COVID-19 and climate change: Maddie Pendolino ’21 asked voters what mattered most in a fraught year
June 7, 2021 ・ Morgan KellyMaddie Pendolino decided during her sophomore year at Princeton that she wanted to focus her senior thesis research on the 2020 U.S. presidential election. An avid follower of politics who volunteered for the re-election campaign of Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ),…
At ENV Class Day, seniors commended for resilience, urged to seize opportunities to make environmental change
May 24, 2021 ・ Morgan KellyStudents and parents joined faculty, researchers and staff from the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) and the Program in Environmental Studies May 24 for a virtual Class Day ceremony celebrating the accomplishments and resilience of the 31 Princeton University seniors…
Joe Kawalec ’21 looks skyward in search of a tiny ecosystem engineer
May 11, 2021 ・ Morgan KellyThe two years Princeton Joe Kawalec spent studying the natural camouflage of the ubiquitous downy woodpecker oddly enough began and ended the same way — tracing the outlines of birds. In between, he observed patterns in tree bark through the ultraviolet…
Connection and resilience: Kuziel explores the ecology of the African savanna
May 3, 2021 ・ Liz Fuller-WrightWhen Luca Kuziel discovered the community of ecologists at Princeton, he had no idea that his experience of radical acceptance with them would change the course of his research and his life. Over the past four years, he has deepened…
Peter Schmidt’s senior thesis imagines a world where nature demands justice
July 9, 2020 ・ Morgan KellyAs rain darkened the red earth atop Bolivia’s largest silver mine, Peter Schmidt watched children only a few years younger than him emerge from the honeycomb of hand-excavated tunnels to dump minecarts of ore before hurrying back inside the mountain’s…
Naomi Cohen-Shields’ senior thesis explores who benefits as China cleans its air
June 12, 2020 ・ Morgan KellyAfter months of researching and analyzing China’s notorious air pollution for her Princeton senior thesis, Naomi Cohen-Shields stepped off a plane in Beijing in December 2019 to a shockingly clear sky. Her gaze fell across the unencumbered skyline of the…
PEI Class Day 2020 honors students’ excellence and resilience
June 1, 2020 ・ Morgan KellyStudents and parents joined faculty, researchers and staff from the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) and the Program in Environmental Studies for a virtual Class Day ceremony celebrating the accomplishments and resilience of the 24 Princeton University seniors who were the…
A burning question: Senior Maria Stahl examined the role of fire in wildlife recovery
May 15, 2020 ・ Morgan Kelly“The sky above the flames was littered not only with ash, but also with huge flutters of butterflies and clouds of grasshoppers escaping the blaze. Every now and then a stray oribi or kudu darted out from the grassland to…
Senior Cole Morokhovich’s unexpected path to studying what hummingbirds could tell us about climate change
May 7, 2020 ・ Morgan KellyPrinceton senior Cole Morokhovich still marvels at the possibility that his academic path may have come down to one five-minute window. Having come to Princeton with a focus on pre-medicine, he had taken most of the required courses and declared…
