of sunset over Princeton Graduate College, golf course, Forbes backyard. Red Adirondack chair in foreground.

View of the Forbes backyard, taken by author.

PCUR alumna Nanako Shirai’s 2018 post on finding study spaces on campus is an incredible resource to help you identify the best study space based on your study needs. In this post, I’ll highlight some additional study spaces you could explore this spring. Instead of going by the type of assignment you’re working on, I’ll share four new suggestions on study spaces based on the kind of study environment you prefer. This might help you choose study spaces at which you could complete multiple items on your to-do list.

Paid Part-Time Research Jobs At Princeton

Posted on February 21, 2024February 20, 2024 by Xander Jenkin

Two researchers sitting at a lab desk in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, looking at MRI brain scans on a computer. — *The research you do could be remotely on a computer, in-person working in a lab, or both, as we see here with brain imaging research at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute!*

Princeton undergraduate students usually gain most of their research experience from things like independent work, theses, research-based courses, or summer research. However, you might not know that there are more options to do research during the school year: working a part-time job! Some of the most common part-time campus jobs you may think of might be working in a dining hall or at library reception, but you can actually do academic research and get paid for it. This isn’t limited to just STEM majors either; part-time research jobs exist across the humanities and social sciences and are offered by a wide range of departments. You could earn money and get work experience while analyzing literature, writing code, processing data, or working hands-on in a lab!

Here’s a quick guide on how to search for these jobs:

My Second Year BSE Fall Experience in the Engineering Sequence and Reflection

Posted on December 15, 2023December 12, 2023 by Shannon Yeow

After attending my final class of the semester, the feeling that I was done with my BSE requirements finally settled in. From now on, as a COS BSE major, I would have much more flexibility in my class options with my prerequisites complete. Having written both My BSE Fall Semester Experience in the Engineering Sequence and My BSE Spring Semester Experience in the Engineering Sequence (which I recommend you read first before reading this), I wanted to write a final article to reflect on my experience now that I’ve officially completed the Engineering Sequence. To reiterate one last time, the Engineering Sequence is a set of five courses intended to fulfill the engineering degree requirements through an introduction to engineering fundamentals in the context of real-world applications. BSE degree requirements include four semesters of math, two semesters of physics, one semester of chemistry, and every first-year student is required to take one semester of writing seminar and fulfill various distribution requirements for general degree requirements. This semester, I took the final course in the Engineering Sequence, Multivariable Calculus, which means that along with taking chemistry, I have completed my BSE degree requirements.

screenshot of EGR 156 — *Course Description of EGR 156 for Fall 2023*

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