Directory

I graduated in May 2007 from Brown University with a concentration in international relations at Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies. At Watson, I focused on global security and wrote an honors thesis on the role of history and memory in Sino-Japanese security relations. I also worked as a research assistant for Brown's political science department. At Brown I was active in University affairs. I was the president and founder of the Roosevelt Institution at Brown. I served as undergraduate representative to the Brown Board of Trustees and student government. Beyond Brown, I interned at the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative, the World Affairs Council and the United States Trade Representative (USTR). I have also studied language in Florence and Beijing. At Cambridge I will be enrolled in the MPhil program in international relations where I intend to research Chinese political, military and trade involvement with Latin America.

One of the most promising models of synaptic plasticity shows that it depends on the precise timing of neuronal activation. These learning - related events are embedded on structures generating sustained oscillatory activity. The temporal and spatial interplay of both processes generates a rich and complex dynamics with fascinating emergent properties. Beyond its aesthetic charms, these phenomena are fundamental and ubiquitous in the developing and functioning brain. I plan to devote my next three years to a combined approach to the topic, alternating theoretical and experimental techniques: mathematical models and computational simulations from my original background in theoretical physics, and electrophysiology and optogenetics from my newly acquired skills in physiology.

I want to re-imagine and redesign organised learning as we know it (i.e. education systems). I am increasingly passionate about working with school and system leaders to challenge the status quo, inspire fresh thinking and leverage new solutions in order to radically improve learning. My PhD research focuses on the role international comparisons of school system performance can play for policy makers who are seeking to improve their country's performance. I have spent 3 months at the OECD in Paris as part of the PISA team and am now interviewing policy makers across five countries. I am also leading a network of emerging educational leaders across Australia and New Zealand who are seeking to develop innovative solutions to local learning challenges.

My interest in democratic transitions was first sparked by living in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a high school student. While studying at Brown University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, I focused on political violence, democratization, and post-war development. For the past four years, I have worked as a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, conducting research on trends in women's political participation and civic mobilization and working directly with policymakers who seek to support democratic governance around the world. My research in Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Nepal and elsewhere highlights the need to better understand patterns of resistance to women's political power in different political and institutional contexts, as well as women's response strategies. I hope to use my PhD research to shed light on these dynamics, to help ensure that increases in women's descriptive representation translate into meaningful political power.

Previous Education

Tufts University Comparative Politics/IR 2016
Brown University Political Science 2012

Links

https://carnegieendowment.org/experts/1268

I aim to improve the health and wellbeing of people affected by autism-spectrum conditions and developmental disabilities. I seek roles in research, treatment, and practice because none of these fields seems sufficient on its own to meet so many wants and needs. I appreciate my experience of relevant, exciting science at the Autism Research Centre and rigorous, globally oriented thinking at the Institute of Public Health. Feels great to receive best-possible preparation for meaningful future pursuits in medicine. Feels really great to gain insight and inspiration from affiliates of the generous Gates Cambridge Scholarship that will last for long!

Alex Bremner is Senior Lecturer in Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh. He researches the history and theory of Victorian architecture, specialising in British imperial and colonial architecture and urbanism. He has published widely on these subjects in a range of scholarly journals, including The Historical Journal, Architectural History, The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Modern Intellectual History, and The Journal of Historical Geography. His first book, Imperial Gothic: Religious Architecture and High Anglican Culture in the British Empire, c.1840-1870 (Yale UP, 2013) was a ground-breaking study on the significance of ecclesiastical architecture in the formation of colonial society and culture, winning the 2013 Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion from the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.

Links

http://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/architecture-landscape-architecture/alex-bremner

As a member of the inaugural Gates class of 2001, I was able to catapult from my PhD in experimental physics to the forefront of quantum technology. After serving as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy, I held positions as an experimental physicist at the Navy Research Laboratory and as a tenured associate professor of physics at the U.S. Naval Academy. Most recently, I was the founding Director of the Quantum Engineering and Sensing Technology (QuEST) Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. There, our team built testbeds and physics platforms for ground breaking sensors based on atoms. Using this technology, we designed and are building the most sensitive gravitational sensor on Earth. This will eventually be used on an Earth-orbiting satellite to measure the Earth's mass as it changes over days and weeks. With this sensor, we can detect a change in less than a centimeter of water in the water table over an area smaller than a single county in the U.S. state of Texas. At these sensitivities, Earth scientists can predict tectonic activity, manage water depletion for agricultural planning, and even see volcanic activity before eruptions.

Previous Education

United States Naval Academy BS 2001

Links

http://www.usna.edu/Users/physics/brereton
http://advquantum.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbrereton

I am excited about being in Cambridge and I hope to sharpen my skills, to broaden my view, and to meet exciting people. I work on the automated analysis of software and related artifacts. In particular, I like to improve the quality of software systems. I tackle this problem by helping programmers to identify functionality that is spread over a system but could be bundled for improved understanding and maintainability. At Cambridge, I am looking forward to finding mutually inspiring discussions as well as collaboration with people from inside and outside my field.

Links

http://unbtc.ro
http://www.soi-hits.eu

I attended the University of South Carolina where I studied chemical engineering with minors in chemistry and mathematics. My PhD in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechology under Professor Markus Kraft studied inorganic nanoparticle growth in laminar flames using computational fluid dynamics and population balance modelling. Currently, I work for Siemens DISW developing multiphase computational fluid dynamics software for STAR-CCM+.

Previous Education

The University of South Carolina

While studying organismal biology, bioethics, and philosophy at McGill University, I became interested in how scientific knowledge informs and challenges philosophical ideas. Who has credibility in claiming scientific knowledge? What type of science can be claimed as legitimate and worthy of funding? I took a year off to work with a community service organization in Pittsburgh, PA, where I helped homeless clients apply for welfare benefits, Medicaid, and public housing lotteries. The question of resource allocation, of what our money should fund, suddenly appeared on a much larger scale than it had in my bioethics textbook, and propelled me to study critical social theory. I finished my undergraduate studies as a transfer student at The New School in New York City, where I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant for professors in the history and culture and media departments. At Cambridge, my work will focus on how scientific and medical research priorities are often influenced by financial and market forces; I’m interested in how, over time, those interests have shaped our research on and understanding of two processes in particular: reproduction and cognition. I’m excited to work with the Gates and Cambridge communities in examining the intersection of science, ethics, and economic systems to challenge hegemonic scientific ideas and pursue academic interventions needed for a more rigorous understanding of scientific and medical justice.

Previous Education

McGill University
University of Pittsburgh
The New School

I studied at Indiana University in Mathematics and English. At Cambridge, I completed Part III of the Math Tripos at Churchill College. Cambridge afforded me a wonderful experience that I still cherish. I now live and work in Chicago as a high school math teacher.