EUREKA! celebrates 20 years of discovery for rising first-year students and their mentors
The Clemson Experience doesn’t always begin on move-in day. For a handful of new students, it starts the summer before their first semester during a five-week program that introduces them to research, connects them with faculty mentors, and sparks friendships that last well beyond graduation.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the Clemson University Honors College’s EUREKA! program gives incoming Honors students a chance to dive into hands-on research before starting their degrees. For alumnus Gabe Cutter ’23, that early opportunity set the stage for a successful career built on curiosity, discovery and mentorship.
That first summer, Cutter joined Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Pingshan Wang’s microwave and radio frequency laboratory, which develops high-frequency sensors that electrically measure individual cells. Cutter stayed in Wang’s lab throughout his undergraduate years, taking on increasing leadership roles and mentoring new students who came through the program. Along the way, he contributed to a significant scientific discovery published in a leading academic journal.
“EUREKA! was a perfect window of freedom to explore what I wanted to do, without the added stress of classes,” said Cutter. “I just jumped into research and ended up loving it. And I realized I wanted to do it forever.”
“EUREKA! was a perfect window of freedom to explore what I wanted to do, without the added stress of classes. I just jumped into research and ended up loving it. And I realized I wanted to do it forever.”
Gabe Cutter ’23
Cutter’s work earned him several of the nation’s top research awards for undergraduate students, including the Goldwater Scholarship, the Astronaut Scholarship and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which he’s applying to his doctoral studies in quantum engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Wang said working with Cutter reflected the very best of what EUREKA! represents.
“When I work with students like Gabe, I also learn,” he said. “They bring energy and new questions to the lab.”
As EUREKA! marks two decades of impact, it reflects Clemson’s commitment to providing meaningful, hands-on experiences that prepare students to lead and serve. Through early mentorship, interdisciplinary research and close faculty engagement, the program helps transform promising learners into purposeful scholars.
“Our EUREKA! program is unique in that it brings discovery and belonging together from the very beginning of a student’s Honors experience,” said Sarah Winslow, dean of the Honors College. “Students arrive ready to engage their curiosity in a topic, and they leave connected — to research, their mentors and each other.”
Gabe Cutter ’23 began research in Pingshan Wang’s lab the summer before he attended Clemson and stayed throughout his undergraduate years. That early work ignited a curiosity that has led him to a doctoral lab at MIT, where he now mentors the next generation of researchers.
Each year, 75 percent of EUREKA! participants say they plan to continue their research into the Fall semester, often with the same faculty mentor or by pursuing a new question sparked during the program.
For Wang, that enduring sense of connection is mutual.
“Mentorship is never one-way,” said Wang. “I tell my students to use their time in the lab to ask questions and make mistakes, especially good mistakes. That’s how we make discoveries. I find that after encouraging them, they can do better than I can.”
Cutter now carries that same approach into his own lab work at MIT, guiding the next generation of researchers with the lessons he first learned at Clemson.
“I try to instill in them a sense of independence in that they should trust themselves,” said Cutter. “I might make recommendations and corrections, but it’s always from a perspective of encouragement.”
Looking back, Cutter said that’s the real power of EUREKA!: It gives students a foundation of curiosity and confidence that keeps their ideas moving forward.
EUREKA! Cadence Count
408
Honors students have launched their Clemson research journeys through EUREKA!
75
faculty mentors representing every academic college have guided EUREKA! projects.
75%
of student participants continue their research after the program ends.
8
EUREKA! weddings (and counting)!
Now entering its next decade, EUREKA! remains a space where curiosity grows and connections last.
