I’ll give an example to help you understand Princeton students’ relationships with professors. For the summer after his freshman year, my son wanted to do a science based internship, not in Princeton, but rather at our western state’s flagship university. Upon asking one of his professors for advice, the prof did a little research and was able to recommend a couple projects my son might work on in our home state, contacted the professors leading those projects, and gave my son a strong recommendation. In the end, he secured a valuable paid internship working with graduate students on work he found interesting, and believed it couldn’t have happened without the Princeton professor’s help.
Many of the courses will have a lecture by a professor and small discussion group lead by either professors or grad students. Nobel laureate Microbiology Professor Eric Wieschaus has been teaching a freshman course in microbiology.
http://m.princeton.edu/video/detail?id=q2vCoH1c0O8&feed=admission&_b=%5B%7B%22t%22%3A%22Video%22%2C%22lt%22%3A%22Video%22%2C%22p%22%3A%22index%22%2C%22a%22%3A%22feed%3Dadmission%26start%3D10%22%7D%5D
Professor Bonnie Basler was awarded a MacArthur genius fellowship for her work on quorum sensing which provides insights into how bacteria communicate. Basler discovered the universal use of chemical signaling between bacteria, revolutionizing the view of the microscopic organisms. She has been teaching a freshman course in biology. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/profile-bonnie-bassler/
As a junior and senior you will have the opportunity to work one on one with a faculty member on your independent research. Yes, students do work with Nobel Prize winning professors.
Freshman seminars are courses lead by professors and limited to perhaps 12 students. Former university President Shirley M. Tilghman lead the seminar How the Tabby Cat Got Her Stripes, a course on epigenetics. Tilghman’s work in molecular genetics focused on the regulation of genes during development, particularly in the field of genomic imprinting. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Developmental Biology. Global Environmental Change: Science, Technology and Policy, a freshman seminar on climate change and energy sustainability that traveled to Costa Rica over fall break. Students in the course hiked, visited a hot spring and went zip-lining in Costa Rica.
Princeton has made a significant investment in being a leader in environmental studies. For example, at Princeton you could major in Biology and earn a certificate in Environmental Studies. https://environment.princeton.edu/undergrads Professor of MAE Robert H. Socolow and Professor of Ecology Stephen Pacala’s concept of a stabilization wedges was used in the climate movie An Inconvenient Truth. Time magazine included these two professors on its list of the world’s 100 most influential people. Professor Pacala explained the stabilization wedges to the UN General Assembly. As co-directors of the Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) at Princeton University, Socolow and Pacala oversee research exploring the potential of wind, solar, hydrogen, geothermal, and nuclear power that should contribute to several of the wedges. In 2010 Socolow received the Keystone Award for Leadership in the Environment. Princeton Student Climate Lobby (PSCL) is a campus climate change advocacy group working in collaboration with Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), the national chapter organization and a force for climate change activism.
Princeton is using the campus as a laboratory on how society must adapt to climate change. If you go to Google Maps you can see that Princeton University has a very large solar energy field south of the main campus. The Princeton University Office of Sustainability is working to make the university more energy efficient and to reduce the amount of CO2 generated operating the university. Despite an increase in the number of students and buildings the university has decreased its CO2 emissions by improving the efficiency of the co-generation plant. The university is using about 100 geothermal wells to heat and cool graduate housing and uses co-generation to heat campus buildings and to generate electricity. https://sustain.princeton.edu/lab The public policy school (WWS) researches how we must change policies to address the world’s environmental problems. https://cpree.princeton.edu/
Climate Central is an independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about our changing climate and its impact on the American public and is located in Princeton, N.J. Climate Central surveys and conducts scientific research on climate change and informs the public of key findings. Our scientists publish and our journalists report on climate science, energy, sea level rise, wildfires, drought, and related topics. Dr. Heidi Cullen, the Chief Scientist for Climate Central is a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University.
I love that heralded Professor and revolutionary scientist Bonnie Baslet was referenced in this thread.
She is world renowned and she went to UC Davis. Princeton and Pomona are so great either would be great.
@ceruleanfrost Which did you choose on decision day?
Sorry it took me so long to respond! I decided on Pomona. I related more to the people there and preferred the location. I’m really excited for the next four years!