Dean welcomes graduate students to new role in advancing and sharing knowledge

A group of eight students seated around a table under an event tent.

Graduate ambassadors and representatives from student organizations welcomed new graduate students at a Sept. 1 reception in the Friend Center courtyard. Photos by Tori Repp/Fotobuddy

A man in a suit and glasses addresses an audience at a podium. — Dean Andrew Houck addressed first-year graduate students at a welcoming reception.

The transition from undergraduate to graduate school marks a change from consuming to producing knowledge, Andrew Houck, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, told first-year graduate students at a welcoming reception Sept. 1.

“You make discoveries, you advance the state of where we as a species are in terms of what we know, and you play an integral role in disseminating that knowledge as TAs and teachers to all of our undergraduates,” Houck said. “That transition from net consumer to net producer is an exciting time.”

Houck predicted that graduate students, working in every department and field of study, would do “amazing things.” But more than that, he said, the hopes and aspirations of the new researchers enliven the school. It has become a tradition at the graduate welcoming reception for students to sketch onto posterboard their goals and dreams as researchers. Houck said he keeps the posters in his office and looks at them “when I’m doing this job and thinking about some of the things that make it harder in higher education these days.”

Two students in green Princeton Engineering T-shirts stand at a table with white posterboards and stickers on it; one of the students is leaning down and writing on one of the posterboards. — Students sketched their aspirations onto posterboard.

“I’m ready for some new art,” he said.

Also there to welcome the students were Vice Dean Gabriele Villarini, Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Julie Yun, a group of upper-class graduate ambassadors, and representatives from student organizations.

Yun emphasized that many people had come to welcome the new students and would be there to support them at every stage of their academic journey. “You are going to be joining a community of 900 grad students, almost 200 faculty, and dedicated staff, all here to support you,” she said.

Neha Agarwal, president of the Graduate Engineering Council and a Ph.D. candidate in civil and environmental engineering, invited students to join the council’s programs, including social events and professional development opportunities. At one of her graduate orientations, said Agarwal, she was told that “a Ph.D. takes a village” — starting with your research adviser, lab mates, friends and family, and extending to communities across campus. “We as Graduate Engineering Council would love to be part of your village,” she said.