Award Information
Awards range from $750-1,500. Co-presenters will split the prize in each respective category.
In keeping with the interdisciplinary spirit of this campus-wide event, PRD judges evaluate presentations primarily on how effectively they communicate their research to a non-specialist audience. Judges include undergraduate and graduate alumni, faculty, staff, and members of the community. Twelve awards are given for three-minute video presentations. Another six awards are given to recognize presenters with a submitted video and who presented during the on-campus Showcase.
Below are the 2024 winners.
PRD24 Awards Ceremony
Orange & Black Awards
Awarded to presentations that receive the highest scores in the combined video + Showcase presentation category among all submissions. Presenters must participate in the live Showcase. Awardees will have their presentation featured on the PRD website and the presenter names will be announced during the live event. Five awards will be made, valued at $1,500 each.
Sydney Eck, Class of 2024
Economics
Advisers: Kelly Noonan, Nancy Reichman
Title: Projects in Health Economics in India & China
Addele Hargenrader, Class of 2024
Operations Research and Financial Engineering
Adviser: Margaret Holen
Title: Repainting History: A Framework for Subject-Specific Image Generation in Historical Painting Styles
Colton Simmons, Class of 2024
Politics
Adviser: Frances Lee
Title: The Matthew Effect: How the Election Process Discourages Working-Class Representation
Kelly Finke, Graduate Student
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Adviser: Corina Tarnita
Title: Unlocking Sustainable Cultural Transitions
Subhajit Karmakar, Postdoctoral Research Associate
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Atsutse Kludze, Graduate Student
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Adviser: Yasaman Ghasempour
Title: Meta-Sticker: Metamaterial-Sticker for Non-Invasive 6G Mobile Food Sensing
Outstanding Presentation Awards
Awarded to presentations that receive the highest scores among all video submissions. Awardees will be featured during the live Awards Celebration and will have the opportunity to discuss their research with a moderator. Five awards will be made, valued at $1,500 each.
Catalina Posada, Class of 2025
Economics
Adviser: Bridgett vonHoldt, Yeraldi Loera
Title: Impacts of Domestic Dog Exposure on Pennsylvania Coyotes’ (Canis latrans) Genetic Structure, Diversity, and Disease Regulatory Genes
Jad Bendarkawi, Class of 2024
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Yenet Tafesse, Class of 2024
Computer Science
Advisers: Radhika Nagpal, Merihan Alhafnawi
Title: The Swarm Garden: A Human-Swarm Interactive Platform for Self-Adaptive Art, Architecture and Dance Performance
Cole Meyer, Class of 2024
Astrophysical Sciences
Advisers: Chris Chyba, Katherine de Kleer
Title: Dumpster Diving: Thermal Imagery of Callisto Using ALMA Calibrator Data
Haimin Hu, Graduate Student
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Zixu Zhang, Graduate Student
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisers: Jaime Fernández Fisac, Bartolomeo Stellato
Title: Who Plays First? Using Game Theory to Coordinate Many Robots
Princeton Vaughn, Graduate Student
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Adviser: Shane Campbell-Staton
Title: The Basis of Hurricane-Induced Performance in a Lizard
FitzRandolph Gate Award
A symbol of the University's openness to the worldwide community, the FitzRandolph Gate Award represents the presentation that is considered the “fan favorite” by the Princeton community. Two awards valued at $1,000 each are given for the video presentation and Showcase presentation with the most votes received.
Video Presentation Award
Tanushree Banerjee, Class of 2024
Computer Science
Adviser: Felix Heide
Title: Inverse Neural Rendering for Explainable Multi-Object Tracking
Showcase Award
Sunrit Panda, Class of 2025
Operations Research and Financial Engineering
Adviser: Beth Stroud
Title: De-extinction as a Practical Tool for Conservation: An Ecological and Economic Argument
Sponsored Awards
Campus Impact Award
Sponsored by Campus Life
Recognizes one presentation by an undergraduate student, graduate student or post-doctoral researcher whose research positively impacts the Princeton University campus community in some way. In particular, research that has a demonstrable, meaningful and potentially lasting impact on some or all campus populations can be considered for this award. This could mean positively impacting the life of other students; illuminating something important about campus or certain campus populations that may lead to action; responding to an important campus need; and/or research that connects or impacts University community members across roles.
Award value: $1,500
James Zhang, Class of 2025
Computer Science
Advisers: Brian Kernighan, Wouter Haverals, Mary Naydan
Title: What Does It Say? Post-OCR Correction with OpenAI’s GPT Models
Innovation and Entrepreneurial Mindset Awards
Sponsored by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council
One award will be given to an undergraduate research presentation, and another award will be given to a graduate student, postdoc or early career researcher presentation.
This award recognizes the impact that Princeton research and scholarship can have on the greater world. Impact can take many different forms (social impact, technical impact, community impact) and can be on large or small communities. The judges will evaluate the research on the clarity of the proposition value presented, and the proposition value is defined by the benefit that a customer or user group will receive from the idea proposed.
Award value: $1,000
Nikhil Ajjarapu. Class of 2024
Computer Science
Adviser: Arvind Narayanan
Title: Rescript An AI-powered Government News Monitoring System
Yue Qiao, Graduate Student
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Adviser: Edgar Choueiri
Title: Delivering Headphone-Free, Head-Tracked Personalized Audio through Sound Zones
Graduate Student Impact Award
Sponsored by the Graduate School
Recognizes one presentation by a graduate student whose presentation clearly communicates the potential positive impact their research has on enriching or improving our culture, community or society. The emphasis on clearly communicating the “potential” impact of one’s research to a general audience indicates that presentations will be evaluated on effective communication skills, not the merit of finished outcome.
Award value: $1,500
Yubin Lin, Graduate Student
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Adviser: Daniel Cohen
Title: Towards Spatially-Modulated Collective Cell Migration
Princeton University Library (PUL) Awards
Sponsored by the Princeton University Library
Recognizes one presentation by an undergraduate student and another by a graduate student or postdoc who has clearly articulated thoughtful or innovative use of Library resources and services.
These awards would recognize research projects that make innovative use of library resources and services. For example, a project might use Special Collections materials, online exhibits, digitization services, support for research data management, GIS and maps, or statistical software support. A project might actively include partnership with a librarian, a subject specialist or a curator. A project might build on the Library’s commitment to surface hidden collections through curation, digitization, online exhibits and visualizations.
Award value: $750
Alyssa Lloyd, Class of 2026
Public and International Affairs
Adviser: Emma Ljung
Title: Princeton in a Pin[ch]: How Worn Labels Promote Inclusion and Exemplify Exclusion at Elite Institutions
Keely Smith, Graduate Student
History
Advisers: Wendy Warren, Michael Blaakman
Title: Communicating Sovereignty: A History of the Muscogee Language and Communication Networks
All winners and videos
View award winners and videos from past Princeton Research Days: