Maggie O'Connell was an undergraduate student in Chemical and Biological Engineering. Her interests include the application of hydrogels in the energy industry, and her research in the lab focused on the mechanics of confined hydrogels and on processing of algae biofuels. After Princeton, she moved on to graduate school at Northwestern.

Maggie was born in Chicago but now lives in Houston. She is a player on the Princeton Women's Varsity Volleyball team where she was named the 2017 Ivy League Player of the Year and the 2016 Ivy League Rookie of the Year. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing, reading, and watching scary movies.