Alex Miller
Alex is a rising sophomore and planning to major in EEB. She is interested in EEB and MOL, but is leaning more towards EEB because she finds studying populations more interesting than focusing on the molecular level. Outside of class, she participates in Big Brother Big Sister (BBBS), Princeton Tutoring, and Tropical Clinics for Rural Health. This summer, she has been interning at Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville with their blood cancer team.
Laura Herman
Laura is a junior, concentrating in Psychology with certificates in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, and European Cultural Studies. Her primary interest lies in the neuropsychology of visual processes. She has enjoyed doing research in multiple Vision Science Laboratories at Princeton and Harvard. Recently, she spent the summer as a Streicker Fellow in Paris, France, where she worked in a Vision Science Laboratory at Universite Paris Descartes while immersing herself in the Parisian art scene. Her love of vision dovetails with her appreciation of art; she is a member of the Princeton Art Museum’s Student Advisory Board and a Student Ambassador to Princeton University Concerts. Additionally, Laura is involved in Wilson College Council, the Princeton Neuroscience Network, the Princeton Women’s Mentorship Program, and the Cognitive Science Society. Laura’s interest in women’s involvement in STEM was spurred by her participation in a roundtable discussion at the White House Science Fair, where female scientists at the forefront of their field expressed the importance of STEM education for girls across the world.
Catherine Blume
Major: Astrophysics
Potential Certificate: Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics
Favorite class: In a stunning turn of events, Catherine’s favorite class at Princeton is in the one department she swore she would never major in: Grand Strategy (WWS315). (Use your distribution requirements and PDFs to take classes outside of your comfort zone. The results might surprise you.)
Signature survival tip: Physics often requires great stamina. As such, never attempt a pset without food close at hand. Catherine’s personal favorite is Honey Nut Cheerios, but to each her own.
A lifelong love of mathematics and a curiosity about the universe led Catherine to physics despite original intentions to the contrary. (Physics is simply describing the world using math, so she supposes it was the inevitable end point.) In particular, she finds Sun-Earth interactions fascinating since they have the glamour of space but are close enough to home that you can casually gaze upward and see their beautiful effects (read: auroras). This past summer, Catherine interned at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center outside of Washington, D.C., where she worked in the Heliophysics Division investigating the origins of the solar wind. She is interested in further heliophysics and space weather-related research in the future. When Catherine is not buried under physics psets at school, she sings in the Princeton Chapel Choir and in Katzenjammers Acapella.
Nyema Wesley
Nyema Wesley is a sophomore who decided to major in Civil Engineering because she has always been interested in art, design, and STEM subjects. Outside of class, she is a member of the Princeton Highsteppers and the Engineers Without Borders team. Before she came to Princeton, she did the Bridge Year Program for nine months in Brazil where she learned some Portuguese, volunteered in the local community, and immersed herself in the local culture! After freshman year, she had a research internship with the Civil Engineering department where she helped design biomimetic building facades. She also spent a few weeks in Japan this past summer to teach English to high school students. She still has three more years at Princeton to go, but if she were to give any advice, it would be to stay true to yourself and go at a pace you're comfortable with. :)
Amber Lin
Amber Lin '19 is a Civil and Environmental Engineering major, Architecture and Engineering track. She sees transforming current society to be environmentally sustainable as the greatest challenge of our generation, and hopes to aid in this transformation through sustainable design in urban infrastructure. She is currently doing research on rammed earth construction, a virtually carbon neutral building technique, in Forbes Garden, funded as a PACE Center Bogle Fellow '16. She is considering pursuing certificates in Urban Studies, Environmental Studies, Sustainable Energy, and Engineering and Management.
Amber is Co-President of S.E.A.D.S. (Sustainable Engineering and Development Scholars), an initiative to expose a select group of underclassmen to sustainability research through dinner talks with various professors and independent projects, and Director of Events for Princeton University Energy Association, an undergraduate student group that works to help students learn more about all fields in energy research and industry through open talks, fields trips, and volunteer opportunities. She is also part of Ecoreps, Architecture Association, sings with Glee Cluband the Tigressions, and plays contract bridge. Her number one piece of advice for incoming freshmen: don't be afraid to ask questions about everything!!! "How to navigate Princeton" is really not Google-able.
Briana McKenzie
Briana Mckenzie is a sophomore who is undecided on her major but is following the pre-med track. Her extracurricular activities include singing for the a Capella group Tigressions and for the Trego singers choir. In high school, she interned at the Monell Chemical Senses Center and in the past summer, she took a general chemistry class and interned at a dermatology clinic. Her research experience includes a project she completed in high school about concussions in teenagers. Her favorite classes at Princeton so far have been MUS104 introductory music theory and the writing seminar Decoding dress. The best advice she'd like to share is to stay confident and explore different courses freshman year.
Marissa Webber
Marissa Webber is a junior majoring in Environmental Engineering, hoping to get certificates in Sustainable Energy and Environmental Studies. She has always been interested in the environment, climate change, marine life, and the typical math and physics topics and environmental engineering seemed to be the best way to combine all these interests.
The Christian community is a big part of her Princeton life, including Princeton Faith and Action and the Princeton University Gospel Ensemble. She swims with Princeton Club Swim, and is a part of the Dominican Republic team for Engineers Without Borders. Her number one tip for Princeton students is to make time each semester to take a fun class or a class that you're really truly interested in and that you feel you will enjoy. It keeps you sane ;)