Two University juniors, Lillian Pierce and Erez Lieberman, were recently named by USA Today to its All-USA College Academic First and Second Teams, respectively. Pierce and Lieberman were chosen on the basis of grades, activities, leadership and service.
They were chosen from among 682 students nominated by their schools, according to a Feb. 15 USA Today article.
"We honor these students for their academic excellence as well as their willingness to put those talents to use in their communities and throughout the world," USA Today editor Karen Jurgensen said in the article.
Pierce, whom Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel called "openly joyful about learning," is a mathematics with a 4.0 GPA. A professional violinist, Pierce is co-concertmaster of the Princeton University Orchestra.
Pierce said she was surprised to learn she had been selected.
"I didn't expect it at all," she said. "It's kind of awesome because everyone works just as hard as I have."
Pierce explained that she and Lieberman learned about their selection in January but were not allowed to go public with the information until after the newspaper ran the article. She said she and Lieberman did not know the other had been selected until a few days before publication.
Last summer, Pierce worked at the National Security Agency, where she conducted classified research in mathematics and encryptology.
Pierce, who was home-schooled and attended a local community college for two years before coming to Princeton, explained she hopes to obtain a British doctoral degree in mathematics after graduating from Princeton and wants to study how proteins fold themselves.
Karen Malatesta, University senior lecturer in molecular biology, said of Pierce, "She really is an incredible student. It's a great privilege and honor to teach students like her."
Lieberman, also a mathematics major, is studying physics and philosophy. He is a published poet and has served as religion chair of the Yavneh House, an orthodox Jewish organization on campus.
Philosophy professor Steve Weinstein said in an e-mail, "Erez is an incredibly energetic student who seems to be interested in a broad array of questions cutting across philosophy, mathematics and physics."
"How Erez has the time for all of his courses and activities, I do not know," Weinstein added.
Lieberman spent last summer in Israel at the Weizmann Institute doing theoretical physics research — studying ion distribution in complex fluids. He also spent a year in Israel after high school at theological seminary Yeshivat HaMitvar, also spending some time on a kibbutz, he said.
Lieberman also helped to win a 1999 grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to study Molecular Process Decomposition, a new technology that can shape materials without generating large volumes of pollutants, he explained.
Pierce and Lieberman agreed that their selection by USA Today has brought them some recognition on campus.
Pierce, who said that people started coming up to her after her selection, said, "People recognize me now."
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