TCNJ

19 FALL/WINTER 2026 Professors and students must adapt together when results are unexpected, drawing on creativity, different strengths, and each other. The student is no longer absorbing knowledge from an expert; professor and student become collaborators in discovery. That, Wund says, can lead to a powerful shift in how undergraduates see themselves: "Wow, I'm a scientist. I'm helping to make discoveries." Wund sees another transformation when students return to the TCNJ lab after accompanying him to Alaska. The names on the fish tanks are no longer simply labels — they are lakes the students have stood beside, habitats they have explored, and fish they helped collect. That connection creates a deeper sense of ownership and pride in the work. For Pedowitz, who hopes to pursue field biology, the experience reinforced both his love of nature and something less expected: the understanding that discovery is rarely a solo pursuit. A DECADE AFTER GRADUATING FROM TCNJ, Wang can now see another ripple from those early research experiences: They influence not only the scientist she has become, but the mentor she wants to be. At Yale, Wang is intentional about creating the kinds of research opportunities for students that shaped her own development at TCNJ. She wants undergraduates to do more than assist with someone else's science; she wants them to have "real intellec- tual ownership" of their work. She has already watched that approach bear fruit. Wang 's first undergraduate thesis student went on to win a departmental research prize and was selected to present her work at a conference alongside a group composed largely of PhD students and postdocs — a moment Wang describes with unmistakable pride. Matt Wund, Miles Pedowitz '27, Madison Wojciechowski '27, and Shane Kennedy '27 in Girdwood, Alaska. It was also a moment that felt familiar. She was once the undergrad- uate whose professors saw possibili- ties she had not yet learned to see in herself. Now, she is the professor opening that door for someone else. "Mentorship propagates through a network," Wang says. "It flows." ■ Erika Holter is a Canadian-based freelance writer. Peter Murphy frequently shoots for TCNJ Magazine. He specializes in editorial portraiture and social documentary. DISCOVERY IS RARELY A SOLO PURSUIT.

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