Programs

  • African American Studies

    For students who wish to study the complex interplay between political, economic and cultural forces shaping the historic achievements and struggles of African-descended people in the United States and their relationship to others around the world.

  • African Studies

    The minor in African studies provides opportunities to learn about the continent. The program offers classes in Africa's political, economic and social history; built environments and urban geographies; ecology, genetic diversity and epidemiological concerns. The program also offers classes in Africa's vibrant art scenes, past and present, where literature, music and art have come to define a new post-colonial African cosmopolitanism.

  • American Studies

    The program aims to give students an understanding of American society — its culture, its institutions, its intellectual traditions, and the relationships among its diverse people. We encourage study and debate about America’s place in the world and the world in America, as well as what it means to grapple with the horizons and limits of its democratic aspirations.

  • Anthropology

    Anthropology is the study of human experience and social change. Through situated and relational methods, anthropology considers the ways people think, act and make sense of their lifeworlds, against the backdrop of multiple structural forces and across intersecting domains and scales. Always in a deep interdisciplinary dialogue, the connections between ethnography, theory, social engagement and storytelling are a hallmark of anthropology.

  • Applied and Computational Mathematics

    The undergraduate certificate is designed for students who are looking to broaden their mathematical and computational skills and to give mathematically oriented students the opportunity to discover the challenges presented by applications from the natural sciences and engineering.

    On the graduate level, the program offers a select group of highly qualified students the opportunity to obtain a thorough knowledge of branches of mathematics indispensable to science and engineering applications, including numerical analysis and other computational methods.

  • Architecture

    The School of Architecture's undergraduate program is known for its rigorous and interdisciplinary approach to pre-professional education within the framework of a liberal arts curriculum. The master’s degree has both a professional and a post-professional track, emphasizing design expertise in the context of architectural scholarship. The doctoral program focuses on the history, theory and criticism of architecture, urbanism, landscape, and building technology.

  • Architecture and Engineering

    The interdisciplinary program enables undergraduate students to tackle topics at the intersection of engineering and architecture, including structural, computational and environmental design. The certificate focuses on opportunities to respond dynamically to evolving global challenges, where elegant and effective solutions lead to more resilient and sustainable communities. 

  • Art and Archaeology

    The Department of Art and Archaeology is devoted to the study of the visual arts and the investigation of material artifacts from a wide range of cultures and periods. Undergraduate programs of study include history of art and studio arts. An undergraduate certificate in archaeology is available. The graduate program in Art and Archaeology is designed to prepare students for teaching and research at the university level, curatorial positions in museums, and other careers in the visual arts.

  • Asian American Studies

    The Program in Asian American Studies, administered by the Effron Center for the Study of America, provides students with the opportunity to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on the diversity of Asian American and Pacific Islander histories, cultures and contemporary experiences. The course of study focuses on the emergence of this pan-ethnic group in the United States, but also highlights Asian America’s transnational connections and contexts, including the dynamics of globalization, migration, imperialism and post-coloniality.

  • Astrophysical Sciences

    The department covers all major fields in astrophysics — from planets to black holes, stars, galaxies, quasars, dark matter, dark energy, and the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to today — and plasma physics. The relatively small size of the department provides an informal, flexible and friendly setting for students. Under the department’s aegis, an extensive program of graduate research is also conducted at the renowned Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

  • Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

    The program emphasizes theoretical studies and numerical model studies of the global climate system. It offers Ph.D. students opportunities for research and courses in a wide range of disciplines including geophysical fluid dynamics, atmospheric physics, atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemistry of the land and ocean, atmospheric modeling, ocean modeling, climate dynamics, global climate change and paleo-climate. Students may benefit from the research capabilities of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory.

  • Bioengineering

    Princeton’s rapidly growing and interdisciplinary bioengineering community is pioneering new research and training the next generation of bioengineering leaders. Based in the School for Engineering and Applied Sciences, with affiliate labs across campus, students in the doctoral program will benefit from Princeton’s uniquely collaborative environment. Students' work is based in one or more of the pillars of Princeton’s bioengineering research: cellular bioengineering, device bioengineering and computational bioengineering.

  • Biophysics

    The graduate program provides multidisciplinary graduate education at the interface of the physical and the life sciences. The program is a collaboration among faculty in the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and the departments of Chemistry, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Computer Science, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Mechanical Engineering, Molecular Biology, Neuroscience and Physics. The program encompasses the full range of biophysics research at Princeton: from molecules to animals and cells to ecosystems, including work in both experiment and theory.

  • Chemical and Biological Engineering

    The undergraduate curriculum is designed to provide students with a solid foundation in the principles of engineering, mathematics and science, with an emphasis on chemistry and biochemistry. The goal is to enable students to pursue careers in a wide range of industries including manufacturing, pharmaceutical, energy, materials, biotechnology and many others.

    The graduate program develops leaders in chemical and biological engineering by conducting research that defines the frontiers of knowledge. We prepare chemical and biological engineers for careers in teaching, research and development, and management in academia, government and industry.

  • Chemistry

    The Department of Chemistry offers undergraduates a flexible program suitable for attending graduate or medical school, as well as for those intending to pursue a career in secondary school teaching. A chemistry concentration is appropriate for anyone who desires a broad background of undergraduate training in science.

    The graduate program is a vital, expanding hub of scientific inquiry with deep historic roots and a ready grasp on the future. Housed in the world-class Frick Chemistry Laboratory, faculty and students work at the frontiers of science where the lines between chemistry and other disciplines merge.

  • Chinese Language

    The Chinese language minor provides an opportunity for students who plan to major in other disciplines to simultaneously pursue a high level of proficiency in Chinese and acquire a basic knowledge about its literature, history and culture.

  • Civil and Environmental Engineering

    The department offers undergraduates five options: architecture and engineering, environmental engineering, geological engineering, structural engineering, and engineering and the liberal arts. The graduate program offers individualized tracks aligned with mechanics, materials and structures; architecture, arts and archaeology; hydrology and the atmospheric environment; sustainable, resilient cities and infrastructure systems; chemistry, biology and technology; and water, climate and energy.

  • Classical Philosophy

    The graduate certificate in classical philosophy provides training, special skills and knowledge equipping students for scholarly work and teaching that involve classical philosophy. It is designed to recognize students who have gone beyond their own departmental requirements for a Ph.D. and done significant work in classical philosophy, but who are not enrolled in the Ph.D. Program in Classical Philosophy.

  • Classics

    The department offers two tracks of study for undergraduate concentrators: the Classical Studies program affords wide-ranging opportunities to study the history, literature and culture of the ancient Mediterranean, as well as the impact of classical antiquity on later periods; the Ancient History program explores the history of ancient Greece and Rome and their relationships with the neighboring cultures of the Near East, Europe and Africa.

    The graduate program offers a varied and comprehensive course of study appropriate to their developing research interests. The department offers four curricular options: literature and philology, history (Program in the Ancient World), classical philosophy, classical and Hellenic studies.

  • Climate Science

    Climate science employs math, physics, chemistry, biology and computer science to understand how Earth’s climate works, how it has changed in the past and how it will change in the future.

    The primary goal of the minor is to provide fundamental climate literacy to students that they can use to pursue careers related to climate science and to make informed decisions as citizens on a changing planet.

  • Cognitive Science

    Cognitive science is the study of how the mind works, drawing on research from psychology, philosophy, linguistics, neuroscience and computer science. The interdisciplinary character of cognitive science reflects different levels of analysis of mental phenomena and their employment of a variety of methodologies appropriate to each level.

  • Comparative Literature

    Undergraduate study approaches literature from a broad, cross-cultural perspective. The curriculum encompasses literatures, languages, and cultures from around the world. Students motivated to understand literature in the broadest terms or those interested in particular examples of literary comparison will find an intellectual home in comparative literature.

    The graduate program enables students with exceptional training in languages and literatures to profit from the increased awareness and understanding from the considered view of more than one literature and of the theoretical presuppositions behind literary study as a whole. 

  • Computational Science and Engineering

    The graduate certificate in computational science and engineering offers students comprehensive training in numerical analysis, software engineering, computer science, and statistics and data modeling in ways that promote discovery in the sciences, engineering and humanities.

  • Computer Science

    Undergraduates learn fundamental concepts of the discipline and to become proficient in the use of advanced computer systems. The plan provides opportunities for study in software systems, algorithms and complexity, machine architecture, computer graphics, programming languages, machine learning, and other core areas of computer science.

    The graduate program accepts beginning and advanced students for study and research. The degree programs are sufficiently flexible to adapt to individual plans of study and research.

  • Contemporary European Politics and Society

    The program encourages the interdisciplinary study of modern Europe, with a particular focus on politics, economics and society in western and central Europe since World War I.

  • Creative Writing

    The program allows undergraduates to work with practicing writers to develop their writing skills, learn the possibilities of modern poetry, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting and translation, and gain a special access to the critical understanding of literature through their involvement in the creative process.

  • Dance

    The program familiarizes students with creative, performative and analytical approaches to dance through exposure to professional choreographers, dancers, critics and scholars. Students undertake demanding, studio-based courses with dance professionals. The program provides advanced courses for the pre-professional dancer and offers courses to students who have never danced. The creation of original work, both choreographic and written, is emphasized alongside rigorous technical training.

  • East Asian Studies

    The East Asian Studies major provides undergraduates with a broad-ranging knowledge of the languages and cultures of China, Japan and Korea. The East Asian Studies minor provides an opportunity for students who plan to major in the humanities, social sciences or other disciplines to simultaneously pursue the study of East Asian language and culture. The Graduate School offers doctoral training in Chinese and Japanese history and literature, Korean history, Korean cultural studies, anthropology of East Asia, and in the transnational social and cultural study of contemporary East Asia.

  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

    The undergraduate program emphasizes study from an evolutionary perspective, combining theory and empiricism and linking areas that are often treated as separate disciplines. Students with an interest in whole-organism and large-scale processes — evolution, physiology, disease, behavior, neuroscience, ecology, ecosystem biology, conservation and climate change — will find a home in ecology and evolutionary biology.

    Areas of strength in the graduate program include evolutionary ecology, behavioral ecology, theoretical ecology, population, community and ecosystem ecology, ecological and evolutionary genetics, molecular evolution, epidemiology of infectious diseases, and conservation biology. Graduate students also have excellent opportunities for combining several areas for innovative interdisciplinary work.

  • Economics

    Princeton has one of the finest economics departments in the world. Economics is consistently one of the most popular undergraduate concentrations on campus and attracts a diverse group of students with a broad range of interests. The graduate program provides thorough training in both the techniques and applications of economic analysis. 

  • Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Undergraduate students begin with a unifying foundation before studying in an area of specialization which ranges from devices to optoelectronics, to computer architecture and communication technology, to microprocessors. Students may select one of a set of suggested concentrations, or tailor their own in consultation with their faculty adviser to suit special interests.

    The graduate program emphasizes forward-looking education and original, cutting-edge research. While addressing fundamental issues and applications, graduate research focuses on current high-growth fields like security, photonics, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biomedical applications, networks and communications, and multicore computer architecture. 

  • Engineering Biology

    The program is designed for undergraduate students who want to pursue careers or graduate education in biotechnology or bioengineering. For engineering students, the program offers study in cellular and molecular biology, genetics, physiology, biochemistry and neuroscience. For biological and chemical sciences majors, the program offers study in biotechnology, biomechanics, thermodynamics, control theory, hazardous waste management, electronics, computer graphics and information theory.

  • Engineering Physics

    The program is directed toward students interested in a fundamental knowledge of physics, together with problem-solving skills and an understanding of engineering. Undergraduates study energy, environment, materials, microelectronics, astronautics and photonics.

  • English

    Undergraduate students read widely across the genres and periods of British, American and Anglophone literature, and explore approaches to literary study with a distinguished, internationally renowned faculty. The department's ranks include historicists and formalists, theorists and poets, and postcolonialists and feminists. Faculty teach not only poetry, prose and drama, but film, music, art, architecture and technology. The department is united by a passion for works of the imagination, and for thinking about what they mean and the difference they make in the world.

    The graduate program produces well-trained and field-transforming scholars, insightful and imaginative critics, and effective and creative teachers.

  • Entrepreneurship

    The program aims to supplement undergraduates in their major departments with an understanding and practice in entrepreneurship.

  • Environmental Studies

    The undergraduate program engages the scientific, political, humanistic and technological dimensions of environmental challenges facing the world today. Students majoring in any discipline may pursue either a generalist track or a specialist track that explores biodiversity and conservation, climate and energy, Earth systems, environmental policy or environment and water. The graduate program broadens the educational perspective of doctoral students by exploring policy aspects of their environmental research.

  • European Cultural Studies

    The program deepens students' understanding of European civilization and strengthens their command of cultural interpretation through interdisciplinary investigation. The program focuses on the ways in which European societies, past and present, order reality, make sense of life and communicate meaning across a range of disciplines and in a wide variety of media.

  • Finance

    The undergraduate program focuses on the pricing of financial assets (including equities, bonds, currencies and derivative securities), portfolio management and the evaluation of financial risks, banking and financial intermediation, the financing of corporations, corporate governance, financial-market and banking regulation, and many other topics.

    The graduate program places a strong emphasis on financial economics in addition to financial engineering and computational methods. Students will develop a solid understanding of the fundamental quantitative tools from computer science, economic theory, optimization, probability and statistics — all of which are becoming increasingly vital in the financial industry.

  • French and Italian

    The undergraduate program gives students a grounding in the language, literature and culture. Courses provide practical instruction in the French and Italian languages, the literatures and cultures of France and Italy in all periods, and literature in French written in other parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

    The graduate program trains students to become effective teachers and scholars of French language and literature. (The department does not offer a graduate program in Italian, though it does teach graduate-level courses in Italian literature.)

  • Gender and Sexuality Studies

    The undergraduate and graduate programs are dedicated to the study of gender and sexuality, as well as their intersections with race, class, ethnicity and disability, across cultures and global geographies both past and present. 

  • Geological Engineering

    Geological engineering is the application of science to problems involving the Earth, its physical environment, earth materials, and natural resources. The program prepares students for graduate study or practice in geology, geochemistry, geophysics, oceanography, water resources, engineering and environmental geology, and civil and environmental engineering.

  • Geosciences

    The intellectual excitement of modern geosciences is fueled by our exploration of the dynamic forces and delicate balances that mold our planet and have rendered it conducive to life for much of its history. The diversity of processes that characterize the Earth as a whole requires geosciences to be an extraordinarily interdisciplinary field with direct connections to mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and computer science.

    The graduate program encompasses a rich diversity of scientific expertise and initiatives, ranging from the measurement and modeling of global climatic change to high-pressure mineral physics, and from seismic tomographic imaging of the mantle to biogeochemistry and isotope geochemistry of the Earth and oceans.

  • German

    The department offers six areas of undergraduate concentration: German literature, German philosophy and intellectual history, media and aesthetics, Germanic linguistics, the study of two literatures (German and a second literature), and German culture and politics. 

    The graduate program offer students the chance to participate in an intense intellectual community and to work with scholars whose expertise encompasses the breadth of German literary tradition as well as contemporary interdisciplinary and theoretical approaches to the study of German culture.

  • Global Health and Health Policy

    The program enables undergraduates to study the determinants, consequences and patterns of disease across societies, the role of medical technologies and interventions in health improvements, and the economic, political and social factors that shape domestic and global public health policy.

  • Health and Health Policy

    The graduate program trains graduate students for careers in health-related areas in the public and not-for-profit sectors. The program is designed for students with domestic and international health interests and provides both broad training in core topics in health and health policy as well as courses in specialized areas.

  • Hellenic Studies

    The undergraduate program is for students interested in the interdisciplinary study of the Greek world (ancient, Byzantine or modern), as well as the classical tradition. The program offers language courses in modern Greek and postclassical Greek, introductory courses in Byzantine and modern Greek studies, and freshman, upperclass and global seminars.

    The graduate program offers a broad range of seminars in Hellenic studies that are complemented by graduate courses in several departments and programs, with opportunities for doctoral research on Byzantine or modern Greek civilization.

  • History

    The undergraduate program encourages students to gain further knowledge of the major developments in, and problems of, history, to do independent historical research and writing, and to develop an authoritative knowledge of one particular field of history.  

    The graduate program values an approach to scholarship grounded in the particular while retaining a sense of the whole. Students take a comprehensive view of history with the goal of cultivating a far-reaching understanding of the past. Throughout their enrollment, students develop the necessary skills to conduct discipline-defining research.

  • History and the Practice of Diplomacy

    The program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue concentrated interdisciplinary study of history and diplomacy in concert with internships in the practice of diplomacy and related professions. 

  • History of Science

    The graduate program aims to enhance students' enthusiasm for the subject while also training them for the joint professional responsibilities of teaching and research. The program treats science as an intellectual, cultural and social phenomenon, and provides students with special training and techniques not normally included in the education of professional historians while at the same time preparing them to teach and work in general history.

  • History of Science, Technology and Medicine

    Students will learn from the array of methodological approaches developed by historians of science, technology and medicine, and track the evolution of modern science from antiquity to the present, in many of the world’s cultures.

  • Humanistic Studies

    The undergraduate program offers two areas of study. Humanistic studies explore interrelated events, ideas, texts and artifacts of Western and Asian cultures. Journalism examines topics related to writing and the media, from creative nonfiction to relations between the media and society.

  • Interdisciplinary Humanities

    The Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in the Humanities at Princeton is a home for new experiments in an ancient enterprise. The program explores the widening possibilities for humanistic study in a young millennium, reaching out to the arts and sciences and testing the conventions of intellectual exchange. The program offers a joint Ph.D. in collaboration with participating departments, and current graduate students apply to the program in their third year of study.

  • Italian Studies

    The graduate certificate in Italian studies provides an opportunity for students to complement their doctoral studies with coordinated, multidisciplinary training in the Program in Italian Studies, and to take part in an intellectually stimulating interdisciplinary community.

  • Japanese Language

    The Japanese language minor provides an opportunity for students who plan to major in other disciplines to simultaneously pursue a high level of proficiency in Japanese and acquire a basic knowledge about its literature, history and culture.

  • Journalism

    The Program in Journalism empowers students to produce rigorous, verified journalism, developing a strong command of the literary, ethical, analytical and political dimensions of telling a compelling story in order to have a meaningful impact on public policy. Students learn the practice of reporting and verification and the art of crafting compelling nonfiction narratives in a variety of media.

  • Judaic Studies

    The undergraduate program provides students the opportunity to explore more than three millennia of Jewish culture, history, religion, thought, politics and literature from the Bible to contemporary Jewish thought and society from an interdisciplinary perspective.

  • Korean Language

    The Korean language minor provides an opportunity for students who plan to major in other disciplines to simultaneously pursue a high level of proficiency in Korean and acquire a basic knowledge about its literature, history and culture.

  • Language and Culture

    The program is administered through individual language and literature departments to allow students in any major to earn a certificate in language and culture. Certificates can be earned in the departments of French and Italian, German, Near Eastern studies, and Spanish and Portuguese.

  • Latin American Studies

    The undergraduate and graduate programs promote interdisciplinary study to inspire knowledge of and experience in Latin America.

     

  • Latino Studies

    The undergraduate program traverses the arts, humanities and social sciences, seeking to provide students with a broad understanding of the emergence, transformation and consolidation of Latinos as a pan-ethnic group and to appreciate the range of Hispanic imprints on American society and culture.

  • Linguistics

    Linguistics is the study of the distinctive properties of human language and the cognitive capacities of language users, including the rules that govern the patterns of particular languages and universal principles governing all languages. Linguists investigate the grammatical principles and processes that determine the structure of human languages, their evolution over time, and their psychological underpinnings.

  • Materials Science and Engineering

    The undergraduate program emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of the study of materials and the engineering application of their properties. It is designed primarily for students in science and engineering departments who are considering careers in materials.

    Graduate students must apply to and be admitted to one of the following academic departments: mechanical and aerospace engineering, chemical and biological engineering, chemistry, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, geosciences.

  • Mathematics

    The department offers study in undergraduate and graduate mathematics.

  • Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

    The undergraduate program guides students to build fundamental knowledge in key engineering disciplines and develop practical skills in problem-solving and design. The core of the department's curriculum — solid and fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, dynamics, control systems, materials and applied mathematics — are combined with the experience of engineering design.

    The graduate program defines the frontiers of knowledge in our field by preparing leaders in engineering and applied sciences for careers in academia, industry and government. Our program emphasizes achieving fundamental understanding in a broad range of topics, a deep understanding in a particular area and excellent communications skills.

  • Media and Modernity

    The graduate program promotes the interdisciplinary study of the unique cultural formations that came to prominence during the last two centuries, with special attention paid to the interplay between culture and technology. The program centers on architecture, art, film, photography, literature, philosophy, music, history and all forms of electronic media from radio to video and information technologies.

  • Medieval Studies

    The undergraduate program encourages the interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages: its art, literature (Latin and vernacular), music, religion, science, philosophy, politics, and economic and social structures.

  • Molecular Biology

    The undergraduate program provides courses of study in molecular, cellular and developmental processes. The graduate program fosters the intellectual development of modern biologists. The graduate M.D./Ph.D is done in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Rutgers University (New Brunswick) Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

  • Music

    The undergraduate program encourages students to explore music according to their individual needs, interests and aspirations. Students may pursue work in composition, music history, theory, analysis and interpretation, non-Western music, music technology, performance and improvisation.

  • Music Composition

    The graduate program offers a very open curriculum in which students are free to pursue their individual compositional interests. At the core of the program is the student's own creative work, carried out in regular consultation with members of the composition faculty.

  • Music Performance

    The undergraduate program enhances the study of performance through the study of theory, composition and music history — and vice-versa. The program can provide a foundation upon which a student may build to go on to further professional performance training at the graduate level.

  • Musicology

    Musicology embraces the study of history, theory and practice of music from many points of view. Graduate study in musicology may cover approaches such as historical and ethnographic investigation as well as music theory, hermeneutics and criticism.

  • Near Eastern Studies

    The undergraduate concentration gives students competence in a Near Eastern language and a broad knowledge of the literatures, civilizations, politics and history of the ancient, medieval and modern Near East. Study is built around courses in history, literature, religion, law, anthropology, politics, economics, public policy and Near Eastern languages (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian or Turkish).

    The undergraduate certificate provides students in any department the opportunity to study the languages, modern history and contemporary institutions of the Near East.

    The graduate program has been a leader in the study of the Middle East since 1927. While traditionally the strength of the department has been in the medieval and pre-modern studies of the geographical area that includes the Arab lands, Iran, Israel and Turkey, greater emphasis has been given more recently to the modern Muslim world in its entirety, including the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

  • Neuroscience

    The undergraduate major offers the opportunity for the serious study of molecular, cellular, developmental and systems neuroscience as it interfaces with cognitive and behavioral research. The undergraduate minor is geared toward students in other departments who are interested in an interdisciplinary study of the brain.

    The graduate program trains researchers to answer the fundamental, unanswered questions of how the millions of individual neurons work together to give rise to behavior at the level of a whole organism. Students will learn the latest techniques and approaches in neuroscience, and train in how to think and develop new techniques and approaches to cracking the puzzle of the brain.

    Graduate students who want to add a neuroscience component to their Ph.D. work in another discipline may apply to participate in the Joint Graduate Degree Program in Neuroscience.

  • Operations Research and Financial Engineering

    The undergraduate program brings together coursework in science, mathematics, computing and technology to provide for broad intellectual development suitable for many different types of careers. By choosing from courses in engineering, science, mathematics, economics, public policy and liberal arts, each student may design a program adapted to his or her particular interests.

    The graduate program places a strong emphasis on quantitative methods and mathematical modeling. Students develop a unique set of skills that build upon a solid foundation in probability, statistics and optimization.

  • Optimization and Quantitative Decision Science

    The certificate Program in Optimization and Quantitative Decision Science and Optimization, formerly the certificate Program in Engineering and Management Systems, is focused on developing quantitative skills for optimal decision making in complex and uncertain environments.

  • Philosophy

    Undergraduates enjoy small class sizes, have the opportunity to do independent work in close consultation with members of the 20-strong faculty, and benefit from teaching assistants drawn from one of the world's very best graduate programs in philosophy. 

    The graduate program equips students for careers as philosophers and teachers of philosophy. The program provides broad general training, an opportunity for specialized research in the major areas of philosophic inquiry and experience in undergraduate teaching. Each student pursues an individual plan of study appropriate to his or her background, interests and aims.

  • Physics

    The undergraduate program offers the flexibility to accommodate students with a range of interests, allowing them to take a considerable course load outside the department. Students preparing for graduate school can choose from a variety of advanced-level courses.

    Graduate study is strongly focused on research, with equal emphasis on theoretical and experimental studies. The department has strong and growing groups in experimental condensed matter physics and biophysics, in addition to traditional strengths in theoretical and experimental elementary particle physics, theoretical and experimental gravity and cosmology, experimental nuclear and atomic physics, mathematical physics, and theoretical condensed matter physics.

  • Planets and Life

    The undergraduate program equips students with skills to assume leadership roles in discovering the origins of terrestrial and extraterrestrial life through an understanding of astrophysical, chemical, biological and geological principles, and engineering.

  • Plasma Physics

    Plasmas, the fourth state of matter, are collections of freely moving charged particles in which collective phenomena, such as waves, dominate the behavior of the system. The purpose of this program is to provide strong interdisciplinary support and training for graduate students. The scope of interest includes fundamental studies of plasmas, their interaction with surfaces and surroundings, and the technologies associated with their applications.

  • Politics

    Undergraduate study is focused in four areas: American politics, comparative politics, international relations and political theory. There also is a strong concentration of courses in the areas of quantitative analysis, political economy, and strategy in politics.

    The graduate program is designed to offer broad professional training in political science and to enable students to specialize in any of the main subfields of political science, as well as public law, and formal and quantitative analysis.

  • Population Studies

    The graduate program draws on substantive and methodological specializations in the social, mathematical and biological sciences. Building on its historical strengths in signature fields such as demographic methods, fertility, health and mortality, the program embraces prominent fields in population studies, such as international migration and development, children, youth and families, as well as various aspects of social and economic inequality. In addition, researchers are involved in new fields of inquiry such as epigenetics, biodemography, social epidemiology and web-based experimentation.

  • Psychology

    The undergraduate program provides a rigorous understanding of human behavior and mental processes through foundational and advanced courses on sensation, perception, movement, language, reasoning, decision-making, social interaction and computational models of the brain. The psychology concentration also provides a grounding in neuroscience, since mental processes and behavior arise from the brain.

    The graduate program emphasizes preparation for research and teaching in psychology, with specialization in cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, language, learning and memory, perception and cognition, the psychology of inequality, social neuroscience, social psychology, and systems neuroscience. 

  • Public Policy (Princeton School of Public and International Affairs)

    The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs offers a multidisciplinary liberal arts major for undergraduates who desire to be engaged in public service and become leaders in the world of public and international affairs. The curriculum is founded on courses relevant to the study of policymaking, policy analysis and policy evaluation. Students take courses in economics, politics, and either psychology or sociology.

    The graduate program offers a distinctive educational approach that strikes a careful balance between theory and practice. Graduate students spend time developing analytical skills and acquiring a substantive knowledge about the world's most important domestic and international issues. The two-year curriculum leads to the degree of Master in Public Affairs. Students can earn a dual degree in public affairs and law after four years of study in the school and a collaborating law school. The school also has a graduate program leading to a Doctor of Philosophy in public and international affairs, as well as a one-year Master in Public Policy for mid-career professionals.

  • Quantitative and Computational Biology

    The undergraduate program is designed for students with a strong interest in multidisciplinary and systems-level approaches to understanding molecular, cellular and organismal behavior. The curriculum introduces students to experimental and analytic techniques for acquisition of large-scale quantitative observations, and the interpretation of such data in the context of appropriate models.

    The graduate program facilitates education at the interface of biology, the more quantitative sciences and computation. The program covers the fields of genomics, computational biology, systems biology, biophysics, quantitative genetics, molecular evolution and microbial interactions.

  • Quantitative Economics

    The minor in quantitative economics allows quantitatively inclined students to gain access to economics, with a course of study that is tailored to their interests and skills. 

  • Religion

    The undergraduate program examines religious life, the diverse forms it has taken in different cultures and historical periods, and the questions it poses for theoretical, ethical and political reflection. Students study diverse cultures, peoples, texts and ideologies.

    The graduate program offers broad training in religious studies and enables students to specialize in the subfields of Asian religions, Islam, religion in the Americas, religions of Mediterranean antiquity, religion and philosophy, and religion, ethics and politics.

  • Robotics and Intelligent Systems

    The undergraduate program is designed for students interested in pursuing careers or graduate education in automation, intelligent systems, and the understanding of human intelligence from the perspective of neuroscience and computation.

  • Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

    The undergraduate program draws on the humanities, history and social sciences to study Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Students develop expertise in a core language of Eurasia and a scholarly grounding in the study of the region.

  • Science, Technology and Environmental Policy

    The graduate program develops a deep understanding of current scientific, technological and environmental issues and potential local, national and international policy responses through a systematic introduction to the field of policy analysis. The program provides interdisciplinary training that facilitates communication between technical experts and policy makers. 

  • Slavic Languages and Literatures

    The undergraduate program provides a critically informed appreciation for the literature and culture of Russia and the Slavic world. Students choose a literary tradition as their object of study and develop a comprehensive knowledge of its historical trajectories, artistic trends and intellectual currents. 

    The graduate program furthers interest, knowledge and scholarship relating to Russia, Slavic Central Europe and Eurasia, primarily through the cultural humanities. Students explore new intellectual paths and approaches through a strong background in the Russian literary tradition, an introduction to major schools of theory, and the opportunity to conduct research abroad.  

  • Social Policy

    The graduate program addresses some of the most pressing problems in the U.S. and around the world where inequality generates conflict, poverty and prejudice, diminishes political participation, and reduces opportunities for social mobility. Students learn using the most rigorous tools of social science to bear on these important questions.

  • Sociology

    The undergraduate program offers students a cutting-edge approach to the study of the social dimensions of politics, economics, history, psychology and demography. Students engage in cross-disciplinary thinking in addition to a thorough grounding in a single field. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches to social science are utilized by our students and faculty.

    The graduate program is oriented toward the foundations of sociological analysis, including sociological theory, research methods and social statistics, and making significant contributions to the sociological literature.

  • South Asian Studies

    The undergraduate program offers students the methodological and theoretical tools to study the political, economic, social, religious, literary and cultural institutions of the region with particular focus on the modern history of India and Pakistan. Students take a four-term sequence of language instruction in Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit.

  • Spanish and Portuguese

    The undergraduate program studies the importance and influence of the Spanish, Latin American and Luso-Brazilian histories, cultures and languages around the world from the Middle Ages to the present day. Students prepare to be successful global citizens, ready to face the challenges posed by an increasingly cosmopolitan and multilingual professional world.

    The graduate program trains students to become effective teachers and scholars of Spanish and/or Portuguese language and culture. Students acquire a broad understanding of the whole field of Spanish and/or Luso-Brazilian studies, as well as a specialized grasp of one of its subfields.

  • Statistics and Machine Learning

    The undergraduate program is designed for students who have a strong interest in data analysis and its application across disciplines. Statistics and machine learning — the academic disciplines centered around developing and understanding data analysis tools — play an essential role in various scientific fields including biology, engineering and the social sciences.

    The graduate certificate is designed to formalize the training of students who contribute to or make use of statistics and machine learning as a significant part of their degree program. In addition, it serves to recognize the accomplishments of graduate students across the University who acquire additional training in statistics and machine learning, going beyond the requirements of their own degree programs.

  • Sustainable Energy

    The undergraduate program is designed to broaden understanding in energy resources and their impact on the environment. Students learn to quantitatively analyze, design and develop systems that support sustainable economic growth and environmental harmony, and learn about environmental change from the perspective of engineering, technology, economics and policy.

  • Teacher Preparation

    The program combines coursework, seminars, laboratory experience, fieldwork and practice teaching to become fully prepared and certified to teach successfully at the middle- and secondary school levels. Participants can earn certification in art, English, mathematics, music, the sciences, social studies and world languages. The program is approved by the New Jersey Department of Education and by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.

  • Technology and Society

    The undergraduate program is targeted to students, both engineers/scientists and humanists/social scientists, who are interested in exploring the intersection of society and technology. Programs of study are offered under information technology and energy tracks.

  • Theater and Music Theater

    The undergraduate program welcomes all students interested in exploring theater and music theater, with or without previous experience. Theater and music theater are approached from a liberal arts perspective — as intensely collaborative art forms, as key components of world cultures and as performance genres that shape and are shaped by history, economics, politics and technology. 

  • Translation and Intercultural Communication

    The undergraduate program seeks to develop skills in language use and in the understanding of cultural and disciplinary difference. Translation across languages allows access to issues of intercultural differences, and the program encourages its students to think about the complexity of communicating across cultures, nations and linguistic borders.

  • Urban Policy

    The certificate in urban policy emphasizes the social, economic and political dimensions of urban problems. It is designed to prepare students for careers in urban policy analysis and economic development in national, state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, think tanks and international organizations.

  • Urban Studies

    The undergraduate program offers an interdisciplinary framework for the study of cities, metropolitan regions, and urban and suburban landscapes.

  • Values and Public Life

    The undergraduate program focuses on modes of inquiry into important ethical issues in public life. The program helps students develop competence in pursuing such inquiries generally and supports them in applying these intellectual skills to the advanced analysis of one or more related topics. Students will be equipped to bring informed discussion of values into the public sphere and to integrate a critical value perspective into their future studies and pursuits.

  • Visual Arts

    In the undergraduate program, students explore visual art and media and develop their creative skills in connection with a liberal arts education. Courses are offered in painting, drawing, graphic design, media, sculpture, photography, filmmaking, and film history and criticism. Studio courses emphasize direct, hands-on art making under the guidance of practicing visual arts professionals.