Diemand-Yauman ’10 wins Pyne Prize

Former USG president Connor Diemand-Yauman '10 has been awarded the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the University announced this morning.

The prize is the highest general distinction awarded to an undergraduate by the University, given on the basis of scholarship, character and leadership. Past winners include late Princeton president emeritus Robert Goheen '40, former U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes '54 and current U.S. Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor '76. Last year, Alex Barnard ’09 and Andy Chen ’09 won the award.

"This is the greatest honor of my life," Diemand-Yauman said of the award.

Upon learning from Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel and Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan that he had received the award, Diemand-Yauman said that he reacted with shock, happiness and laughter.

"I yelled at Dean Malkiel and Dean Deignan," he explained, noting how surprised he was to learn about the award after thinking he had been called into Deignan's office because he was in trouble. "And then I just started to laugh hysterically. I was so happy I wasn't getting expelled."

Those who have worked with Diemand-Yauman were pleased to hear of his accomplishment.

"I was happy for him, but not terribly surprised," Danny Oppenheimer, a psychology professor and Diemand-Yauman's thesis adviser, said in an e-mail.

"What I admire most is his willingness to listen to his peers, to acknowledge another perspective, to work within the system for change and to be able to compromise when necessary," psychology lecturer Michael Litchman said in an e-mail. "I feel Connor has done an admirable job and has involved himself in controversial areas that others might have avoided."

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Diemand-Yauman and Oppenheimer said they hope his thesis, which is about learning and retention, will be published in major national journals and presented at international conferences.

"My research deals with the presentation of learning material and hopefully will help influence the way material is presented in classroom environments for the benefit of students," Diemand-Yauman said. "We're using subtle cognitive interventions that will help students learn better."

"It's been been interesting and immensely rewarding to devise and test very subtle manipulations that have significant positive effects on student learning" he added.

In addition to his academics and his tenure as USG president, Diemand-Yauman has been involved in a number of other endeavors, including the CFL light-bulb exchange, Princeton Disability Awareness, the Own What You Think Campaign and the Nassoons. He said that he tried very hard not to "overextend" himself to avoid compromising his involvement with any one project.

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"It's been difficult to juggle my extracurricular activities but I've always managed to put a lot of emphasis on my academics," he explained. "Luckily, I've had the opportunity to take really interesting classes from incredible professors. I've tried to put as much of myself into them as I could and I've been fortunate enough to do relatively well."

"His time management and work ethic are rather exceptional. Very few people could balance as much as he does," Oppenheimer said.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian in January, Malkiel lauded Diemand-Yauman's commitment to improving undergraduate student life.

"He has in fact accomplished important things that redound to the clear benefit of the undergraduate student body," Malkiel said. "To my mind, that's real leadership: responsive to student needs, clearheaded in identifying problems susceptible to constructive action, imaginative and creative in fashioning proposals for change, willing to partner with administrators to realize his goals."

Receiving the award has prompted Diemand-Yauman to evaluate his time at Princeton. Above all, he said, he feels "humbled."

"It's wonderful to be recognized for academic and extracurricular work that was intrinsically rewarding from the start. In these last few days of trying to process all of this, I'd say that the Pyne Prize has more than anything made me really cognizant of how much I have to be thankful for and how much I owe to others for what I've accomplished here."