Something to Celebrate: Our 2021 Grad Student Cohort

It comes as welcome news that this year’s graduate students started their doctoral careers under near-normal circumstances with in-person classes, in-person subgroup meetings, and festivities on the patio—the scene of some not-inconsiderable bonding over the years.

With the beginning of the 2021-22 academic year, the Department of Chemistry welcomes 33 first-years. They are members of a class of 713 students from 54 countries admitted to the Graduate School this year, the most diverse in Princeton University’s history. At Frick Laboratory, we look forward to the ways in which our new chemists will deepen our research, challenge our preconceptions, and astonish us with their intellectual vigor.

Here is a brief visual introduction to a few of the first-years enjoying their lives before they got to Princeton, from backyards to mountaintops to last encounters with cherished mentors. Welcome to Princeton!