The 2025 Pyne Prize, the highest general distinction given to undergraduates, was awarded to Avi Attar ’25 and Jennifer Nwokeji ’25. The Pyne Prize is given annually to students who have “most clearly manifested excellent scholarship, strength of character, and effective leadership.”
The Prize was first awarded in 1922. Past recipients include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76 and former Princeton President Robert F. Goheen ’40.
Since 2014, there have been a few notable trends among Pyne Prize recipients.
Both Attar and Nwokeji have received the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence. The award “recognizes outstanding academic achievement by Princeton undergraduates in their first or second years of study.” Of the past 25 Pyne Prize recipients, 15 have won the Shapiro Prize at least once.
Furthermore, both students served as Peer Academic Advisors (PAAs). Since 2016, more than half of Pyne Prize recipients have been PAAs.
Academically, students in the social sciences have been well represented. Attar is a School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) major, becoming the fifth student in the department since 2014 to win the award. Nwokeji is majoring in molecular biology, a department that has not seen a Pyne Prize recipient since James Valcourt ’12.
Attar is a member of Cap and Gown, which has now seen five Pyne Prize recipients since 2014. Meanwhile, Nwokeji becomes the eighth recipient since 2014 without an eating club affiliation. In this period, Tower has the most Pyne recipients with seven. 25 total prizes have been awarded since 2014.
Attar, from Newton, Massachusetts, is majoring in SPIA and minoring in computer science.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting it at all so it’s just like a big surprise and an honor,” Attar told The Daily Princetonian. “I’d love to thank my family and friends for supporting me through my time at Princeton.”
Attar also thanked his professors and the broader Princeton community for “being an excellent and supportive community where students can learn and explore new topics.”
Attar served as USG President in 2024, a period that included the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ and multiple contentious USG meetings, including one botched vote over amendments to a statement on behalf of USG. His tenure as President also saw the amendment of the Honor Code, the death of Dean’s Date, the introduction of extended passing periods, and the creation of various mental health initiatives.
“I was most proud to be able to provide some guidance and enable my fellow members of USG to pursue work that they found meaningful,” Attar said.
Prior to his election as President, Attar served as the chair of the USG social committee, bringing Waka Flocka Flame and Loud Luxury as Lawnparties headliners during his tenure. Attar said that his goal was to make the event accessible and enjoyable to a wide range of students whether it was through “the food or the music or the pictures or the merch.”
“We wanted to make sure that people with different interest[s] could have fun and enjoy the event,” he said.
Attar is also the co-chair of the Peer Representatives to the Princeton Honor Committee, co-chair of the executive board of the Pace Center for Civic Engagement’s Community House program, and was a part of the club sailing team.
Attar was nominated by Professor Harold James, who serves as Director of the Program in Contemporary European Politics and Society.
“Avi was a student in my financial history class, and I remember him as a terrific participator in class discussions, in the setting of a very large class — always erudite, on the point, and picking up on details,” James wrote to the ‘Prince.’
Most recently, Attar has interned with Jane Street Capital in New York City. Following his sophomore year, Attar was a Siegel Public Interest Technology Summer Fellow in Washington D.C., where he worked on “consumer protection issues with an eye towards the role of technology, and AI in particular.”
During Attar’s first two summers, he interned through Princeton Internships in Civic Service. After his first year, he was a legal intern at the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida court under former Florida Circuit Judge Alan Fine ’79.
His senior thesis — advised by professor Ethan Kapstein — focuses on how the “CHIPS and Science Act [of 2022] was developed and passed with an eye towards the importance of semiconductors and possibly of policy in the industry.”
According to the University’s press release, upon graduation, “Attar hopes to build on his interests in technology and policy in a way that leverages innovation to ‘improve people’s quality of life.’”
Nwokeji is a molecular biology major from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania pursuing minors in bioengineering and African studies.
Nwokeji has a variety of roles on campus. She is treasurer of the Scully co-op, a McGraw tutor, a PAA in Butler College, a Health Professions Advising Peer Adviser, and a Princeton University Mentoring Program (PUMP) mentor. Previously, Nwokeji served as President of the Black PreMedical Society and is a member of the Nigerian Student Association.
Nwokeji was also a gallery attendant for Art@Bainbridge and worked as a stylist for the TigerTrends fashion magazine.
Born to Nigerian immigrants, Nwokeji “went to a regular public high school that hadn’t really sent anybody to Princeton.”
“I just didn’t really know how I would fare,” Nwokeji said. “Coming from that background to here is definitely a big culture shock.”
Nwokeji found out she had won the award on Monday, Feb. 10 in a meeting with Dean Regan Crotty ’00 and Dean of College Michael D. Gordin.
“I was just so shocked,” Nwokeji recalled. “They had to give me a tissue because I started tearing up because it just reminded me of [my] strong support system, both on campus and then back home.”
Nwokeji was nominated by Assistant Dean for Studies of Butler College Matthew Lazen.
Lazen wrote to the ‘Prince’ that he was impressed by Nwokeji’s PAA interview in March 2023. “She has lived up to that first impression, proving to be extremely dedicated to her zees and always willing to step up for the team.” Zees are underclassman students who PAAs mentor.
“For her zees, she has baked cookies on the night of their first major assignment,” he said. “She has earned the Pyne Prize by being a consummate scholar, mentor, and student leader.”
After her first year, Nwokeji did research in the Jimah Lab through the Office of Undergraduate Research Student Initiated Internship Program (OURSIP) where her inspiration for her senior thesis began. In the summer of 2023, Nwokeji worked at the Florida Department of Health in an opportunity funded by the Summer Social Impact Internship (SSII) Fund.
This past summer, she returned to the Jimah Lab to continue research for her senior thesis, which aims to “understand parasitic malaria infection” through cryo-electron microscopes and biochemical tools. She hopes to eventually publish this research.
Upon graduation, she hopes to dedicate a year to research before matriculating into an MD/PhD program.
“This prize is honoring me, but really, I see it more as honoring the work that I do and what I hope to do in the future, and trying to give a voice and caring for people who feel like nobody cares about them,” Nwokeji said.
University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 will present Attar and Nwokeji the award during the Alumni Day Luncheon and Awards Ceremony on Saturday.
Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate News editor, senior Sports writer, and Education Director for the ‘Prince.’
Please direct any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com
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