Daniel Zeng
PRISMS Senior
Daniel Zeng is a driven and multifaceted senior at PRISMS, with a wide array of leadership roles and extracurricular activities. He honed his leadership skills through NOLS Alaska Backpacking, where he navigated the wilderness, organized routes, and managed group rations. As the Co-Leader of the Jazz Band, he helps organize practices, arranges songs, and brings music to life at biannual festivals.
Beyond the stage and the outdoors, Daniel contributes to PRISMatics, the school newspaper, writing and editing regularly. He's also preparing for a role in the fall theater production and enjoys playing volleyball and training for the Princeton Half-Marathon. As Head TA, Daniel leads a team of 20 teaching assistants, ensuring smooth academic support across various subjects. His passion for teaching extends to his work as a Center Assistant at KUMON, where he assists young learners. Additionally, his love for cooking and baking has led him to give back through community fundraisers.
Frida Ruiz
Founder of The Green Cause, Undergraduate at Princeton University
Frida is a senior at Princeton University studying mechanical
engineering with a minor in environmental studies. Her interests
consist of researching and creating technological tools for the
purposes of conservation and ecological restoration. She is currently
conducting her senior thesis in Dr. Radhika Nagpal's Self Organizing
Swarms and Robotics lab, where she is building a robot to aid with
reforestation efforts. Aside from academics, she is the founder of The
Green Cause, an environmental education nonprofit with over 400
members. She also works as Outreach Coordinator for Princeton's
Ecological Representatives (EcoReps) program, where she creates
collaboration opportunities for students to support the efforts of
local environmental organizations and student groups. She previously
held president and co-chair positions at Princeton Student Climate
Initiative (PSCI) and New Jersey Student Climate Advocates.
Sum Yue (Natalie) Chung
Climate Advocate, Entrepreneur and PhD Researcher at Princeton University
Natalie is a PhD Researcher in Climate Change Policy at Princeton, co-supervised by Michael Oppenheimer and Eric Tate. Inspired by a polar explorer, she has devoted her life to climate action. She co-founded V'air Sustainability Education, providing nature-based climate education for schools and corporations, reaching over 2 million people. Recognized as a sustainability leader, her work with the World Bank on Pacific Island projects deepened her interest in climate resilience. At Princeton, she’s creating a model integrating scientific and human elements for nature-based adaptation. Natalie serves on Hong Kong's Council for Carbon Neutrality, the Green Tech Fund, and the Country and Marine Parks Board. As a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, she launched the Lead for Sustainability Mentorship program and represented Hong Kong at the Antarctic Climate Expedition. Natalie holds an MPhil from Oxford and a BSSc from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Physicist, professor, firefighter, athlete, teacher, and model
Dr. Kirk started his undergraduate education at the University of California at San Diego, where he earned a B.Sc. in physics. From there, Dr. Kirk traveled to the University of Stuttgart, in Germany, where he completed his M.Sc. in physics. His D.Sc. came when he traveled yet again, to Switzerland, to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Eventually, Dr. Kirk made his way back to the US for a visiting assistant professorship at Rowan University. He later held an appointment at the College of New Jersey and worked many years at the educational testing service before settling at Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science.
Dr. Kirk’s research concerns the magnetic, electronic, and structural properties of various solid materials, ranging from granular, two-dimensional thin films to multilayered films, superlattices, and surfaces. You may know him as a physics educator, but did you know that he once tried to qualify for the Olympics and models for Tandem Management?