Educating Undergraduates

Certificate Programs

Students from all majors and backgrounds can study multiple aspects of energy and the environment via two certificate programs. The Program in Technology and Society: Energy Track, administered by the Andlinger Center and the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, offers a curriculum with a strong social science angle. Students delve into the intersection of technology and society and their impacts on energy technologies. For students who want to pursue graduate degrees or careers in technical fields, there is the Program in Sustainable Energy. This program offers the opportunity to learn about sustainable fuels, advanced energy conversion and storage systems, sustainable energy systems, and emerging innovations.

Andlinger Center Certificate Symposium and Class Day Celebration

Twelve undergraduate students, who earned certificates from the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, were lauded for their achievements at the annual Class Day ceremony on May 23, 2022.

“Through their wonderful accomplishments, the Class of 2022 members of the Program in Technology and Society: Energy Track and the Program in Sustainable Energy have enriched themselves and the entire Princeton community,” said Claire Gmachl, the interim Andlinger Center director and the Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering. “The career paths of our 12 seniors are as diverse as the students themselves, and we hope that the knowledge they have gained here will inform and enrich their perspectives as they move forward in their careers.”

Eleven students earned the sustainable energy certificate, while one student earned a certificate in technology and society: energy track.

Sydney Hughes, a sustainable energy student, was recognized with the Andlinger Center Senior Thesis Prize in Energy and the Environment. Her research looked at amino polymer adsorbents supported on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for carbon capture technology. She performed synthesis, characterization, and adsorption analysis to understand fundamental molecular interactions, while delving into engineering optimizations for the MOF-polymer composites. She identified strategies to improve the composites’ stability and enable their long-term storage for future industrial use.

Hughes’s thesis advisor was Michele Sarazen, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering. Yiguang Ju, the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and director of the Program in Sustainable Energy, said that Hughes’s research can possibly lead to work making carbon capture more efficient.

The graduates were eager to tackle energy and environmental challenges as they head off for their next adventure. Hughes, a Princeton Sachs Global Fellow and Joseph Clifton Eligin Prize awardee, is working as a research assistant on fuel cell catalysis at the Technical University of Munich. Other seniors have enrolled in graduate school or are working in industry. Ben Henry is pursuing a Master of Engineering in Princeton’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, followed by a Master of Atmospheric Science & Meteorology at Penn State. Nadia Ralston is working in Brazil as a Fulbright Fellow in Engineering for Sustainable Development. Owen Engel is working for a Colorado-based renewable developer.

Above (Left to right): Graduating seniors Caroline Adkins, Demetra Yancopoulos, Benjamin Henry, Bryant Hall, Emiri Morita, Sydney Hughes, Danice Ball, Claire Wayner, and Owen Engel at the 2022 Class Day celebration.

Below: Sydney Hughes (Photos by Frank Wojciechowski)