TOP: Leeshua Pica of Trenton Central High School takes a run
at testing the properties of Oobleck — a blend of cornstarch and water that can
act as a fluid or a solid — in the Princeton University Preparatory Program’s
physics course.
MIDDLE: Jennifer Johnson, a Princeton graduate student in
history, discusses how to find research materials as part of the Graduate
School’s Princeton Summer Undergraduate Research Experience.
BOTTOM: Electrical engineering graduate student Ekua
Anane-Fenin, far right, explains how temperature can affect the development of
lasers to Trenton Central High School students in the Princeton University
Materials Academy.
Campus remains vibrant source of learning in summer
Princeton NJ — Though classes were not in session, the Princeton campus remained busy this summer with educational activities for students of all ages and for local teachers. Many of the summer outreach and enrichment programs enrolled students from traditionally underrepresented minority or economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
High school students and visiting undergraduates participated in hands-on research activities in disciplines such as electrical engineering, molecular biology, physics, environmental science, materials science and plasma physics. Undergraduates who plan to pursue their Ph.D. learned about life as a graduate student through a research program run by the Graduate School. Local high school students looking ahead toward college enhanced their academic abilities in the Princeton University Preparatory Program. Budding reporters practiced newsgathering in the Summer Journalism Program. Youngsters in grades 6-8 built critical technology skills in the Community House computer camp.
Princeton junior Ruthie Schwab, student coordinator of the new Garden Project, smells fennel fronds growing in the new organic garden at Forbes College.
Area teachers gained lessons to take back to their own classrooms through cutting-edge research activities in several science departments, U.S. constitutional history seminars sponsored by the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, and arts and humanities workshops hosted by the Program in Teacher Preparation.
And while some Princeton students remained on campus to further their own academic research, three undergraduates spent their summer among rows of herbs and vegetables outside Forbes College as part of the Garden Project, a new initiative funded by the Office of Sustainability and the Princeton Environmental Institute to help educate the campus about the American food system and its implications for the environment, health and nutrition, culture, and the future.
