‘Why My Fellowship Matters’: Virginia Jiang

When she was 10, Virginia Jiang attended the Young Women’s Conference in STEM at Princeton, where she conducted experiments to see if objects would float or sink in various liquids. 

Now as a Ph.D. candidate in chemical and biological engineering (CBE), Jiang conducts vastly more complex experiments, such as studying the production of a compound used in artificial butter — work that fills her lab with a pleasant scent. “The underlying goal is to understand how the biomolecular condensates I’m engineering are forming,” she said. “Then we can make the compound inexpensive and more environmentally friendly because it’s also the precursor for different pharmaceuticals and biofuels.” 

Before coming to Princeton, Jiang worked in the biotech industry for two years and her return to academia was motivated by the opportunity to work with CBE professors José Avalos and Jerelle Joseph, who serve as her co-advisers: “They’re amazingly accessible so it’s been awesome to engage with their expertise one-on-one.” 

Two years into her Ph.D. journey, Jiang is keeping her options open to future paths in the pharmaceutical industry and academia. Last year she volunteered at Princeton’s Día de la Ciencia (Science Day), helping area kids perform experiments just as she once did. 

“We built catapults out of spoons and rubber bands,” Jiang said. “It was chaotic and messy, but also incredibly rewarding.”