When the University announced that all undergraduates “who are able” would have to return home, thousands of Princeton seniors saw their academic careers cut short. In one day, the traditions that encapsulate a senior year at Princeton — theses, “post-thesis life,” graduation, the walk through FitzRandolph Gate — were all thrown into question.
To recognize this time of uncertainty and farewell, The Daily Princetonian invited students from the Class of 2020 to participate in a photo essay that aimed to create alternative thesis photos — in honor of all the seniors who will not be able to celebrate the capstone of their Princeton careers on campus.
In lieu of a bound thesis, the ‘Prince’ asked each student to bring an object — anything they wanted, whether representative of their thesis or of personal significance. The 24 portraits below are the result.
Shrishti Asthana
Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, Chandigarh, India
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Thesis (working title): “Preventing the next Flash Crash: A contagion modeling approach”
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Jackson Artis
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Plainfield, N.J.
Thesis (working title): “Verifying a Voltage Model for MPD Thrusters and Development of an Operational Envelope Control System”
James Currah
Department of History, Oxford, U.K.
Thesis (working title): “Confronting Atrocities in John Hersey's Journalistic History”
McGinnis Miller
Department of Electrical Engineering, Endwell, N.Y.
Thesis (working title): “Hiring Under Uncertainty: Stochastic Optimization through Dynamic Programming”
Ebun Olunuga
Department of Molecular Biology, Silver Spring, Md.
Thesis (working title): “Investigating the Role of YciM as an adaptor protein regulating Lipopolysaccharide Synthesis in E. Coli”
Lauren Ehehalt
Department of Chemistry, Clinton Township, Mich.
Thesis (working title): “Syntheses of Cationic Bis(Phosphine) Cobalt(III) and (I) Precatalysts and Performance in Homogenous Hydrofunctionalization Reactions”
Ishan Sinha
Department of Computer Science, San Jose, Calif.
Thesis (working title): “A Memory-Augmented Neural Network Model for Abstract Sequential Reasoning and Pattern Completion”
Rose Gilbert
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Louisville, Ky.
Thesis (working title): “Beyond Benchmarking: The Role of Local Government in Italy's Post-Salvini Migration Policy”
Abbie Minard
Department of History, Mars, Pa.
Theses (working titles): “Birth of a New Town: Forging Political Communities in the Industrial Democracy of Vermont's Marble Valley” and “I, Rock God”
Meredith Hooper
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Luzern, Switzerland
Thesis (working title): “Characterization of a Xanthan Gum — Cetylpyridinium Chloride Microfluidic System”
Alice Wistar
Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Ambler, Pa.
Thesis (working title): “Optimizing environmental communication to promote sustainable dietary shifts”
All photos were taken by Mark Dodici of The Daily Princetonian.
