Directory

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

As an undergraduate student at Case Western Reserve University, I have devoted my time to engaging in a variety of interdisciplinary research and coursework, spanning the subjects of astronomy, physics, planetary science, and mathematics. Through astronomy coursework and a recent research experience analyzing X-ray data from a distant, merging galaxy cluster, I have developed a passion for observational astronomy. To me, the study of astronomy requires a curiosity about the universe on the largest scales. I am excited by our ability to understand real astronomical objects, from the stars that populate our own galaxy to the objects whose light takes billions of years to reach us. At the University of Cambridge, I am especially eager to expand my astrophysics knowledge through rigorous coursework and to engage in observational astronomy research as a MASt student. Alongside my years of research, I have passionately supported science education as a volunteer at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences where I ran solar observing sessions and taught mini lessons on dark matter. I plan to continue to inspire and mentor the next generation of scientists by being involved in outreach at the Institute of Astronomy and throughout the rest of my career. I am honored to be joining the Gates Cambridge community and look forward to interacting with and learning from my Gates Cambridge peers of all different disciplines.

Previous Education

Case Western Reserve University Bachelor of Science in Math & Physics, Astronomy 2019

Previous Education

University of Washington BA - English Literature 2004
Seattle University

As a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow at Wellesley College, I fell in love with both the research process and the power of research to shape more enlightened, more enlivened, classroom discussions discussions that as both a scholar and life-long student I truly believe can shape our world for better by enabling us to communicate more clearly, more deliberately, and more considerately. As a student of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, I look forward to discovering new uses for age-old stories; unearthing just how differently medieval literature handled difference and diversity, using that literature as a measure of modernity and proof of how diversity has always grounded the Western literary canon. I'm so honored to be joining the Gates-Cambridge class of 2020! I'm inspired by the work of my peers and excited to be entering a community wherein we can all work together to pursue not only knowledge, but the improvement of our surrounding world through that knowledge.

Previous Education

Johns Hopkins University Medieval Literature 2020
Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla MedievalLit/Intern'l Relations 2019
Wellesley College English Literature 2014

In the wake of disasters and amidst armed conflicts, how do aid providers navigate the laws that govern humanitarian assistance? Where a State refuses to allow assistance, do these actors still provide aid? What does this say about international law? I am honoured to be embarking on a PhD in Law and joining the remarkable community of Gates Cambridge scholars to explore these issues. I became interested in humanitarian assistance while doing fieldwork in Ethiopia for an MPhil in development studies at Oxford. It was that research which led me to work as an aid practitioner in the UK and West Africa, designing programs to improve the ability of Sahelian families to face shocks like food insecurity and flooding. However, feeling I lacked the practical and conceptual tools to address the more intractable challenges I saw in the field, I left to pursue a trans-systemic law degree at McGill. Through the course, and thereafter as a judicial clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, I developed a legal perspective for considering these questions. It is this perspective that I seek to develop further as part of my PhD, and in particular, to explore the legal regimes that facilitate and constrain humanitarian relief.

Previous Education

McGill University Law 2019
University of Oxford Development Studies 2011

One fascinating question in neurobiological sciences is how the brain develops, providing the basis for correct information flow and integration that enables us to think, sense, and feel. My research project deals with one aspect of this exciting field of investigation, namely how neurons send processes to their synaptic partners in the embryonic central nervous system to form functional neuronal networks.

I’m a history graduate from the University of Sydney with a strong interest in studying global history from the perspective of ordinary people. My research focus is the early modern Spanish empire, which is an interest I developed after travelling extensively through Latin America. My PhD thesis will examine the experience of empire in the Philippines and broader Spanish Pacific from the vantage point of non-Europeans. I strongly believe that we study history not just to understand the past but also to engage in the kind of future that we want to create. My research aims to break down some our commonly held assumptions of how global history developed by examining the frontiers of early modern empires that have often been marginalised within broader historiography. I have been active in projects of community building among history students in Australia and worked as a researcher at a large trade union on campaigns that fight the inequality experienced by Australia’s lowest paid workers.

My earliest memories in New England were of my older brothers teaching me how to play ice hockey, motivating me to become a girls hockey coach. I am fascinated by the malleability of our memories. In particular, how do changes in physical health, mental well-being, or age influence how memories are formed, retrieved, and retained? I was inspired to study neuroscience after observing family members suffer from frontotemporal dementia, schizophrenia, and PTSD. I researched how the pandemic influenced the relationship between sleep and personal memory at Boston College’s Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory. This motivated my master’s research on the role of sleep stages in the consolidation of emotional memories across the lifespan. I am honored to join the Gates Cambridge Scholar Community. At Cambridge, in Professor Jon Simons’ laboratory, I will investigate how sleep architecture and structure influence brain activation and connectivity when retrieving emotional memories. My long-term aim is to discover interventions that positively influence those suffering from maladaptive memories underlying conditions including anxiety, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s, that could also enhance the health of personal memories for all.

Previous Education

Boston College Psychology 2023
Boston College Neuroscience 2022

My research at the University of Cambridge will focus on climate responsive design attributes in the tropics, Zanzibar in particular. With continued climate change, buildings will need to mitigate and adapt without necessarily increasing their energy consumption. Correlation between design parameters and material specifications with the internal environments architects create, in terms of human comfort is fundamental in achieving habitable conditions in buildings, without mechanical systems, most of which have high energy loads and carbon emissions contributing to global warming. I will investigate the dichotomies of embracing new technologies and traditional constructions in a bid to postulate a low carbon contemporary architecture addressing occupant comfort, health and associated productivity. I am indeed grateful to continue being part of the Gates Cambridge community.

Previous Education

University of Nairobi
University of Cambridge

After growing up in Woodruff, South Carolina, I attended Wofford College and obtained a degree in biology with a concentration in neuroscience. While at Wofford, I developed a passion for studying the brain and diseases that plague it. This passion has grown during my three years as a medical student at Wake Forest School of Medicine. In particular, after participating in the Pediatric Oncology Education program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, I developed a strong interest in neuro-oncology research. As a Gates Cambridge Scholar, I will study the genomics of glioblastoma and characteristics of the tumor microenvironment in an effort to develop better treatment strategies for this most malignant form of brain cancer. Upon completion of my PhD, I will return to Wake Forest for my final year of medical school. I hope to establish a career in pediatric neurosurgery or pediatric neurology and plan to employ the lessons I learn at the University of Cambridge to become a physician-scientist committed to providing improved outcomes for brain tumor patients throughout the world. I am humbled and honored to be joining a dynamic and interdisciplinary group of scholars committed to harnessing research for social good.

Previous Education

Wofford College
Wake Forest School of Medicine

I graduated from Stanford with a focus on energy and environmental policy. Afterwards, I moved to Mongolia to work with a professor of mine who had become the Ambassador at Large of Mongolia. For three years I worked on shaping regional energy and environmental policies alongside numerous ministers, parliament members, and policy experts. My focus was on nuclear energy – in particular, how to sustainably mine uranium and increase international security and cooperation. In this position, I was a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo’s (Todai) Department of Nuclear Engineering, as well as a visiting lecturer to PhD students for a Seoul National University and Todai summer school on multilateral energy cooperation. I was in Japan when the Fukushima Daiichi disaster struck, and in the ensuing instability became deeply involved in nuclear education as well as in multi-country policy talks. Today, I am based in my mother's home country of Ecuador and work in environmental risk management and biodiversity conservation efforts for USAID and USAID-funded projects. I often travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I coordinate the risk management component of a Food for Peace project. I have also traveled to Honduras and Malawi to author environmental assessments, and to Haiti, El Salvador, and Paraguay to lead environmental compliance workshops. At Cambridge, I hope to research methods for bridging the gap between energy politics and environmental sustainability.

Previous Education

Stanford University

I am working towards a PhD in Medieval History at the University of Cambridge, focusing on Carolingian documents and literacy during the ninth century.

I grew up in Athens, Georgia and earned a bachelor’s degree in Classical Languages at the University of Georgia. Both of my parents are classical musicians, and because of this a deep love for sound, language, and music has shaped my research interests in Classics. As I pursue an MPhil degree in Classics at Cambridge, I plan to write a thesis on Augustine’s theories of music. I believe that studying the role and function of music is worthwhile because it means exploring how art touches the emotions and influences human behavior. The arts assume that life has meaning, they unify human beings around hope, and they foster philosophical principles useful for action in the world. Music in particular communicates emotions that link each human mind to something greater than itself. I hope that a thesis on ancient musicology, investigating the connection between beauty and emotion, can help illuminate the role of music today. I am honored to join the Gates Cambridge community as I commit myself to a forward-looking examination of ancient musicology, believing that both literature and music prepare individuals for thought and action in the world.

Previous Education

University of Georgia Classics 2021