Braeden Carroll of Men’s Lightweight Rowing Awarded Pyne Prize

PRINCETON, N.J. – Braeden Carroll of the Princeton University men's lightweight rowing team was a recipient of the 2026 Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate. Carroll and Katie Daniels, also a member of the Class of 2026, will be recognized at Alumni Day on 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.

"Winning the Pyne Prize makes me feel incredibly grateful, not just for the recognition of the impact I have had, but also for the people who have made Princeton what it is for me. From my professors and classmates in the Civil and Environmental Engineering hallway to my coaches, teammates and friends on Lake Carnegie, I owe the people with whom I have shared the last four years a huge thank you. They have challenged me to reach for lofty goals, supported me through setbacks, and celebrated my successes with me. I would not be where I am without so many others who have shaped my experience, so this honor is as much theirs as it is mine."

Carroll is majoring in civil and environmental engineering and 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. A 2023 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Champion, Carroll is a two-time winner of the Empacher-Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association (IRCA) Scholar Athlete award. He has also volunteered with STEM to Stern, which connects Princeton rowers with students at under resourced schools and expands access to rowing through after-school practice and STEM homework tutoring.

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.

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.

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.

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