Directory

I was raised by my aunt and uncle in a small town in the northeast corner of Tennessee. Throughout my childhood, I developed a growing interest in the world beyond my tight-knit community. I tailored my undergraduate studies to create an interdisciplinary education that explored subjects in international politics, language-learning, economics, world history, and human rights. During my undergraduate years and subsequent experiences as a Gilman scholar in Chile and a Fulbright grantee in Galicia, Spain, I deepened my understanding of the crucial role that education equity plays in society and the economy. As a first-generation student, I understand firsthand the transformative potential of education in personal and professional growth. Through research and classroom instruction at Cambridge, I aspire to delve into the development and implementation of policies that advance equity and inclusivity within educational systems. I am deeply honored to become a part of the Gates Cambridge community and am excited about collaborating with other young minds committed to driving global change in their respective fields.

Previous Education

Middle Tennessee State University Global Studies 2020
Middle Tennessee State University Spanish 2020

From a young age, I was keenly aware that the neat categories that bound and define our sense of belonging--ideas like "home," "nation," and "family"--were much more complex and difficult for some than for others. My experience growing up as a refugee from Bosnia and Herzegovina in Tucson, Arizona, gave me the opportunity to understand how political geography is produced in the everyday, through acts of inclusion and exclusion small and large. When I began my studies at the University of Arizona, I learned that such quotidian experiences were of enormous value to scholars trying to understand how political geographic realities that we take for granted are enacted and reproduced. As an MPhil student in geography at Cambridge, my work has focused on using participatory video to bring out how actually-existing political contestations over urban space and belonging play out among youth in Sarajevo. In my PhD, I hope to continue this engagement in Bosnia and expand it to Istanbul, Turkey, where a set of shared histories and contemporary struggles beckons for research that can think about how young people navigate nationalist politics and everyday material struggles across contexts. My experiences as a Gates scholar have been some of the most enriching in my life, and I am honoured to return to this community.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Geographical Research 2019
University of Arizona Geography and Africana Studies 2018

Neha is the founder of the Humanology Project, a nonprofit organization with the mission to reduce the stigma of mental & neurological illness by democratizing medical literature and providing a forum for patients to share their story. She graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2015 with a degree in Modern Society & Global Transformations. Her research investigates the psychosocial and stigmatizing effects of epilepsy on marriage through ethnographic and quantitative studies. In 2015, Neha was the youngest person on the Healthcare List for Forbes 30 under 30.

So far my student life has been a lot of fun both in and outside the classroom. Parallel to studying on both sides of the Atlantic, I’ve run a vigorous student association, managed a nationwide project on European integration and established a monthly for young people. Thanks to the Gates Scholarship I am able to engage in intensive research on social sacrifices made in extraordinary situations. Pursuing this project in Cambridge's unique multicultural environment is a great adventure.

From a young age, I have always been fascinated by the natural sciences. As an undergraduate in Molecular Biomedicine at the University of Bonn, I developed a strong interest in neuroscience. I have worked on several research projects using the fruit fly Drosophila; studying larval feeding behaviour at Bonn, accumulation of evidence prior to decision-making in larvae at HHMI Janelia Research Campus, and attention in adult flies at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. As a PhD student at Cambridge, I will investigate the neural basis of operant learning in Drosophila larvae. This is the process in which an animal learns about the consequences of its own behaviour, leading to reinforcement or suppression of certain actions. I anticipate that these studies will reveal many of the general principles underlying operant learning. This will hopefully lead to a better understanding of operant learning in vertebrate model systems, facilitating the investigation of related diseases, such as learning disorders, neurodegenerative diseases or obsessive-compulsive disorders, and eventually the development of better cures. After my PhD, I plan to pursue a career in scientific research, investigating the fundamental questions in neuroscience to help us better understand how the brain works. In my spare time, I volunteer as a mentor for high school students with exceptional mathematical talent, and am involved in the organisation of mathematical competitions in Germany.

Previous Education

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn
Fudan University

I am a young geneticist who is ambitious about improving healthcare and stratified medicine. At the age of 16, I attended to United World Colleges of Atlantic, an institute with a mission to use education as a force to unite people, nations and cultures for world peace and sustainable future. While at UWC, academically I became interested in studying disease genetics due to its potential to improve the lives of others. Thus, I studied BSc Human Genetics at UCL, where I developed an interest on the genetic basis of complex diseases. Afterwards, I studied MPhil in Genomic Medicine at Cambridge University as a Gates Scholar. During my master's, I worked at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute under Prof Zeggini's supervision on two complex disease bioinformatics projects where I worked with large datasets including UKBioBank. For my PhD, I will be studying the rare and low-frequency variants underlying diabetes using data from several biological levels under the supervision of Dr Langenberg. I am very intrigued about this project addressing the knowledge gap in complex disease genomics, given its potential to improve healthcare and stratified medicine. I am very excited to be a part of the influential Gates Cambridge community again.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Genomic Medicine 2018
University College London Human Genetics 2017

Young professional, technologist and entrepreneur passionate about overcoming challenges of global scale and relevance through cutting-edge technologies, effective policy and innovative business models.

Growing up just outside of New Orleans, the urgency of the climate change issue was instilled in me from a very young age. Interacting with some of Louisiana's first climate migrants and experiencing the effects of increased hurricanes and sea level rise pushed me to further pursue climate science. As an undergraduate studying Environmental Earth Science at Tulane University, I discovered a new lens through which the issue could be viewed and learned about the field of paleoclimatology. During my MPhil in the Physical Geography Department at the University of Cambridge, I seek to better understand the fundamental differences in global-scale warming between three interglacial periods. This research will refine scientific understanding of the forcings and feedbacks involved in global-scale warming and will be used in models that will predict the effects of anthropogenically caused climate change. I’m honored and excited to be joining the Gates Cambrdige community and begin working with my peers to tackle one of the biggest issues facing the world today.

Previous Education

Tulane University of Louisiana Environmental Earth Science 2024

I grew up reading Nepal as a "small poor landlocked country" in school textbooks, and as an adult, I have lived to witness the vulnerability of actually living in a developing country. After completing my undergraduate in law (B.A. LL.B.) from Tribhuvan University, I had opportunities to work with law firms and research groups which navigated me with possible directions to contribute to the economic prosperity of the country as a legal practitioner. With my experience of working alongside young entrepreneurs, local businesses, and foreign investors, I learned the prospects of investing capital, utilizing resources, and creating opportunities in development sectors. I aspire to be part of this larger effort to change the fate of the remittance and aid-driven economy of Nepal. At the University of Cambridge, I will study Master of Law with a particular focus on corporate governance, investment law, and international commercial litigation which I will use to fill in the existing gap in commercial legal practice in Nepal and add experience to Nepali university education. It is an immense honor to be a part of the Gates Cambridge community and I hope to make a difference.

Previous Education

Tribhuvan University B.A.LL.B. 2019

I graduated from Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz, Bolivia in 2003 and received my professional licence in 2008. Before coming to Cambridge I worked with the German Archaeological Institute (DAI-KAAK) and the University of California, Berkeley in archaeological expeditions that took me from the Titicaca Basin to the Amazon Forest. Last year I completed an MPhil in Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. In that time I set the groundwork for my PhD research in the Llanos de Moxos, eastern Bolivia, on the development of early complex societies in the Amazon Basin. I hope that my work will help reveal the unknown history of the present indigenous communities and have a positive impact in developing policies for future heritage and forest management. Parallel to my research I work at FFMV, a small non-profit organisation, that aims to support young Bolivian scholars and promote free access to research resources in the fields of Music, Arts and Social Sciences.

Ntombizodwa is a Ph.D. student at the Pathology Department and Babraham Institute in the laboratory of Adrian Liston and James Dooley. Her project focuses on understanding lung immunity and finding ways to minimize harmful immune responses during a viral infection such as Covid 19 and influenza. She is exploring regulatory T cells as a therapeutic mechanism to control the responses and promote tissue healing. Prior to her Ph.D., she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Medicinal Biochemistry at Arizona State University and an honors degree project on biomarkers for early detection of Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cervical cancers. In the past, she has worked in various academic labs in the United States of America (Biodesign Institute) and the pharmaceutical industry (Novartis). She is also a social entrepreneur working on providing quality education and a supportive system to young African girls through the 100 Young Women Initiative at Shasha Network. She aspires to combine her interests in entrepreneurship and research to maximize the impact on healthcare in the world.

Previous Education

Arizona State University Medicinal Chemistry 2019

As an undergraduate studying Chemistry and Life Sciences in Taiwan, I engaged in a structural biology study about the crystal structure determination of mitochondrial nuclease MGME1. This study revealed the molecular mechanism of MGME1's function in mtDNA maintenance and motivated me to extend my knowledge of structural biology and mitochondrial biology in the Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge. My future research will focus on using Cryo-EM for determining the structure of human mitochondrial ATP/ADP carriers, which play a vital role in cellular energy production. I hope my research can not only uncover the molecular mechanism of mitochondrial functions but also promote mitochondria-targeting drug discovery for the betterment of human health. Besides research, I wish that I could contribute to the scientific education in my hometown, Tainan. I want to facilitate the collaboration between local universities and high schools, making the scientific resources available for any potential and motivated young scientists. I am thrilled to meet all Gates Cambridge Scholars in this fantastic academic community.

Previous Education

National Cheng Kung University Chemistry and Life Sciences 2024

Over the past few years I have worked with and founded educational institutions that provide students with opportunities to engage in hands-on democratic self-governance. As one deeply concerned about the decline of civic participation in developed democracies, these experiences have changed the way I think about political life and the way we prepare young people to take leadership in it. I am passionate about creating new ways to make civic education less rote and more experiential, and I am excited to explore possibilities for this innovation through the MPhil in Politics, Development, and Democratic Education at Cambridge. I hope to draw on this education in my future career: helping schools structurally integrate democratic practices into their administration and pedagogy, creating programs that give young people meaningful governance experience, and empowering students for lives of active civic engagement in their communities and world.

After spending a year teaching at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (http://www.aims.ac.za) I have returned to Cambridge to complete my PhD in theoretical physics. I hope to use my background in physics and education to expand educational opportunities for young people everywhere, especially in the developing world.

Born in Rwanda, my earliest memories are of life as a young refugee. I pursued my undergraduate at North Central College on a generous scholarship from the school's board of trustees. During my masters at Yale, I focused on the events that I left behind: mass atrocities and their consequences. For my PhD, I am looking into the experiences of a vastly marginalised group in the African Great Lakes known as the Batwa. I am interested in how colonial and neo-colonial notions of eugenics have turned them into a de-politicized group, one which has no say on its political, economic and social reality. Beyond academics, I continue to be involved in the education space especially in providing quality education for marginalised communities. To this end, I am a co-founder of the Tujenge Scholars Program, a leadership institute, which has sent Burundi students to prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Carleton, Brown, MIT etc. The goal is that this group of young leaders will be responsible for Africa's transformation.

Previous Education

Yale University African Studies 2015
North Central College Political Science 2013

A recent graduate in Political Science and Comparative Human Development, along with a minor in Creative Writing, I am deeply committed to improving education in my native Pakistan. Specifically, the goal is curbing Muslim extremism, and empowering young people with their native identity and values. Since I was thirteen, I have been involved with progressive Islamic schooling. A new type of schooling, it aims to combine secular education with Islamic values to develop ‘well-rounded’ Muslims that abstain from militant extremism. The MPhil in Educational Leadership and School Improvement program at Cambridge, followed by an M.Ed. from Harvard University, will instruct me in various leadership techniques and how they may be adapted to progressive Islamic schools. With this training, I will work at a secondary school and the government in Pakistan. The Gates-Cambridge Scholarship is a lifelong gift, and I hope that I will be able to collaborate with this community wherever I go.

From a young age, I expressed a keen interest in the issues surrounding infectious diseases and global epidemics. As a Biomedical Engineering student at Arizona State University, my interest in epidemiology and its engineering applications were further developed and contextualized by an additional minor in Global Health and a research internship at the Translational Genomics Research Institute. During the course of my PhD in Chemical Engineering at Cambridge, I aspire to develop novel diagnostics for C. difficile, the deadliest superbug in the United States, and C. perfringens, the second leading cause of food poisoning. With C. difficile, there is a direct correlation between mortality and the timing and choice of initial treatment. With the invention of an immediate diagnostic that detects the level of infection, mortality rates may be reduced across global communities.I seek to be a leader in the worldwide pursuit to alleviate the burden of disease on developing populations by delivering technologies that are simple, inexpensive, and—above all else—feasible in their applicable environments. I am grateful to be joining the Gates Cambridge Community and for the opportunity to network with some of the greatest intellects of our generation with the united goal of improving the human condition.

Previous Education

Arizona State University BS in Engineering Biomedical Engineering 2019