ne of the distinguishing characteristics of studying engineering at Princeton is the Engineering Interactor Program, which is sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Affairs in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).

Interactors, junior and senior engineering students, function as a kind of “big brother or big sister” to incoming first-year students.
At the annual interactor luncheon in May, current interactors are thanked for their participation in the program, and new participants are recruited for the forthcoming academic year.

Interactors work with a faculty member advising B.S.E. freshmen and about eight to 10 advisees. They assist the faculty adviser and the first-year students during orientation week and remain in contact with their advisees throughout the academic year.

Interactors organize study breaks and other group activities during the year, which is crucial to helping build the SEAS community. They introduce advisees to independent work and encourage participation in engineering-related programs and departmental and school-wide organizations.

“Our Interactor Program is one of the things that really sets the B.S.E. program apart,” said Peter Bogucki, associate dean for undergraduate affairs. “Others have tried to emulate what we have here, but have not enjoyed our success.”

Tau Beta Pi fellowship won


Christina Mester ’04 is one of 35 young engineering graduates to receive a Tau Beta Pi graduate fellowship. Christina will use her fellowship to attend Stanford University, where she plans to pursue a master of science—and eventually a Ph.D.—in aeronautics and astronautics.

She wrote her thesis about using the global positioning system (GPS) for orbit determination for satellites in elliptic orbits. Her adviser is Jeremy Kasdin ’85.
Christina is receiving her B.S.E. in mechanical and aerospace engineering, with certificates in Russian language and culture, applications of computing, and robotics and intelligent systems. In addition to her studies, Christina has been a member and vice president of the Princeton Wind Ensemble.

More than 300 students applied to receive a Tau Beta Pi fellowship. The fellowships are awarded based on high scholarship, campus leadership and service, and promise of future contributions to the engineering profession.

Graduate student honored for excellence in teaching


Stacy Janak, a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is one of five graduate students recognized by the Princeton Graduate School for their dedication and effectiveness in teaching.

Ms. Janak came to Princeton three years ago from Texas A&M University, where she graduated at the top of her class. Her talents as a chemical engineer earned her praise from students who cited her excellent understanding of the material as well as her approachability and ability to coax them into developing their own solutions to problems.

“Stacy far exceeded my expectations and made a huge difference for both myself and the students taking the course,” said Athanassios Panagiotopoulos, professor of chemical engineering.

The annual Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni Teaching Awards are sponsored by the graduate alumni and are selected by the Graduate School administration.

More student awards and honors


Young Author
Yong Chen, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering, won the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics Young Author Award for his contribution “Observation of two distinct Wigner solid phases in a two-dimensional electron system at high magnetic field” at the 27th International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors (ICPS-27). He will receive the award at the ICPS-27 award ceremony on Friday, July 30.

Excellence recognition
Max Shtein, a graduate student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, was awarded the PRISM-Newport Award of Excellence in recognition of his work developing organic vapor-phase deposition and organic vapor-jet deposition of thin films for organic light-emitting diodes and thin-film transistors. The award is presented by the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) to a graduate student for leadership in the field of photonics, electro-optics, or optoelectonic materials.

Racy students
The Department of Electrical engineering’s annual car race was held Monday, May 10, 2004. The race is the finale of the class ELE302: System Design and Analysis, taught by Professor Bradley Dickinson, in which 14 teams design and race computer-controlled model cars.
The fastest car belonged to Archer Batcheller and Nicole DiLello, with a lap time of 11.7 seconds. Brendan Florez and Jamie Jeanne had the second-fastest car at 11.9 seconds. Tied for third, at 12.5 seconds, were the teams of Swati Murthy and Melissa Chen, and Rachel Cheng and Michael Tseng. All 14 teams achieved lap times under 21 seconds.

Fellowship support
Barclay Satterfield, a graduate student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has been named a Princeton Environmental Institute Science Technology and Environmental Policy (PEI-STEP) fellow for 2004-05. Fellows receive support for two years to address policy implications of their thesis research. Barclay’s thesis research is focused on improving the performance of polymer electrolyte-membrane fuel cells.

AAUW Fellowship
Rebecca L. Peterson, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering, was awarded a 2004-05 Selected Professions Fellowship by the American Association of University Women, which awards fellowships to women pursuing graduate degrees in programs where women’s participation traditionally has been low. Rebecca’s research focuses on strain engineering of silicon and silicon-germanium to enhance charge-carrier mobility and thus improve transistor performance. Outside the lab, she is active in Princeton’s Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE) group.

[ contents ]   [ previous story ]  [ next story ]   [ top of page ]