iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
Princeton University celebrated the academic accomplishments of its students by awarding undergraduate prizes to six students, including two of Indian origin, at Opening Exercises, the annual ceremony that marks the start of each academic year dating back to 1802, on Sunday, Sept. 1.
Ram Narayanan received the Freshman First Honor Prize, awarded each year in recognition of exceptional academic achievement as a first-year student. Narayanan, of Scarsdale, New York, attended Horace Mann School in the Bronx. A member of New College West, he is considering majoring in physics and pursuing minors in computer science, materials science, engineering, and applied and computational mathematics. He is a recipient of the 2024 Manfred Pyka Memorial Physics Prize.
This summer, Narayanan was an intern in Princeton’s ReMatch+ program, where he conducted materials research with Sanfeng Wu, assistant professor of physics. Narayanan also attended the Princeton Summer School on Condensed Matter Physics in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Study. He is a member of the Princeton Society of Physics Students, Princeton Students in Quantum, and a Community Action leader.
Akshat Agarwal and Braeden Carroll have won the George B. Wood Legacy Sophomore Prize for this year. The prize is awarded each year to members of the junior class in recognition of exceptional academic achievement during their sophomore year. Agarwal, of Princeton, attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North. A member of Yeh College, he is a mathematics major who is also pursuing minors in history, statistics, machine learning, and applied and computational mathematics. He has served as an undergraduate course assistant in mathematics and computer science.
Agarwal is president of the student-run group Business Today and managing director of Princeton Undergraduate Capital Partners, which helps students gain industry experience in venture capital. He is also a member of the Princeton International Relations Council. This summer, he conducted machine learning research in the lab of Adji Bousso Dieng, assistant professor of computer science.
Carroll, of Kinnelon, New Jersey, attended Kinnelon High School there. A recipient of the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence for the 2022–23 academic year, he is a civil and environmental engineering major who is also pursuing a minor in finance. He is a member of Rockefeller College. This summer, he conducted research with civil and environmental engineering professors Maria Garlock and Branko Glisic to help design a hybrid structure for Osaka, Japan, that can serve as both a bridge and a flood barrier. The project aims to create a structure that does not draw energy from the grid to operate.
“I’m honored to be able to celebrate this year’s prize winners,” said Dean of the College Michael D. Gordin. “While Princeton is fortunate to be home to a good many students who are justly proud of their exceptional records of accomplishment, these prize winners stand out. In addition to achieving great strides academically, in their wide-ranging programs of study they boldly exemplify the heart of our liberal arts mission. My, colleagues and I congratulate them warmly and are eager to follow their continued success.”
This year’s George B. Wood Legacy Junior Prize is shared by Connie Gong and Caroline Zhao. The prize is awarded to members of the senior class in recognition of exceptional academic achievement during their junior year. Gong, a member of Butler College, is from Belmont, California, where she attended Carlmont High School. A recipient of the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence for the 2021–22 academic year, she is a sociology major who is also pursuing minors in environmental studies, and statistics and machine learning. Her senior thesis will focus on the attitudes of formerly incarcerated people towards prison labor on the “farm line” at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, widely known as Angola. Gong is conducting her research in partnership with the nonprofit Louisiana Parole Project. Her adviser is John Robinson III, assistant professor of sociology.
Zhao, of Westfield, New Jersey, attended Union County Magnet High School in Scotch Plains. A two-time recipient of the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence, she is a chemical and biological engineering major. She is a member of Butler College. Her senior thesis will focus on developing biological enzyme system models to investigate the use of cellulose as a sustainable biofuel. Zhao is president of both the Princeton Engineering Council and the Princeton Bridge Club, a coxswain for the Princeton lightweight rowing team, a SHARE Peer, and a student manager of the Ultraviolet Recording Studio in Bloomberg Hall.
Ian Henriques received the Class of 1939 Princeton Scholar Award, which is awarded each year to the undergraduate who, at the end of junior year, has achieved the highest academic standing for all preceding college work at the University. Henriques, of Winter Springs, Florida, attended Seminole High School in Sanford. A two-time recipient of the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence, he is an electrical and computer engineering major who is also pursuing a minor in neuroscience.
He received the Manfred Pyka Memorial Physics Prize in 2022. Henriques is a member of Rockefeller College.Henriques is co-president of the Princeton University Robotics Club. In 2023, he co-led the winning team at Harvard University’s PacBot Competition, in which students build robots to navigate a Pac-Man-inspired course. Princeton’s Robotics Club earned the highest score in the competition’s history and shared first place with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
