The Princeton Graduate School has named five faculty members 2025 Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation. Now in its second year, the Faculty Fellows program recognizes and supports faculty who are committed to delivering innovative and impactful professional development programs that prepare Princeton Ph.D. students for lifelong success in a broad array of career paths. 

This year’s fellows are: Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Associate Professor of Art & Archaeology and African American Studies; Josh Atkinson, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute; Sophie Gee, Associate Professor of English; Jesse Jenkins, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Andlinger Center for Energy & Environment; and Ali Nouri, Lecturer, School of Public and International Affairs. 

In collaboration with the Graduate School’s GradFUTURES professional development team, the faculty fellows will contribute to the creation of new professional development programs that help graduate students explore their interests, build new skills, and learn about emerging career pathways. 

Gee, Arabindan-Kesson to focus on expanding publicly engaged humanities scholarship

Professors Sophie Gee and Anna Arabindan-Kesson are known for pioneering a transformative approach to scholarship that bridges the critical gap between academic knowledge and public understanding. Their collaborative efforts represent a reimagining of how humanities research can engage, inform, and even inspire communities beyond academia.

Gee’s innovative podcast, The Secret Life of Books, has demonstrated the powerful potential of public scholarship, transforming complex academic insights into accessible, compelling narratives that resonate with diverse audiences. By bringing scholarly perspectives directly to the public, she exemplifies how humanities research can illuminate cultural dynamics, challenge assumptions, and foster critical thinking among wider publics. Similarly, Arabindan-Kesson’s interdisciplinary multimedia project, ArtHx, showcases the dynamic ways humanities scholarship can intersect with public institutions. Through museum collaborations and innovative multimedia storytelling, Arabindan-Kesson illustrates how scholarly research can become a catalyst for community dialogue, cultural understanding, and social reflection.

The current initiatives of Gee and Arabindan-Kesson represent a strategic, multifaceted approach to what’s become known as  “publicly engaged scholarship.” Their upcoming March 26 workshop at the GradFUTURES Forum, "How We Talk About Our Work," will draw upon their experience, as well as guidance from national organizations like the American Council of Learned Societies and the Modern Language Association, to equip emerging scholars with the communication skills necessary to translate specialized research into meaningful public conversations.

During her year as a Faculty Fellow, Arabindan-Kesson is also planning "train the trainer" sessions that will help graduate advisers integrate support for community-engaged scholarship into their mentoring practices.

Gee and Arabindan-Kesson’s  activities as Faculty Fellows are part of their efforts to create a robust infrastructure – including through partnerships with the Princeton Public Library, Princeton University Press, the Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship, the newly-launched Humanities Initiative, and University humanities and social science departments – to support and celebrate scholarship as a dynamic, interactive endeavor.

Nouri, Jenkins and Atkinson to explore science policy and sustainability pathways

Faculty fellows Ali Nouri, Jesse Jenkins, and Josh Atkinson are joining forces with the GradFUTURES team and campus partners to shape two new interdisciplinary “learning cohorts” that will focus on Science Policy and Sustainability this spring. GradFUTURES Learning Cohorts are co-curricular series that bring graduate students together from across disciplines for regular meetings focused on exploring an industry or societal trend, developing a professional network, and building professional competencies. Graduate students who complete all the assignments and the capstone project receive a micro-credential and certificate of completion. 

The Science Policy (Science for Policy, Policy for Science) Learning Cohort, offered in partnership with the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE), will explore the landscape of science policy, both how scientific evidence informs and influences policy making and how policies impact scientific research. Graduate students will gain a greater understanding of how stakeholders can inform or influence policy agendas and the role of researchers in informing evidence-based science policy. They will discuss case studies of bills and acts that passed and those that failed to pass to understand the factors that influenced the outcomes. In addition, graduate students will learn about career pathways in science policy for scientists and scholars across the public or private sectors. The culminating capstone project will be to develop evidence-based informational policy memos (on topics such as health policy, AI and tech, and energy policy) and engage with New Jersey policymakers. 

Ali Nouri returned to his graduate school alma mater, Princeton, as a lecturer in the School of Public and International Affairs, after serving under President Biden as Deputy Assistant to the President, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, and Assistant Secretary in the Department of Energy. Nouri will provide graduate students in the cohort with a behind-the-scenes look at federal policymaking using case studies such as the Inflation Reduction Act. He will explain the roles played by executive and congressional branches of the government and various national agencies in policy on scientific issues, as well the interactions between these arms of the government. Nouri will also share his career journey in science policy from his time as a PhD student in Princeton’s Molecular Biology program through the present.

Jesse Jenkins is an assistant professor and macro-scale energy systems engineer at Princeton University with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment. Jenkins and his ZERO Lab (Zero-Carbon Energy Systems Research and Optimization Laboratory) conduct research to improve and apply optimization-based macro-energy systems models to evaluate low-carbon energy technologies, guide investment and research in innovative decarbonization solutions, and generate insights to improve energy and climate policy and planning. The work is motivated by a desire to improve and support real-world decisions and accelerate the transition to clean energy. In a keynote talk at the GradFUTURES Forum on March 26, Jenkins will highlight how academics can play an active role in informing evidence-based policy. He will discuss how he selects research aimed at public impact and the strategies and efforts used to ensure the insights of his work find their way to the right decision-makers. 

Josh Atkinson is an assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute and is collaborating with the GradFUTURES team to develop the Sustainability Learning Cohort. Offered in partnership with the Office of Sustainability, the cohort will learn, discuss, and investigate the goals and dimensions of sustainability and practical challenges in implementation across different fields and sectors, as well as diverse solutions. As part of the cohort programming, Princeton graduate alumnus John Warner, co-founder of the field of green chemistry, will deliver a keynote talk at the GradFUTURES Forum on March 27.

Graduate students in the cohort will engage in real-time capstone projects hosted by Princeton’s Office of Sustainability and Office of Technology Licensing and New Ventures, as well as Curbon, a startup founded by Princeton students. Participants will gain a greater understanding of sustainability through the lens of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and explore career pathways for researchers in sustainability. 

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“Our second cohort of Faculty Fellows all demonstrate extraordinary commitment to shaping the academic and professional futures of Princeton graduate students,” said Evangeline “Eva” Kubu, the senior associate dean for professional development. “They’re contributing to the creation of innovative professional development programs that empower our graduate students to explore their interests and chart bold academic and professional trajectories.”