Pyne Prize awarded to Princeton Class of 2026 members Braeden Carroll and Katie Daniels
Braeden Carroll and Katie Daniels
Princeton University seniors Braeden Carroll and Katie Daniels are the recipients of the 2026 Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate. They will be recognized at Alumni Day on campus Saturday, Feb. 21.
The Pyne Honor Prize, established in 1921, is awarded to the seniors who have most clearly manifested excellent scholarship, strength of character and effective leadership. Previous recipients include Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the late Princeton President Emeritus Robert F. Goheen.
Braeden Carroll
Braeden Carroll
Carroll, from Kinnelon, New Jersey, is majoring in civil and environmental engineering. He is a two-time recipient of the George B. Wood Legacy Prize and the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence, as well as an early inductee into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Carroll is also a decorated scholar-athlete who rows for the men’s varsity lightweight rowing team.
“I feel incredibly honored to win the Pyne Prize because it reflects the meaningful impacts I have had through my real commitments and curiosities,” he said, crediting his mentors, classmates and teammates for their support in those endeavors.
Carroll’s academic pursuits have bridged engineering, the humanities, social sciences and policy studies, including extensive interdisciplinary fieldwork.
“Princeton has given me so many incredible opportunities to challenge myself and expand my horizons,” he said. “The power of a liberal arts education has allowed me to supplement my engineering coursework with classes in history, economics, politics, religion and more. This intellectual diversity has reframed how I approach problem-solving, giving me the agility to cross disciplinary boundaries with unique solutions.”
In athletics, he is a two-time winner of the Empacher-IRCA Scholar Athlete award, and a 2023 Intercollegiate Rowing Association national champion. He extends his interests beyond the boat through his volunteer work with STEM to Stern, which connects Princeton rowers with students at underresourced schools and expands access to rowing through after-school practice and STEM homework tutoring.
Carroll is a member of Rockefeller College and the Princeton chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
“Had [Braeden] been born in the late medieval world, he would have been characterized as a Renaissance man,” said his senior thesis adviser, Branko Glišić, professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. “He is a wonderful, caring, erudite person who has many interests and builds memories with everyone he encounters. I truly believe that he represents the essence of the Pyne Prize.”
Carroll’s senior thesis, an analysis of plank walls in historic timber barns that has involved field experiments at the Howell Living History Farm in New Jersey, combines his major in civil engineering and his deep interest in sustainability. His thesis continues research begun during independent study in his junior year, which has implications for understanding the structural behavior of historic timber barns and for developing preservation methods.
“[Braeden] had to learn and employ various methodologies, including data entry and analysis, geometrical modeling, and advanced structural analysis,” said Glišić. “He demonstrated a natural aptitude for the research process in both the technical and administrative aspects, showed initiative in acquiring significant new theoretical and practical knowledge, and developed essential research skills while producing important new knowledge.”
That interdisciplinary mindset has extended well beyond campus. In the fall semester of his junior year, Carroll traveled to Greece to conduct fieldwork for HUM 417: “Historical Structures: Ancient Architecture’s Materials, Construction and Engineering,” studying engineering advancements and how they changed ancient architecture.
“Braeden dove headfirst into the subject of archaeology and did not play it safe by relying only on his established strengths,” said Samuel Holzman, assistant professor of art and archaeology. “He has a knack for bringing humanistic depth to the study of the applied sciences. His career interest in learning from historic buildings as a basis for future sustainable construction is the perfect embodiment of Princeton’s goal of national and humanity-wide service.”
Carroll also had the opportunity to explore his interests in an internship with Blue Lab, an environmental multimedia storytelling collective at Princeton, where he co-produced the first season of the podcast Carried by Water, focused on survivors of the 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. He was a co-presenter for the work at the American Geophysical Union’s 2023 conference and a co-author for a journal article that was published in npj Climate Action.
In the summer of 2024, he worked with the Princeton Creative and Resilient Urban Engineering Lab team, helping research and design the next generation of coastal flood barriers. In 2025 he interned at the management consulting firm Bain & Co.
In the future, Carroll plans to combine the analytical and quantitative skills gained at Princeton to contribute to work in clean technology and sustainable energy.
“When I look ahead to life after Princeton, the lessons I have learned here will undoubtedly follow me, and I will be better prepared to connect with those around me, answer difficult questions, and overcome challenges in my path,” he said.
Katie Daniels
Katie Daniels
Daniels, from Newtown, Pennsylvania, is majoring in neuroscience and plans to pursue a career as a physician-scientist with a focus on pediatric neurology. She is a recipient of the George B. Wood Legacy Prize and the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence, an early inductee to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and the recipient of the Boyce Batey Senior Thesis Award from the Princeton Neuroscience Institute to support her senior thesis research.
When she was notified that she had received the Pyne Prize, Daniels said, “I was genuinely shocked.” That initial surprise, though, “transformed into immense gratitude for everyone who has supported my Princeton journey,” she said, including family, classmates, professors and alumni mentors.
“My time at Princeton has taught me to embrace the uncertainties of self-discovery, find joy and purpose in illuminating others' journeys, and take comfort in knowing that the extended Tiger family is always willing to lend a helping hand,” she said.
Daniels’ academic journey, said Asha Nambiar, director of accessibility and disability services at Princeton in a letter of recommendation, “is rooted in both resilience and intellectual drive.” As an accomplished athlete in high school, she sustained multiple concussions that reshaped her plans for college, even before she applied. “She faced challenges that might have derailed another student’s ambitions,” said Nambiar. “Instead, she redirected her energy and curiosity into neuroscience.”
As a first-year, Daniels took courses with professors associated with the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and began working at the institute as a research assistant. As a sophomore, she also pursued rigorous coursework in the Department of Molecular Biology. Motivated by her longstanding interest in traumatic brain injury, she sought out opportunities beyond the formal curriculum and participated in group meetings — focused on modeling repeated head trauma in Drosophila — in the lab of Daniel A. Notterman, M.D., professor of the practice in molecular biology, senior researcher in molecular biology, and vice dean for biomedical and clinical research.
New to both fly genetics and molecular techniques, “Katie rapidly adapted to the lab, becoming an expert in fly crosses, dissection [of the minute fly brain], qPCR, and behavioral assays,” said Notterman, who became her academic mentor and senior thesis adviser. “This work resulted in an outstanding junior paper and is the substrate for her ongoing senior independent research and thesis, which is making great progress and is likely to result in a first-author paper.”
Daniels has pursued research opportunities across multiple institutions, including Princeton Internships in Civic Service-funded clinical neuroscience work at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., where she completed a recently published first-author manuscript on shunt-dependent hydrocephalus in patients with myelomeningocele and has logged extensive clinical observation hours.
She has presented her work at national and regional conferences, including an oral presentation at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Pediatric Section Annual Meeting, and has served as a student researcher in the lab of Drexel University associate professor Nandini Madan, M.D., to analyze the difference between post-infectious and non-infectious postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.
Beyond the classroom and laboratory, Daniels has made significant contributions to the life of the University through leadership and civic engagement. As a senior fellow with the Princeton University Office of Disability Services’ AccessAbility Center, she has been an advocate for disabled students, leading disability-education trainings, advising on campus accessibility initiatives and collaborating with university stakeholders on inclusive design.
Daniels also serves as a peer academic adviser and health professions adviser in New College West and as a teaching assistant for NEU 350, a core neuroscience lab class.
As a member since 2023 of the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad, she has responded to more than 126 calls for service and volunteered for more than 500 hours.
“Outside of the classroom, my experiences have given me a greater appreciation for the importance of eliminating barriers to accessing health and my personal responsibility to amplify the voices and experiences of those whose experiences are not as well understood,” Daniels said.
After graduation, she will likely pursue an MPhil in brain health and disease at the University of Cambridge and attend medical school.
“Katie Daniels embodies the values the Pyne Prize was created to honor,” said Notterman. “She contributes to Princeton not only through exceptional scholarship, but through sustained leadership, care for others and a deep sense of responsibility to the broader community.”
“On a personal level, Katie manifests the maturity and integrity that would make any mentor proud,” said Robert Keating, M.D., chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at Children’s National and a professor at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. “Her tenacity and inner strength have always remained at a championship level and it is perhaps this inner reserve that I know will inevitably serve her well as a physician.”
