Grad Student Life

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Princeton, New Jersey, USA

Princeton is located one hour from New York City, one hour from Philadelphia, one hour from the beach and very close to great areas for hiking, biking and other outdoor activity. The region boasts an extensive network of trains and buses. Our campus consistently rates among the most beautiful in the world. Learn more about living in Princeton.


Graduate Students in the News

Biofuels specialist Montaño López wins Princeton’s top graduate student honor

Montaño López was joined by fellow winners Geneva Smith, Pasquale Toscano and Ryan Unger. The Jacobus Fellows will be honored at Alumni Day ceremonies Saturday, Feb. 24.

The fellowships support the students’ final year of study at Princeton and are awarded to…

Researchers built a physical model to probe the creative destruction inside cells

A new window into the nitty-gritty mechanical interactions between liquids and fibrous networks in cells should advance understanding on many biomedical fronts. In addition, the findings offer avenues for exploration in materials science toward “soft matter” substances with novel characteristics.

Designing yeasts to make cleaner fuels earns grad student an innovation award at COP28

The event, part of the global climate conference COP28, featured 100 inventions that address environmental and social challenges. Five projects won awards in separate categories, including the Princeton team’s category: Energy, Efficiency and Waste.

While the first…

The Graduate School at Princeton offers a rich tapestry of social and professional development opportunities to scholars across dozens of disciplines. A popular social hour is organized every Friday evening at the Graduate College. And a range of organizational opportunities are available, from politics to intramural athletics.

First-year graduate students are guaranteed housing in the Graduate College. After the first year, most students rent an apartment in either one of the two designated complexes on the southeast side of campus. Off-campus graduate-student housing is affordable and convivial.


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Life in the Department

Although scholarship is what drives this department, Princeton CBE is so much more than the sum of its citations.The graduate student body comes to life in all kinds of ways. In addition to casual gatherings and the occasional group outing (say, to a Trenton Thunder minor league baseball game or a long weekend in Puerto Rico), a few regular departmental events anchor the social life of the academic year.

Softball team on left. GSS poster session on right.

Graduate Student Symposium

The annual Graduate Student Symposium (GSS) is a day-long event organized by the graduate students in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University. GSS showcases current graduate student research in the department, ranging from mathematical modeling and simulations to materials science and bioengineering, through oral and poster presentations. Presentations by the graduate students fosters an avenue for discussion between academia and industry and provides an excellent environment for collaboration and networking. GSS is held every October.

Current information can be found at the Graduate Student Symposium website.

Critical Point

After a month of hard work, it could be nice to have a good drink, lots of snacks, and even better company.  Critical Point, our monthly happy hour, is a great opportunity for graduate students and faculty to simply hang out and catch up.  Run by the first year graduate students, it’s a chance to start contributing right away to the social side of our department!

The CBE Softball Team

Each year a robust group of CBE graduate students, postdocs and faculty members join together in the spring and summer to compete in a campus-wide softball league. The tradition goes back several decades. Many glittering trophies line the shelves of the graduate student lounge.