Princeton University

Kevin's home institution. Bachelor's in Computer Science, expected May 2028. Site of his research with Danqi Chen, his founding-engineer arc at Dedalus, and most of his current friend group.

What Princeton Is To Kevin (compiled)

Princeton is the platform Kevin's current life sits on top of: it's where he studies, where he lives in the academic year, where Dedalus Labs is physically based (Princeton, NJ), where his research happens, and where most of the people on his people pages come from.

Source: private page, private page, private page

Research

• Advisor: Danqi Chen - Princeton NLP, agent orchestration & harnessing
• Active project: CoTCodec - studying language choice as an orchestration variable for tool-using LLM agents. Treats the language of framework-visible messages (planner notes, handoffs, memory summaries, retry diagnostics) as a tunable policy for context efficiency and multi-agent coordination.
• Building on: ReAct, AutoGen, LLMCompiler frameworks
• Evaluating against: τ-bench, WebArena, SWE-bench
• See private page and private page for the full thread.

Source: private page §Research, private page

Org Activity (cross-reference)

• HoagieClub - student software development club
• Sympoh Breakdancing Company - Princeton's breakdancing company; Kevin is a member
• Princeton Powerlifting - Princeton Powerlifting club; Kevin is a member
• TigerApps - Princeton student-built app ecosystem
• HackPrinceton - Princeton's hackathon. Kevin organized HackPrinceton (Spring 2025), then returned as a sponsor representing private page (Fall 2025, Spring 2026). private page

The Gap Semester and Coming Back

Kevin took a gap semester from Princeton to work full time at private page in SF. The experience confirmed what he already suspected: building is what he wants to do for the rest of his life. The decision to come back wasn't a retreat, it was the highest-return move. Princeton isn't going anywhere, Dedalus is based in Princeton NJ, the research with Danqi Chen continues, and the risk profile at 20 with no obligations is asymmetrically favorable. See Bet on Yourself for the full philosophy. private page

Current plan (as of April 2026): Finish the degree and continue research with Danqi Chen. private page

Balance philosophy: You can't do everything at 100%. Kevin optimizes for making sure the building never stops, even at lower intensity during exams. Clubs and extracurriculars are kept to things that actually energize or build relationships he cares about (Sympoh, powerlifting, Hoagie Club). Everything that feels like resume padding gets cut. private page

Open Questions for Kevin (to enrich this page)

The factual frame is in place. What's missing is the personal angle. The agent can compile any of these once Kevin answers:

• What did Princeton actually unlock that you couldn't have done elsewhere? (And the inverse - what hasn't it given you?)
• The decision to come to Princeton - what was it actually about?
• Which professors / classes / moments have shaped your thinking the most?
• How does Princeton fit into the long arc - undergrad as foundation, as network, as credential, as time-buying mechanism, as something else?
• What's the part of Princeton you wish more people understood?

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Timeline

• 2026-11-02 | Deleted the Email row from the Dimension table. Kevin's university email address stays on private pages only. Source: wiki overhaul Phase 5 review, 2026-11-02

• 2026-07-01 | Project graph refresh checked this page against Kevin's live GitHub inventory and PortfolioMon scrape. No direct repo/card match was promoted here, so the page remains a context or umbrella project page. Source: raw/github/kevin-repos-2026-07-01.json; raw/sites/kevinliu-biz-2026-07-01/portfolio-projects.json

• 2026-04-21 | Page created as part of the institutions-batch-2026-04-21 request. Compiled from existing wiki signal (USER.md, resume.md, career-profile.md). Marked institution-page-needs-personal-angle until Kevin fills the Open Questions section in his own voice. private page

• 2026-04-22 | Kevin's hackathon arc surfaced: 13-hackathon winning streak in high school → organized HackPrinceton (Spring 2025) → sponsored HackPrinceton as Dedalus founding engineer (Fall 2025, Spring 2026). Published LinkedIn post about the full-circle moment. private page

• 2026-04-23 | Gap semester decision documented. Kevin took a semester off to work full time at Dedalus in SF. The experience confirmed building as a life vocation. Returned to Princeton as the highest-return path to keep building. Removed the "Princeton vs Dedalus tension" open question - Kevin answered it: they're complementary, not in tension. See Bet on Yourself. private page

• 2026-04-23 | Current plan clarified: finish the degree and continue research with Danqi Chen. Leading Hoagie Hacks in Fall 2026. private page

• 2026-05-01 | Balance philosophy articulated in student Q&A: optimize for building never stopping, cut ruthlessly on resume padding, keep only extracurriculars that energize or build real relationships. private page