Aspiring Scholars and Professionals (ASAP) is a cohort program at Princeton’s Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity, designed to introduce undergraduates from other New Jersey colleges and universities to higher education careers in the humanities and qualitative social sciences. The program begins with a nine-week summer institute on the campus of Princeton University. During that time, students participate in professional development and research methods workshops, and are paired with a Princeton faculty or staff member for a research or professional internship. Unlike other summer internship programs, ASAP aims to help connect students with faculty or staff members on their home campuses, for academic-year research or professional internships. Periodic programming at Princeton, throughout the academic year following the summer, seeks to bring together ASAP interns, their home campus mentors, and Princeton summer mentors to inspire cross-institutional connections.
ASAP Program Features and Benefits
Recognizing the unique power of meaning-making that humanistic skills bring to bear on issues of access and opportunity, ASAP offers research experience and career preparation in the humanities and qualitative/humanistic social sciences. The nine-week paid Summer Institute includes professional development and research methods workshops designed to support students in their daily internship work and prepare them for professional lives after college while compensating their time and efforts.
Role of Home-Campus Mentors
A central aim of the ASAP program is to encourage cross-institutional faculty and staff relationships, through collaborative mentoring of undergraduate researchers and interns. Princeton faculty and staff members can propose summer research or professional internship projects for ASAP students and expand their networks with colleagues on those students’ home campuses. Faculty and staff members at ASAP students’ home institutions can serve as academic-year research or professional internship mentors and build a special connection with Princeton.
ASAP 2022 Applications
The application period for Summer 2022 is open. Applicants may apply directly to as many internships as they are interested in. All application materials must be submitted to the listed contact person for each project by April 1, 2022.
ASAP Summer Internships
Summer internships at Princeton through the ASAP program fall into two categories: the Scholar Pathway and the Professional Pathway. Interns on the Scholar Pathway conduct academic research with a faculty mentor. Interns on the Professional Pathway work in an internship placement with a Princeton staff mentor. Learn more about summer internship opportunities available on both pathways.
ASAP News
Kelly Fowler spent years trying to fight her incarceration for a crime she didn’t commit. At her lowest point, she needed to find something to “make this whole thing make sense.” She enrolled in college courses, completed her Associate Degree, has since completed a research internship at Princeton, and now has her sights set on a master’s…
"Carlos Sierra arrived in the United States as a political refugee from Cuba in 1989. He was incarcerated at East Jersey State Prison and in ICE detention at the Essex County Correctional Facility. Currently, he works part-time as a program associate with First Friends of NJ & NY and is enrolled in the Criminal Justice Program at the Bergen…