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Luca Abu El-Haj
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
- Fitzwilliam College
Luca Abu El-Haj
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
- Fitzwilliam College
At Columbia University in New York City, I discovered a passion for theoretical cosmology and high energy physics, working on theoretical and computational cosmology, in particular, constraining phenomenological features of new particles in the very early universe. As a Gates-Cambridge Scholar, I will pursue a PhD focusing on similar questions using cosmology to probe fundamental physics, but from a more formal standpoint, trying to adapt the theoretical building blocks that have been so successful in particle physics over the last century to cosmological backgrounds. Raised in Philadelphia, I am an avid footballer and an enthusiastic amateur outdoorsman. I am also committed to increasing interest in and excitement about mathematics and physics in young people and hope to engage in similar teaching outreach at Cambridge as during my time in New York. As a person with diverse interests, I am extremely excited to join a community of Gates scholars across many disciplines.
Previous Education
Columbia University Physics 2026
Jayashree Balaraman
- Scholar-elect
- 2026
- United States
- PhD Pharmacology
Jayashree Balaraman
- Scholar-elect
- 2026
- United States
- PhD Pharmacology
As an undergraduate studying Computational Biology and Biochemistry/Biophysics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, I became fascinated by how data can reveal patterns behind complex biological systems. Applying computation to biology demonstrated how quantitative approaches can transform data into insight for human health.
During my PhD in Pharmacology, I seek to map missense variation in G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to improve drug response prediction and personalize treatment across diverse populations. GPCRs are among the most clinically important drug targets, yet genetic variation within them remains underutilized in therapeutic design. By integrating computational modeling with pharmacological data, my goal is to advance precision medicine approaches that are both effective and equitable.
With the support of Gates Cambridge, I will advance GPCR-based precision therapeutics, and work toward a world where every patient has access to care that is not only available but also personal, precise, and just.
Previous Education
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Computational Biology, Biochem 2026
Stephora Cesar Alberi
- Scholar-elect
- United States, France
- 2026 PhD Biotechnology
- Fitzwilliam College
Stephora Cesar Alberi
- Scholar-elect
- United States, France
- 2026 PhD Biotechnology
- Fitzwilliam College
I was first introduced to the world of computer vision during my time in Estonia. There, I participated in a computer vision in space course at the University of Tartu, where I learned how to apply various image processing techniques to autonomous systems. I was immediately enthralled and became fascinated by computer vision and its full potential. After completing my bachelor’s degree in computer science at Salisbury University, I returned to Estonia to partake in a year-long intensive research project at the Tartu Observatory, where I studied feature detectors. During my PhD at Cambridge, I will work with the CEB group to implement similar systems in microscopes in order to make them smarter and more self-sufficient. This development will greatly improve the imaging process for infectious diseases. My research is motivated by family members in Haiti who were affected by the 2010 cholera outbreak and are now facing a malaria epidemic. I believe computer vision can accelerate diagnostics and drug discovery for infectious diseases in vulnerable countries in the Global South. Moreover, I look forward to joining my cohort of Gates Cambridge Scholars and contributing to a community dedicated to research with meaningful global impact.
Previous Education
Salisbury University Computer Science 2026
University of Tartu Robotics/Computer Engineering 2024
Mitali Chowdhury
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Sensor Technologies and Applications
- St Edmund's College
Mitali Chowdhury
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Sensor Technologies and Applications
- St Edmund's College
I grew up in New Jersey and California, and coming from a multilingual family with Indian roots inspired my dedication to enhancing global health and tackling inequities. While studying Biological Engineering at MIT, I pursued my interest in point-of-care diagnostics, focusing on accessible biotechnologies to identify and treat disease. I contributed to developing low-cost testing for bacterial water contamination in South Asia, and currently work at a startup advancing sequencing-based diagnostics. At Cambridge, I will pursue an MRes and PhD in the Centre for Doctoral Training in Sensor Technologies. My research will focus on CRISPR-based diagnostics to address antimicrobial resistance and expand equitable access to care. I am honoured to join the Gates Cambridge community, and look forward to learning alongside my peers as we work toward enabling global health innovations that serve all people.
Previous Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Biological Engineering 2024
Alix De Saint-Aignan
- Scholar-elect
- United States, France
- 2026 MPhil Global Risk and Resilience
- Murray Edwards College (New Hall)
Alix De Saint-Aignan
- Scholar-elect
- United States, France
- 2026 MPhil Global Risk and Resilience
- Murray Edwards College (New Hall)
My path toward studying security and resilience began during a gap year in Paris, where I watched debates about terrorism, policing, and national identity play out not just in headlines but in daily life—on trains, in classrooms, and in conversations with friends from across the city. Living there made it clear that security policies are not abstract; they shape how people feel they belong. That experience led me to study political science and peace, war, and defense at UNC Chapel Hill, where my research examines how counterterrorism measures affect public trust and democratic legitimacy. Outside the classroom, I am a coxswain and have trained with both U.S. and French national team programs, learning to make calm decisions in high-pressure environments and to lead across cultures. At Cambridge, I hope to study global risk and resilience to understand how institutions can navigate uncertainty while preserving legitimacy. I am excited to join a community committed to principled, globally minded public service.
Previous Education
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Political Science and Peace, War and Defence 2026
Sharmila Dey
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Plant Sciences
- Christ's College
Sharmila Dey
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Plant Sciences
- Christ's College
I grew up surrounded by the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, Arizona. As an undergraduate at Harvard, I completed a degree in Earth & Planetary Sciences and began researching the effects of climate change on vulnerable landscapes like those in my hometown. I am particularly interested in developing and implementing modeling tools to answer important questions about how forests around the world will respond to a warmer and drier world. As a PhD candidate in the Plant Sciences department at Cambridge, I will use vegetation models to understand the effects of climate change and logging on tropical forests. It is crucial to preserve tropical forests which host incredible biodiversity and provide one of Earth’s most important carbon sinks while also finding ways to meet our timber needs. As part of my research, I hope to work closely with industry leaders and policymakers to develop actionable solutions.
Previous Education
Harvard University Earth and Planetary Sciences 2025
Mukta Dharmapurikar
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Environmental Policy
- Emmanuel College
Mukta Dharmapurikar
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Environmental Policy
- Emmanuel College
Growing up in North Carolina and visiting my family’s small farm in India, I witnessed how disasters driven by climate change, such as drought, flooding, and hurricanes, can devastate communities. I grew interested in understanding both the science behind climate change and the incentives that shape decisions around climate change, leading me to study two disciplines at Harvard: Environmental Science & Engineering and Economics. Through research on climate change’s impacts on agriculture, leading the Harvard Undergraduate Clean Energy Group, and working on cement decarbonization at the Rocky Mountain Institute, I explored creative ways that scientists, policymakers, and businesspeople can work together to make sustainable innovations easier to access. At Cambridge, I plan to study industrial policies that accelerate green manufacturing innovation and support emerging clean technology markets.I am truly honored to be a part of the Gates-Cambridge community, and I’m excited to engage with a diverse cohort of scholars working across disciplines!
Previous Education
Harvard University Economics 2026
Tenzin Dhondup
- Scholar-elect
- 2026
- United States
- MPhil Population Health Sciences
Tenzin Dhondup
- Scholar-elect
- 2026
- United States
- MPhil Population Health Sciences
I am a Tibetan-American who grew up between New Haven, Connecticut, and the Hunsur Tibetan Refugee Settlement in India. Growing up across these settings shaped my interest in migration, resettlement, and the public institutions that structure life for migrants and refugees.Public health is my North Star. It has guided my undergraduate training at Yale University and my work as an advocate and researcher across local health systems, national institutions, and humanitarian contexts in the Americas, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. My work has included shaping refugee health policy, producing population-level health evidence, and evaluating humanitarian and asylum health practices at scale.At a time when displacement is both increasingly widespread and long term, my MPhil in Population Health Sciences at Cambridge will contribute to scholarship that informs future responses to refugee situations. I will examine refugee and migrant health outcomes across the life course, with the aim of advancing durable, evidence-driven approaches to humanitarian operations, health governance, and resettlement policy. I am excited to join the Gates Cambridge community in tackling global challenges and empowering marginalized communities.
Previous Education
Yale University Global Public Health 2026
Madison Fail
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Earth Sciences
- St Edmund's College
Madison Fail
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Earth Sciences
- St Edmund's College
I grew up in a small, tight-knit town in North Texas. With the support of family and friends, I earned my B.A. in Government and B.S. in Environmental Science from UT Austin. During undergrad, I was an advocate, a student researcher, and a caregiver. I grew my community, and my mentors helped me find my niche: carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. At Cambridge, I look forward to furthering our understanding of carbon storage in peatlands. These ecosystems are enormous stores of C and have the potential to mediate climates if protected. Through machine learning, I aim to connect micro-scale chemical measurements with remote sensing to estimate carbon budgets in ‘pristine’ and ‘restored’ bogs. Being a Gates Scholar is a generational honor. I attended university due to a college fund my great grandfather created. He was a share cropper and military member, yet saw great value in education despite his lack thereof. Recently, I was given his autobiography. I’d like to thank Gates by sharing some of his words: “It is my hope and prayer that my great-grandchildren get a college education. Pops is sure that you will take advantage of this resource and will be an asset to your community and nation.”
Previous Education
University of Texas at Austin Government 2025
University of Texas Austin Environmental Science, Geology 2025
Raphael Freund
- Scholar-elect
- United States, Germany
- 2026 PhD Criminology
- Churchill College
Raphael Freund
- Scholar-elect
- United States, Germany
- 2026 PhD Criminology
- Churchill College
Following my graduation from Georgetown, I have worked as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Berlin, earned an MSc in Criminology from Oxford, and served as Program Coordinator for the Prison Education Project at Washington University in St. Louis. The two pillars of my professional life are education and criminal justice research. My core academic interest is the changing role of judicial discretion at sentencing. The recent proliferation of sentencing grids, narrative guidelines, and risk-assessment algorithms has made sentences more predictable and consistent, but this shift has also diminished judges’ abilities to engage with the individual characteristics of the people being sentenced. My studies and work experience have shown me that rigid approaches to sentencing can leave people doubting procedural and outcome fairness. Adopting the view that sentencing is morally complex and not always amenable to rote procedure, I will study the progression away from human judicial discretion and seek a framework to identify when it has gone too far. In the end, my research will prove useful to policymakers and practitioners attempting to craft sentencing systems in their own jurisdictions.
Previous Education
University of Oxford Criminology 2025
Georgetown University Psychology 2023
Lillian Jackson
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Archaeological Research
- Churchill College
Lillian Jackson
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Archaeological Research
- Churchill College
Although my undergraduate degree is in archaeological studies, my interests extend into ethnography, heritage management, and disease ecology. These fields intersect through the study of health and disease in ancient nomadic societies. Fieldwork in Mongolia, Ecuador, and Alaska led to my interest in human-environment interactions and the impact on health, social practice, and cosmology. I am interested in questions relevant to past and present, such as the role of infectious disease in Eurasian steppe history, as well as deep time sustainable human-animal relations and land management. My undergraduate research focuses on the place of ochre in structuring social networks in Terminal Pleistocene Malawi and my senior thesis identifies malaria in Iron Age Senegal. At Cambridge, I plan to work with the Henry Wellcome Laboratory for Biomolecular Archaeology in exploring livestock health and disease patterns during climate cycles in medieval Ethiopia. Through this work, I hope to link herders and livestock as stakeholders in the environment and connect past climate change to challenges facing modern herding communities. At Cambridge, I also hope to continue my involvement in initiatives for health education and menstrual equity.
Previous Education
Yale University Archaeological Studies 2026
Rijul Jain
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil English Studies
- Trinity College
Rijul Jain
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil English Studies
- Trinity College
I grew up in Silicon Valley preoccupied with technology's domination of society. During my undergraduate years at Williams College and the University of Oxford, I attended to the ways in which the humanities address the limits of scientific knowledge in grasping reality and led human-centered computing research at Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft. My honors thesis on the representation of history in George Eliot's realism was concerned with the relation of art to truth—with art’s gamble that it is, in the end, neither commensurate with nor divorced from reality, that it demands interpretation, that it is art at all. At Cambridge, I'll examine how Eliot and John Ruskin depict the Italian Renaissance, thinking through their concerns with the stakes of historical reception and representation as concerns for our own technological moment. What I learn on the English MPhil and from the extraordinary Gates Cambridge community will undergird my computer science Ph.D. at the University of Washington rethinking digital collections' mediation of history in concert with arts and humanities institutions—and shape my broader vision for serving the arts by working across the theoretical and empirical in computing and the humanities.
Previous Education
University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering 2026
Williams College English and Computer Science 2025
Maya Koka
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Philosophy
- King's College
Maya Koka
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Philosophy
- King's College
Born and raised in Texas, I study philosophy through the Columbia University–Trinity College Dublin Dual BA Program as a Trinity Scholar. My academic work focuses on metaethics, ordinary language philosophy, and the philosophy of law, with particular attention to how linguistic agency breaks down in contexts of gender-based violence. My research examines how domestic abuse survivors can produce utterances that meet every familiar criterion for reporting harm, yet fail to “count” as testimony due to conditions of semantic disablement and testimonial smothering. I am especially interested in how these failures of recognition function as structural constraints on justice. At Cambridge, I will pursue graduate studies in philosophy to further develop the conceptual and ethical foundations for analyzing how language both reveals and restricts the possibility of justice, with the broader goal of advancing culturally-specific interventions. My academic work is informed by advocacy, including my role as a Bolder Futures Social Impact Fellow with AAPI Data, where I founded Bearing Witness, and my current position as Executive Assistant to the Board of Directors at the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project.
Previous Education
University of Dublin Trinity College Philosophy 2026
Mac Mackay
- Scholar-elect
- United States, Canada
- 2026 PhD Psychology
- St John's College
Mac Mackay
- Scholar-elect
- United States, Canada
- 2026 PhD Psychology
- St John's College
Growing up with verbal dyspraxia, speech was never automatic. That constant awareness of effort and error sparked a question that has shaped my life ever since: how does the brain generate language, and why does this process sometimes break down? I began pursuing this question at New York University, where I studied the neural circuitry underlying language and developed a passion for understanding how brain networks support communication. I then spent two years in the University of Iowa’s Department of Neurosurgery, working directly with patients undergoing awake brain surgery to study language in the human brain—an experience that anchored my research in real-world clinical impact. At Cambridge, I will pursue a PhD with the Centre for Neuroscience in Education, examining neural–motor systems underlying developmental language disorders and strengthening the link between neuroscience, education, and clinical support for children. My long-term goal is to train as a physician-scientist in pediatric neurology, translating discovery science toward improved patient outcomes. I am honored to join the Gates Cambridge community and contribute to its mission of improving lives globally.
Previous Education
New York University Biology 2024
Chudi Martin
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Social Anthropology
- St John's College
Chudi Martin
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Social Anthropology
- St John's College
Through the combination of lived experiences from Afro-diasporic traditions and academic training in Oberlin’s Africana Studies department, I explore Afro-diasporic narratives from an integrated view. As someone of African and Caribbean descent pursuing an MPhil in Social Anthropology, I aim to develop more nuanced ethnographic methods that challenge hegemonic Western norms. Training in anthropological methods, fused with my practice of steelpan, djembe, and Capoeira Angola, will further develop specialized approaches to interrogating how Afro-Diasporic traditions serve as tools for joy, storytelling, and liberation. By investigating the roots of these traditions, my research serves as an acknowledgment to all who have fought to keep Afro-diasporic traditions alive and offers a detailed mapping of revolutionary efforts that respect the intellectualism of diverse populations and forms of expression. Thinking through a diasporic lens requires a global mindset that pushes boundaries and diversifies the range of scholarly views within academia. From both scholarly and practitioner perspectives, I am uniquely positioned to contribute to this diversification on a global scale and to bridge gaps between practitioners and scholars.
Previous Education
Oberlin College & Conservatory Africana Studies 2024
Brian Mhando
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Veterinary Science
- Lucy Cavendish College
Brian Mhando
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 MPhil Veterinary Science
- Lucy Cavendish College
I am a senior in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at Princeton University, studying disease dynamics related to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). My family comes from a rural village near Lake Victoria, where the prevalence of sexually transmitted bacterial infections is high. Inspired by this upbringing, I pursued research at Princeton focused on village health inequities, sustainable health systems development, and African foreign policy. Through research experiences in Brazil, India, and Uganda, I've gained a valuable global perspective that will enrich my future research pursuits. I will be studying for a research MPhil in Veterinary Medicine, where I hope to leverage disease modeling to assess the effectiveness of the 4cmenB vaccine in reducing gonorrhea prevalence in low-resource areas. Through this research, I hope to propose cost-effective strategies for limiting AMR incidence in rural East Africa.
Previous Education
Princeton University Disease Ecology 2026
Jonibek Muhsinov
- Scholar-elect
- 2026
- United States
- PhD Psychiatry
Jonibek Muhsinov
- Scholar-elect
- 2026
- United States
- PhD Psychiatry
I was born and raised in Key West, Florida, with family roots in Uzbekistan. Attending the University of Pennsylvania, I studied biochemistry and biophysics, along with earning my MSE in bioengineering. With an interest in studying autism, I joined the Fuccillo lab, where I investigated the anatomy of striatal interneurons and their contributions to value-based decision-making. Beyond my research, I hope to serve as an educator and advocate for autistic people, centering autistic voices to improve how we talk about autism: from everyday language and diagnostic framing to the broader destigmatization of autism. During my time at Cambridge, I hope to build upon my skills as a scientist and communicator to build our understanding of autism and to translate the work into meaningful improvements for autistic people, like my brother.
Previous Education
University of Pennsylvania Bioengineering 2026
Kavita Murthy
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Medical Science at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research
- Wolfson College
Kavita Murthy
- Scholar-elect
- United States
- 2026 PhD Medical Science at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research
- Wolfson College
As an undergraduate student at Columbia University studying Biomedical Engineering, I developed an interest in applying engineering principles to infectious diseases and merging my passion for science with global health. My undergraduate research has focused on engineering antibodies, both in efforts toward an HIV cure and in inducing a stronger immune response to malaria. Through a PhD in Medical Research at the Cambridge Institute of Medical Research, I aim to build on this foundation and integrate microfluidics, protein engineering, and genomic approaches to develop a more comprehensive malaria vaccine. Existing malaria vaccines target only a single-species and single-stage of the parasite. In my graduate work, I aim to develop a multi-species, multi-stage vaccine candidate that provides more durable and comprehensive protection against malaria. I am truly honored to be a part of the Gates Cambridge community of scholars striving to improve the world in which we live.
Previous Education
Columbia University Biomedical Engineering 2026
