Bridging Research and Political Change

Posted on by Yubi Mamiya

Spotlight on the Summer Internship Project of Princeton Politics Junior Mai Kasemsawade

Mai standing in front of a stage in the Malaysian parliament.
Mai Kasemsawade at the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia for Political Financing meeting at the Malaysian Parliament, which she helped to host with The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.

Many students walk into Princeton intending to change the world, Mai Kasemsawade ’26 is an extraordinary example of how one’s summer research can kickstart global political change. This past summer, Mai worked within the The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as an intern in the Princeton International Internship Program. She connected her interests in political science research and data science to pursue an ambitious project in advancing Malaysia’s laws on funding for political parties in order to encourage a more democratic political scene. Her experience meeting with Malaysian government leaders, hosting a political engagement workshop, writing articles on critical policy, and conducting interdisciplinary research exemplifies the multitude of eye-opening opportunities that a research experience can offer!

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Enhance your Research with Princeton’s Coin Collection

Posted on by Shane Patrick

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

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Graduate Studies and Careers in Public Service: an Interview with Professor Iqbal Zaidi – Part 2

Posted on by Abhimanyu Banerjee

In the second part of the interview with Professor Zaidi, the discussion gradually veers away from his career, and we go into his advice for students, the courses he loves teaching, and what he learned about making plans and still being flexible.

For those who missed the first part of the interview, please read it here.

Continue reading Graduate Studies and Careers in Public Service: an Interview with Professor Iqbal Zaidi – Part 2

A Guide to Using Princeton’s Computing Clusters to Handle Big Data

Posted on by Abhimanyu Banerjee

As I mentioned in my last post, this summer, I assisted in research by Dr. Kalhor at the Princeton’s Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE) in examining the effect of anomalous weather on economic activity as part of an internship funded by the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) at Princeton University. While my previous post focused on my insights in preparing for internships to maximize your experience, in this post, I want to focus on one of the technical challenges that I faced during the internship: (a) handling big data; and (b) one of the powerful tools that we have as students at Princeton students to handle large amounts of data –  Princeton’s large computing clusters.

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Graduate Student Reflections: An Interview With Ole Agersnap

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This semester, in our spring series, PCURs will interview a graduate student who either is currently a graduate student at Princeton, or attended Princeton as an undergraduate. In Graduate Student Reflections: Life in Academia, interviews with graduate students shed light on the variety of paths one can take to get to graduate school and beyond, and the many insights gained along the way from research projects and mentors. Here, Shanon shares his interview.

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Ole Agersnap, Ph.D. candidate in economics at Princeton.

As part of our seasonal series on graduate students, I decided to interview Ole Agersnap, a friend of mine in his first year of the Economics PhD program. Ole and I met at the beginning of this year in the Princeton Chapel Choir, where we both sing as baritones. Over the course of the year, we’ve chatted regularly about economics, school, and life in general. Ole is a dedicated scholar with a clear perspective on his academic journey, so I hope you enjoy reading his reflections! Continue reading Graduate Student Reflections: An Interview With Ole Agersnap