Dr. Ashwini Mokashi’s engagement with the Princeton Research Forum started in the fall of 1996. She has been and Executive Board member since the fall of 1998 and has overseen various committees. She was the PRF President for two terms from 2013 to 2017. She has been the Chair of the Humanities Group since 2017.
Princeton Research Forum is a community of independent scholars in the Princeton area. It was founded in 1980 by a group of scholars who were pursuing their own research outside of the academy. Their aim was to facilitate access to libraries and funding for independent researchers and to provide a forum for collegiality among the group’s membership. Since those early days, much has improved for independent scholars, in part due to the efforts of PRF founding members and to those of the National Coalition of Independent Scholars (www.ncis.org), with which PRF is affiliated.
Today, Princeton Research Forum (PRF) offers a diverse group of men and women scholars the opportunity to share their research interests, expertise, and creative endeavors in a supportive environment with other independent scholars. In addition to meeting monthly during the academic year, PRF members participate in ongoing study groups in the humanities, science/history of science, and poetry. Members gather for an annual general meeting and pot-luck dinner in the summer and a festive wine-and-cheese party in the fall.
Seven of PRF’s past presidents —Edith Jeffrey (the organization’s first president), Gloria Erlich, Larissa Onyshkevych, Ann Morgan, Diane Krumrey, Mary Beth Lewis, Priscilla Keswani, and Ashwini Mokashi—are active members in 2018.