Formerly Incarcerated Student Wali Palmer Conducts Laser Research at Princeton
February 4, 2024
Computer science major Wali Palmer recently completed a research internship at one of the nation’s Ivy League institutions. It has been a journey for the junior, who took his first courses at Rutgers University in Camden “behind the wall.”
While incarcerated at a state prison on multiple charges, Palmer applied to take college courses through the NJ Step Program. NJSTEP is a partnership between the State of New Jersey Department of Corrections and New Jersey State Parole Board and higher education institutions that offers an avenue to higher learning in prison and support with the transition to college post-release. Admission to NJSTEP is a multi-step process. With entry tests, an essay, and a screening, the selection process for Palmer to enter the NJSTEP program took three years, after which Palmer earned his associate degree in liberal arts before enrolling in classes at Rutgers–Camden.
He wanted to learn more about electrical engineering and chose computer science as the closest major to his passion last fall. That was the easy part. Palmer was living under restrictions in a halfway house, and a compounding of issues led him to withdraw from classes in what he recalled was a “disastrous” first semester. By the following spring, things started to fall into place. “The whole experience of being in college and doing things that I never imagined I'd be doing, it's liberating, because it's opened new doors. Everybody should have an opportunity to open new doors,” Palmer said.