My interest in Physics was piqued in 2008, when I was selected to represent Australia at the annual International Physics Olympiad in Hanoi, Vietnam. In 2009, I moved from my home state of Queensland to Canberra, where I studied at the Australian National University. I read for the Bachelor of Philosophy (Hons) [Science] – a flexible, yet demanding undergraduate research programme – and completed several individual research topics during this time. I also participated in an exchange at Universität Bonn, Germany, where I studied Masters-level courses in many-body quantum physics. After returning home to Australia, I completed my research project and was awarded first class honours in Theoretical Physics. My MPhil research at the University of Queensland followed naturally, aiming to prototype an ultra-sensitive rotation detector based on the interference of cold atom condensates. My project for the PhD in Physics sees a slight change of pace to more fundamental physics. I will explore the role of interactions between atoms in the transition from dilute gas vapour through to condensate. Understanding the nuances of these interactions is key to developing sophisticated technologies that could one day supersede laser-based counterparts for inertial and field sensing. I’m delighted to be joining the Gates Cambridge community, and look forward to the challenges and opportunities in store in the years to come.
Australian National University
University of Queensland
I am currently working at the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) at IIT Bombay. In addition to conducting research and teaching, I also coordinate activities of the Gender and Policy Forum at CPS.
I recently completed Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge under the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. My research sought to understand the impacts of increasing incidence of land sale on a rural society in Pune district. Prior to Ph.D,I did M.Phil. in Environment, Society and Development in Geography Department at University of Cambridge under the Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
Trained in anthropology I have worked in the environment and development sector. I coordinated a DFIF-NRSP research project for University of Cambridge on participatory forest management in Madhya Pradesh. I also worked as a consultant with Winrock India, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, World Resources Institute. I taught short course in anthropology at the Centre for Liberal Arts, Symbiosis College, Pune.
I have been doing voluntary work with a grassroots organisation Jeevan Sanstha, in helping to set up initiative for rural women and children in villages in Maval tehsil of Pune district. I intermittently contribute to the Marathi TV channel News18 Lokmat.
University of Maryland Biological Sciences/Business 2016
My PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory, the „Home to DNA“, is about smart nano-objects folded out of DNA. I aim to use this so-called DNA origami to create functional molecular machines, inter alia for drug delivery systems. I always found it fascinating how physics brought novel tools into biology and how these tools led to discoveries. Thus, I studied physics and molecular medicine in Erlangen, Germany. As a scientist, I wish to contribute to the controversial discourse on nanotechnology in politics, legislation and society - not to defend a field of science I am passionate about, but to achieve sensible regulations for our future. A student exchange with Zambia directed my interests towards the developing world. I co-founded AidReversed, a platform of ideas on how the Western world can learn from developing countries and how this can drive sustainable development. I am looking forward to be part of the Gates community to share ideas for a sustainable future and to take them forward!
University of Cambridge Physics, MPhil 2013
Friedrich-Alexander Universitat Erlangen Molecular Medicine, Core Corriculum 2012
Friedrich-Alexander Universitat Erlangen Physics, Bachelor of Science 2012
https://goepfrichgroup.de
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerstin-g%C3%B6pfrich-51257a8a
After graduating from Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, with a Bachelor of Science in Physics, I moved to Cambridge. At the University of Cambridge I have been studying theoretical physics for the past year. Now, having just started my PhD in animal physiology, I am very excited to investigate some of the biomechanical principles of jumping insects. My research interests are in adhesion mechanisms, especially those of insects that can jump off smooth surfaces. I hope to use nature’s principles to improve technology.
I was drawn to the nanotechnology program at Cambridge due to the uniqueness and diversity of its offerings. I graduated from North Carolina State University just this past May in electrical engineering and applied math. My primary interests involve using nanostructures to develop novel electrical and photonic devices as well as improve current devices including photovoltaics, LEDs, and lasers. After my MPhil program ends I will move to UC Berkeley for my PhD in electrical engineering.
During law school at the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata I met students from diverse backgrounds, including many from tribal communities in India. Their encounters with the law were vastly different from my own and there existed little in Indian law libraries to contextualise their experiences. The reason for this lack of materials remained at the back of my mind for the several years that I worked as a Supreme Court judicial clerk, litigator and a researcher in India. Despite several legal protections and living on richly resourced lands, many tribes remain the worst off amongst India’s citizenry across various socio-economic indices. My PhD at Cambridge explores how colonial rule uniquely affected tribes in South Asia and also how tribes affected colonialism. It seeks to develop a “hybrid” legal history for tribes in India which views not only colonial law’s perceptions of tribes but also tribal perceptions of law and government. This builds on my LLM at Harvard where I explored tribal property rights in Indian legal history. In looking back, I hope to find workable solutions for a more just future for tribal communities across South Asia.I am grateful to the Gates Cambridge Trust for providing a global platform to this underserved area of law. I look forward to the opportunity to be part of a vibrant interdisciplinary community of scholars with a social conscience.
Harvard University Law 2018
NUJS Arts and Law 2012
University of Pennsylvania BA English and Comparative Literature 2001
My research uses network analysis and other quantitative methods to study police misconduct and related phenomena. In particular, I am interested in developing methods to identify both misconduct-prone officers and officers who are resilient to negative peer influences. Additionally, my research examines how sanctions for misconduct and other official responses affect future misconduct. My other research interests include progressive prosecution and the intersections of local government law and criminal justice reform.
University of Cambridge Criminological Research 2021
Williams College Political Science and Math 2020
I graduated in 2010 from Duke University with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. After receiving my degree, I was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy, where I served on USS STERETT (DDG 104) for nearly two years as the Electrical and Auxiliary Systems Officer. I then worked as an engineer for Access Midstream, a natural gas midstream company, where I helped design pipelines and facilities for natural gas in the Utica shale in Ohio. Both my experience on a ship and time in the energy industry made me appreciate how important energy is, and inspired me to pursue ways to reduce energy requirements and usage. While at Duke, I did research on smart materials, which piqued my interest in their applications. I combined these two interests while pursuing my MPhil in Engineering, which focused on how materials can be used to improve energy efficiency and reduce both usage and costs.
After finishing my degree, I became employed as a test engineer at SpaceX. I deeply believe in SpaceX's mission of sending humans to live on Mars - my energy research at Cambridge make me increasingly concerned about the dire effects of global warming on our planet. We need to tackle the problems here, but also need to spread out as much as we can. I am currently living and working in Los Angeles, at SpaceX's headquarters. As a test engineer, I make sure that the hardware sent into space can survive launch conditions by physically testing it before it is installed on the rocket.
After undergraduate work at North Carolina State University in Biomedical Engineering, the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship allowed me to perform magnetic resonance imaging research towards an M.Phil. in the Herchel Smith Laboratory for Medicinal Chemistry. Afterwards, I returned to the US to attend Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. I graduated in 2009 and have remained at Hopkins as a general surgery resident.
I completed an MPhil in Public Health in 2009 and a PhD in Epidemiology (MRC Epidemiology Unit) at Cambridge in 2014 as a Gates Scholar.
Subsequently, I started to work as a medical doctor in several hospitals in the East of England and am now an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow and Specialty Registrar in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Addenbrooke's Hospital Cambridge. I am passionate about the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disorders and believe that through my research and clinical practice I can contribute to a reduction of the global burden of these disorders.
I also have a keen interest in teaching and provide clinical supervisions for Cambridge medical students and teach research methods for a variety of audiences.
I have been serving as a Deputy Lead of the Global Innovation Panel of the Need for Nutrition Education Global Centre in Cambridge and working on applied projects focused on nutrition education.
University of Cambridge MPhil Public Health and Primary Care 2008
University of Zagreb MD 2005
My main academic interests are in algebraic geometry and differential topology. Most recently, I have been working on a research project about the cyclic cohomologies of finitely generated, torsion free subgroups of GL_2(R). I also enjoy teaching mathematics; I have done this as a grader at the Math Olympiad Program, and also as a leader for the United States team to the Girls’ Math Olympiad. In addition, I coordinated at the Math Olympiad of Central America and the Caribbean when it was held in my home island of Puerto Rico. I intend to attend graduate school and obtain a Ph.D. in mathematics with a concentration in algebraic geometry. After this, I would like to pursue a career as a mathematician and engage in research and teaching. As a preparation for these career plans, I would like to study algebraic geometry at Cambridge. There, I also hope to gain a broader view of mathematics, which would allow me to become both a greater researcher and a more effective teacher.