Directory

Aya M. Waller-Bey is a proud Detroiter and Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of Michigan where she also received her M.A. in Sociology in 2021. For undergrad, Aya attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., majoring in Sociology, graduating Cum Laude. After graduation, Aya remained at Georgetown working as an Admissions Officer and the Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. In 2015, she was awarded the Gates Cambridge Scholarship to the University of Cambridge in England—a scholarship awarded to only 40 people in the U.S. each year—and completed her Master of Philosophy in Education.

Aya has shared her insights on postsecondary access, diversity, and inclusion in op-eds in Forbes, Huffington Post U.K., University World News, and the 2016 White House Summit for Advancing Postsecondary Diversity and Inclusion. Her leadership and research have also been highlighted in a PBS Newshour special and the Cambridge Alumni Magazine, the Washington Post, and the University World News. She continued her commitment to access and inclusion through her work with national, not-for-profits and spoke with staffers on the Hill in September 2018 about advancing higher education policy that serves historically underrepresented college students. In March 2019, Aya discussed the experiences of historically disadvantaged students attending elite institutions as a panelist at SXSW Education in Austin, Texas.

Aya’s research on trauma narratives in college essays has also received national and local praise. In March 2020, Aya was selected as a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship awardee—a prestigious fellowship awarded by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine aimed to increase the diversity of the national college and university professoriate. Aya received an invitation from the Aspen Center for Physics Virtual Winter Conference 2021 to present her research at the winter conference. She was also one of 20 graduate students to receive the National Center for Institutional Diversity Anti-Racism Summer Research Grant for her dissertation project titled, “I didn’t want it to be a sob story”: Black Student Identity Narration in College Personal Statements” in 2021. She has presented her research at the University of Amsterdam, University of Florida Center for Public Interests Communication frank gathering, and symposiums at the University of Michigan.

Previous Education

Georgetown University

Liz is currently a third-year PhD student in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. She began her postgraduate career researching relationships between ethnographic museums and Indigenous source communities, focusing specifically on critiques of digital and non-material repatriation and disparities in interpretational authority. Her recent fieldwork in the Alaskan Arctic has led her to broaden her focus to other cultural institutions while interrogating the integration of non-Native settlers into geographically-isolated Native communities. With a specific interest in how Indigenous sovereignty is recognised and exercised within the politically-charged Arctic, her work considers the competing interests of multi-national corporations, settler nation-states, and local Indigenous peoples in determining the future of economic and social development in the North.

Previous Education

Columbia University
Passaic County Community College

I am a computational neuroscientist and data scientist who did his PhD at Cambridge (2011-15).

Njoki is an assistant Professor in International Relations Department at Kenya's oldest private university United States International University-Africa. She was previously a Post Doctoral Researcher at the Politics and International Studies department (POLIS). Her research focus is on the tensions between international and local practices of transitional justice in Kenya. At Cambridge, Njoki was the founding president of the Cambridge Eastern African Society (CamEAS) and and the Black Cantabs project which aims to curate the achievements of black Cambridge alumni at www.blackcantabs.com. She is also a co-founder of the African Society of Cambridge University (ASCU).She is an alumnus of the Africa Leadership Centre (ALC) at King's College London. Njoki worked in the non-profit sector in Kenya at Kenya Human Rights Commission and at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Her research interests include critical transitional justice, critical theory, politics of Africa, African feminisms and development of political thought from Africa.

Previous Education

University Of Nairobi
King's College London (University of L

I was born in Beijing and moved to Chicago with my parents at age 9. Because of my immigrant background and love of history, I'm studying immigrant participation during the 1960s in Great Britain and France at Cambridge in the MPhil program in Modern European History. As an undergraduate at Harvard, I studied History, Economics, and French, focusing on the history of empire and decolonization in the twentieth century. Outside the classroom, I edited for the undergraduate history research journal, sang in an all-female choir, and danced in different shows on campus. I hope to continue some of my extracurricular interests in England. After my time at Cambridge, I hope to use what I learned to pursue a career in legal academia and work in an international capacity on improving the rights of immigrant populations, particularly socioeconomic rights like education. I am excited to be part of the Gates community!

I feel honoured to be a Gates Cambridge Scholar, which has enabled me to realise one of my dreams rooted since my childhood, - to pursue studies and gain experience in one of the world’s best learning centres. The training and expertise obtained at Cambridge, the passion for my work and the unceasing effort would make me step towards to contributing something to this world either in academic research or in industrial development, I believe!

“If brain regions were filed under literary genres, the frontal lobes would surely be found in the Fantasy section.” My journey with this fantasy began at University College London during my undergraduate studies in Neuroscience. I became particularly drawn to the complexity of emotions and the prefrontal cortex, a heterogeneous and intricate region that remain understudied. I was motivated to explore how abstract emotional experiences can be grounded in distinct patterns of prefrontal circuit activity. My curiosity also extends to situations in which these processes go awry, particularly in psychiatric disorders, where disruptions in the prefrontal cortex can have profound consequences. Now continuing this journey through my PhD, I intend to investigate the functional asymmetry between the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, examining whether they differ in processing emotional valence and functional connectivity. Beyond theoretical research, I also hope to translate my findings into refined therapeutic strategies. In many ways, I feel I am charting my own story through the brain’s Fantasy section, seeking to decode some of its most intricate and compelling narratives.

Previous Education

University College London Neuroscience

During my MPhil I will be investigating pain sensation, and especially noxious heat receptors as they are one of the most complex protein receptors in the human body. From this course, apart from developing a solid understanding of molecular pharmacology and biochemistry, I also hope to acquire invaluable experience in experimental techniques, which would prepare me well for a PhD. Beyond postgraduate education, I aim to crack into the scientific world or head into industry.

I am interested in strengthening the historiography of my country through studying past material culture. My research will include extracting information from trees and tree-rings in association with other archaeological finds to construct a more objective account of the past.

I'm originally from West Orange, NJ and I'm currently a seminarian with the Congregation of Holy Cross (the same religious community as fellow Gates Scholars Fr. Kevin Grove C.S.C. and Fr. Chase Pepper C.S.C.) pursuing my Masters of Divinity at the University of Notre Dame.

I previously served a Lieutenant in the US Navy, designated as a Submarine Warfare Officer. I completed my undergraduate education at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, where I received a Dual Major in Mechanical Engineering (BS) and Ocean Engineering (BS), and was a 4 Year Member of the Varsity Lightweight Rowing Team. I earned an MPhil in Energy Technologies as a Gates Scholar at Cambridge University.

In September of 2014, after my time in Cambridge, I completed the Navy Nuclear Training Pipeline in Charleston SC at NNPTC and qualified Engineering Officer of the Watch at NPTU on the MTS-635 S5W Reactor.

In May 2016 I reported to the USS HARTFORD, a Los Angeles Class Fast Attack Submarine in Groton Connecticut. I previously served as the Fire Control Officer, Anti-Terrorism Officer, Chemical-Radiological Controls Assistant, Assistant Engineer, Assistant Operations Officer, and most recently as the Communications Officer and Primary COMSEC Manager (Both EKMS and KMI). I qualified Submarines in June of 2017, and completed the Prospective Nuclear Engineer Officer's Course (PNEO) to be certified as an Engineer in S6G plants. In 2017 I served as the EOOW and JOOW during one EUCOM Deployment. In 2018 I served as the Primary Officer of the Deck (OOD) during ICEX 2018 and a Surge Deployment. I served as Contact Manager and OOD during my third and final deployment to EUCOM.

In 2019 I left the USS HARTFORD and reported to the US Naval Academy, where I serve as a Physics Instructor, the Officer Representative for the Catholic Midshipman Club and a Volunteer LWT Rowing Coach.

My hobbies and interests include multi-day hiking, long distance cycling, renewable and alternative energy, and mountain climbing. My longest ride to date was a 10 day cycling trip across the UK totaling 1,089 miles.

Previous Education

Yale University BA-History 2010

I am the Director of Graduate Studies for the Data Science Initiative at Brown University. I arrived at Brown in 2015 after completing a PhD in mathematics at MIT and served for three years as a Tamarkin Assistant Professor in the department of mathematics. I won the university's Teaching with Technology award and am currently developing online learning resources for data science.

For the past four summers, I have worked with the Office of Minority Education at MIT as a mathematics instructor for their Interphase program, which is designed to prepare and support incoming freshmen.

My research area is mathematical probability: I study random, discrete two-dimensional systems and various continuum objects that emerge as limits of these discrete systems.

Zach Watson is the Chief of Staff and the global development nonprofit Evidence Action, based in Washington, DC.

Evidence Action takes the most evidence-supported development interventions in the areas of health, water, sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition, and scales them massively to achieve cost-effective impacts that improve the lives of millions. As Chief of Staff, Zach supports the CEO's strategy and implementation for new and existing programs.

Most recently, he served as a Fellow in the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Strategic Studies Group, where he performed long-term strategic forecasting and analysis. He has served in various command and staff roles in support of U.S. Army units in the Pacific and in Afghanistan.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Arabic Language from West Point and a Master of Philosophy degree in Development Studies from Cambridge University.