Princeton University Graduate School

10/14/2026

Many thanks to the Dean’s Leadership Council members for their participation in last week’s fall meeting. The daylong program was centered on the Graduate School’s annual theme, “Thriving as a Global Community of Scholars.” In addition to Rodney Priestley, dean of the Graduate School, and Princeton University President Christoper Eisgruber, the Council heard from panels of administrators and graduate students who shared their experiences and ideas for supporting the Graduate School community. Learn more about the DLC’s purpose and graduate alumni members, check out the Graduate School website.

Princeton Alumni

10/14/2026

Many thanks to the Dean's Leadership Council members for their participation in last week's fall meeting. The daylong program was centered on the Graduate School's annual theme, “Thriving as a Global Community of Scholars." In addition to Rodney Priestley, dean of the Graduate School, and Princeton University President Christoper Eisgruber, the Council heard from panels of administrators and graduate students who shared their experiences and ideas for supporting the Graduate School community. Learn more about the DLC’s purpose and graduate alumni members: https://gradschool.princeton.edu/deans-initiatives-awards-events/about-dean/dean%E2%80%99s-leadership-council

Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni
Princeton Alumni

10/08/2026

Congratulations to graduate alum Mary Brunkow *91, recipient of the 2026 Madison Medal, the top honor for Princeton University graduate alumni.

Last October, as we gathered for the Many Minds, Many Stripes conference to celebrate graduate alums, we learned Brunkow, a distinguished investigator at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, was the 2025 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. Now, we look forward to welcoming her to Alumni Day, Sat., Feb. 20, 2027, to bestow the Madison Medal. Frances Arnold '79, 2018 Nobel laureate and engineering professor at Caltech, will receive the Woodrow Wilson Award, the top award for undergraduate alums.

“Mary Brunkow's trailblazing achievements illustrate the power of high-quality scientific research to deepen our understanding of human health and improve the prevention and treatment of disease,” said Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber '83. “Through her careful work, her transformative discoveries, and her exceptional career, she has demonstrated how collaboration, persistence, and curiosity can make a better world. She is a spectacular representative of the aspirations that define this University and its Graduate School.”

Brunkow, a member of the first graduate class of Princeton's new Department of Molecular Biology, was advised by former Princeton president Shirley Tilghman, then the Howard A. Prior Professor of the Life Sciences. Brunkow's Ph.D. research contributed to understanding genomic imprinting — the concept that a gene can be shut down depending on whether it was inherited from the mother or father.

In 2001, Brunkow and her colleagues at a biotechnology startup identified a mutated mouse gene linked to an autoimmune disease, a discovery that improved understanding of human immune function. Their research helped launch the field of peripheral immune tolerance — how the body prevents its own immune system from attacking healthy tissues and organs — and spurred medical advances. For this, Brunkow became the Princeton Graduate School's first alum to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, sharing the award with Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi.

Read more about Mary Brunkow and Frances Arnold: https://bit.ly/4ycrS7f

Princeton University Molecular Biology
Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni
Princeton Alumni
Nobel Prize

10/08/2026

Adding our congratulations for former Princeton Classics faculty member and new Nobel Prize laureate Anne Carson!

10/06/2026

Sign up for the Annual GradFUTURES Internship/Fellowship Fair when Princeton University graduate students can meet organizations, hear from current and former fellows/interns and learn about funded projects tailored specifically to help you get experience.

Thursday, Oct. 8
Procter Hall
12pm-1pm Pre-Fair Alumni-in-Residence and Lunch
1pm-4pm Fair and Networking Reception

🔶 Register on MyPrincetonU. The Fair is open only to Princeton graduate students.

A Sample of Partners Expected to Attend

▶️ Higher Education
The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning, Princeton University | Community College Teaching Fellowship Program
Modern Language Association

▶️ STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

Colgate Palmolive
LinkedIn
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
RockEDU Science Outreach
TechUnited
XPRIZE

▶️ Museums, Libraries, Theatres and the Arts
Artworks Trenton
Davinci Science Center
The Franklin Institute
McCarter Theatre Center
Princeton Arts Alumni
Princeton Public Library
Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum
ssaamuseum

▶️ Government and Non-Profit Organizations
ideas42
NJ Coalition for the Homeless
New Jersey EDA: New Jersey Commission on Science, Technology and Innovation
NJDEP Air, Energy and Materials Sustainability
New Jersey Future
Rita Allen Foundation
The Roddenberry Foundation
United Way of Greater Mercer

▶️ Princeton University Offices & Programs
Princeton University Center for Digital Humanities
Ph.D. Externship Program
Princeton AI Lab

▶️ Academic Publishing
American Philosophical Society
Princeton University Press

🔶 Learn more about the fair at https://bit.ly/4rEHYok or go directly to MyPrincetonU to register.

All opportunities are custom-designed to fit your busy schedule, and most are fully funded and do not require work authorization.

(International graduate students interested in experiential fellowships offered by GradFUTURES should speak to their Davis International Center advisor to determine if work authorization is required.)

Graduate Student Government of Princeton University
Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni

10/05/2026

We are thrilled to congratulate Princeton University Graduate School alum Kaiyu Guan *13, on his 2026 MacArthur Fellowship!

Also recognized this year with the award known informally as a MacArthur “genius” grant are Princeton University professors Ellora Derenoncourt and Elizabeth Ellis.

The fellowships recognize individuals who have demonstrated “exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits,” according to the MacArthur Foundation. Derenoncourt, Ellis and Guan are among the 20 MacArthur Fellows in the 2026 cohort.

Guan, an environmental scientist who earned his Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering in 2013, was awarded the fellowship for research that combines “Earth observations, process models and machine learning to understand and predict how crops, the environment and human agricultural practices interact across agricultural landscapes.”

“As the pressures from climate change and a growing global population increase, Guan is providing the technical and scientific foundations for a more environmentally sustainable and productive future for agriculture,” the MacArthur Foundation said in its announcement.

Guan said he will always be grateful to Princeton and to his adviser, the late Eric Wood, the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Emeritus, who “changed the course of my life” by teaching and mentoring “with extraordinary care and passion.” Guan said Wood “trained me to think: he demanded rigor, pushed me to ask my own questions, and gave me the freedom to develop my own scientific path and the belief that the best science should be both fundamental and consequential.”

Guan is the Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick Professor and a Blue-Waters Professor in Supercomputing at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is also the founding director of the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center at UIUC and the chief scientist of the NASA Acres Consortium — NASA's flagship program in advancing U.S. agricultural research.

Guan said he is “deeply honored” to receive the fellowship and that it allows him to advance a field he considers fundamental to society. “Agriculture has to produce food, support farmers, and protect our natural resources, and I believe productivity and sustainability do not have to be opposing goals — my work is about using novel observations, scientific understanding and AI to help advance them together.”

Learn more about Princeton's 2026 MacArthur fellowship recipients: https://bit.ly/4rNlAZW

Princeton Engineering
Princeton Alumni
Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni

Princeton graduate alum Kaiyu Guan *13, now the Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick Professor at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, has been awarded a 2026 MacArthur Fellowship, known informally as a MacArthur “genius” grant. Also recognized are current Princeton professors Ellora Derenonc...

10/01/2026

Grad students, the 2026 GradFUTURES Internship/Fellowship Fair is Thursday, Oct. 8.

Procter Hall
12pm-1pm Pre-Fair Alumni-in-Residence and Lunch
1pm-4pm Fair and Networking Reception

This is your ONCE-A-YEAR opportunity to meet with host organizations, hear from current and former fellows/interns and learn more about the range of projects tailored specifically for you!

🔶 Register on MyPrincetonU. The Fair is open only to Princeton University graduate students.

Connect with academic, nonprofit, public, and private sector partners and campus offices and explore the wide range of part-time internships and experiential fellowships available during the summer and academic year.

All opportunities are custom-designed to fit your busy schedule, and most are fully funded and do not require work authorization.

(International graduate students interested in experiential fellowships offered by GradFUTURES should speak to their Davis International Center advisor to determine if work authorization is required.)

A Sample of Partners Expected to Attend

▶️ Higher Education
The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning, Princeton University | Community College Teaching Fellowship Program
Modern Language Association

▶️ STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
BioNJ
Colgate Palmolive
LinkedIn
Princeton Plasma Physics Lab
ROckEDU Science Outreach
TechUnited
X Prize

▶️ Museums, Libraries, Theatres and the Arts
Artworks Trenton
Davinci Science Center
The Franklin Institute
McCarter Theatre Center
Princeton Arts Alumni
Princeton Public Library
Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum

▶️ Government and Non-Profit Organizations
ideas42
NJ Coalition for the Homeless
New Jersey Economic Development Authority: New Jersey Commission on Science, Technology and Innovation
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
New Jersey Future
Rita Allen Foundation
The Roddenberry Foundation
United Way of Greater Mercer

▶️ Princeton University Offices & Programs
Princeton University Center for DIgital Humanities
Ph.D. Externship Program
Princeton AI Lab

▶️ Academic Publishing
American Philosophical Society
Princeton University Press

🔶 Grad students, register on MyPrincetonU

Learn more about the fair at https://bit.ly/4rEHYok

Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni

10/01/2026

Come hear a Princeton University Art Museum Pop-Up Talk by a Princeton University graduate student!

Everyone is invited to the Art Museum's monthly Pop-Up Talk on Friday, October 2 at the Grand Hall from 2pm-3pm, delivered by graduate student Francesca Butterfield.

Francesca is a Ph.D. candidate in Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, specializing in the history of photography, and the Art Museum's academic-year intern. Her talk will discuss the collections-based exhibition, “What Photographs Look Like,” exploring photography's versatility in its myriad forms.

After Francesca's talk and Q&A, head upstairs to visit the galleries and see the exhibition yourself.

What a great way to end the week!

No registration required. Visit the Sprout to learn more about the exhibition.

Image credit: William Eggleston, Jackson, Mississippi, ca. 1979, printed 1986. Princeton University Art Museum. Gift of the Laurence Miller Gallery. © Eggleston Artistic Trust

09/30/2026

Maria’s story captures what it means to be part of the Graduate School’s Global Community of Scholars.

Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni

: “As a master’s student at the Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires, I joined the Argentine Portland Cement Institute, where I found my professional mission: to help decarbonize the construction industry. Pursuing that mission would require deeper scientific training and access to a research environment with greater resources dedicated to sustainability. This led me to look abroad for a Ph.D., and ultimately to Princeton.

One of the things that stands out most from my time at Princeton is how important a good adviser can be. (During COVID) in 2020, my adviser, Professor Claire White, helped me arrange a collaboration with Université Grenoble Alpes in France to continue my research.

Claire’s impact on my Princeton experience went far beyond research. A Ph.D. is not a self-contained moment in time; it is five-plus years of your life unfolding while you are trying to be your brightest and most creative self. For me, that meant falling and getting back up a few times. It included a pandemic, a pregnancy, three transatlantic moves, and the first three years of my daughter’s life. All while my family was back in Argentina. I genuinely don’t think I would have reached the finish line without Claire’s support, which continued after I graduated.

I also formed relationships at Princeton that have lasted well beyond graduation. For international students especially, those friendships can become a kind of family away from home. Princeton has a strong Hispanic community, and there was something incredibly comforting about getting together with people who shared my language and parts of my culture.

I recently started a position as lead scientist at everox in the Netherlands, working to upcycle waste concrete into low-carbon materials. I am bringing all my experiences together to shape everox’s scientific roadmap. Beyond studying individual materials and technologies, I now help decide which scientific questions the company should pursue, how we translate them into industrial solutions, and where we can have the greatest impact.” - María Curria *25

09/25/2026

Prost! 🍻

What does a thriving global community of scholars look like? Sometimes it looks like more than 300 Princeton University graduate students from around the world sharing German food under a New Jersey sunset.

Students gathered in Thompson Courtyard on September 24 for an Oktoberfest picnic featuring a stellar menu of traditional German fare from Campus Dining, plus German b**r from Old Hights Brewing Company courtesy of the Graduate School, and local apple c***r donuts for dessert.

Danke to everyone who joined us for an evening of good company, good food, and global community.

Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni