Directory

I grew up and live in Karachi and received my undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Karachi. I also did my M. Sc. from the same university and later on became associated with it as a faculty member in the Department of Genetics. I completed my M. S. in Genetics from the Iowa State University on a Fulbright scholarship. For my thesis, I investigated the possible roles played by the RNase T2 enzymes and lysosomal membrane proteins in ribosomal RNA degradation in the lab of Dr. Gustavo MacIntosh. I collaborated with Dr. Linda Ambrosio on the project who introduced me to the wonderful world of fly genetics whereby I developed a keen interest in using the fruit fly, Drosophila, for modelling human neurodegenerative diseases. Hereditary spastic paraplegia constitute a heterogeneous group of hereditary disorders characterized by progressive lower limb weakness due to damaged or dysfunctional nerves and form the second most important group of motor neuron diseases. My doctoral research will be undertaken under the supervision of Dr. Cahir O’Kane and will focus on understanding the roles of hereditary spastic paraplegia genes involved in organisation of axonal endoplasmic reticulum. Upon completion of my Ph. D., I intend to join back my university to continue teaching and doing research in my field of study. I am excited and honoured to begin my doctoral studies at Cambridge as part of the Gates community.

Previous Education

University of Karachi
Iowa State University

South Africa’s energy sector is characterised by an unsustainable dependence on coal. In this however, I see tremendous opportunity for the development of sustainable energy technology. At Cambridge I will be pursuing an MPhil in Advanced Chemical Engineering, hoping to reinforce my knowledge of catalysis and computational modelling, and increase my flexibility as a research engineer one day operating within the dynamic field of renewable technology. Through many previous projects and my current research in fuel cell science, I am increasingly passionate about the role chemical engineering has to play in meeting global diversification targets. I want to direct my work to developing modular off-grid electrification solutions, such as biomass gasifiers, for rural and under-developed communities in South Africa as a mechanism to stimulate social development. Advancements in the catalytic cracking of biomass-derived syngas tars could drive gasification technology towards commercialisation.

I have always been passionate by science to learn about and understand the Universe around us. I therefore went in Physics at Université de Montréal (UdeM) for my B.Sc. during which I did a project studying the impact of supermassive black holes (SMBH) on their environment; black holes being my long time fascination. I was thrilled to continue in the same field for my M.Sc. studying the mass of a SMBH believed to be one of the biggest in the Universe in collaboration with Texas A&M University, where I spent three months. With this experience, an exchange in Australia and an internship in Germany, I knew that I wanted to do my PhD outside of Canada as, to me, it is really important to be in contact with people from around the world. Therefore, I am delighted to pursue a PhD at Cambridge in Astronomy studying mechanisms enabling SMBH to transfer energy to their surroundings. In addition to my research, I want to get involved in astronomy outreach in my department and in the city as I am very passionate about communicating science to my peers as well as to the general public. I want to encourage the curiosity of people especially children towards astrophysics and science. I also work to empower girls and women in physics, by helping in the creation of the Diversity Physics Committee at UdeM and participating to events for girls. I am really honoured to be part of the Gates Cambridge Community, an international community driven by having an impact in the world around them.

Previous Education

Universite de Montreal Physics 2019
Universite de Montreal Physics 2017

As an undergraduate studying physics at the University of California, Riverside, I worked alongside faculty searching for evidence of new physics at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). During my time at UC Riverside, I became very active in science outreach and advocacy, including developing an outreach program targeted at local high school students. At Cambridge, I hope to continue my outreach work with physicists from the Cavendish Laboratory while reading for a MASt in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics from DAMTP. My field is elementary particle physics, meaning that I am interested in what makes up the universe at the most fundamental level. Dark matter and other questions about the universe have long fascinated me, and I hope to help answer these during my career. Moreover, I hope to help explain their significance to the general public, because I believe that better access to cutting-edge science is needed in primary and secondary schools. A lack of exposure to science during my childhood almost stifled my career before it began, so – with this in mind – it is my goal to help make science more accessible to all. I am ecstatic to study at Cambridge alongside some of the world’s foremost physicists, and following my time at Churchill College, I will study at Princeton University for my Ph.D. in Physics. Ultimately, I hope to secure a faculty position in physics. Interests: public speaking, volleyball, soccer, American football, science outreach, running, and embarrassingly bad math jokes

Previous Education

University of California, Riverside

For my PhD project I will be investigating the relationship of DNA methylation to chromatin structure and gene expression control.

My activism is centered on providing access to education for marginalized communities. At Rutgers University, I received my BSc degree in Africana Studies and History. I served as president of the Galvanizing and Organizing Youth Activism (GOYA) organization, where I have planned 5k walks to promote literacy, and have collected school supplies for local and global communities. Spring 2016, I travelled to Cape Town South Africa to participate in a service learning program at Ned Doman High School, where I collaborated with the University of Cape Town to facilitate college readiness workshops for over 90 learners. The following summer, I served in Washington D.C. as an intern for Senator Cory Booker, working with his Senior Team on Education Policy. At Cambridge, I will attain an MSc in African Studies, and my research will center on the contemporary student led #FeesMustFall movement in post-apartheid South Africa. My ultimate goal is to obtain a PhD/JD in Education and Law to hopefully influence education reform policy. I am extremely honored to be joining the Cambridge community, and even more grateful to be amongst a network of great leaders with the Gates Cambridge Scholarship program.

Previous Education

Rutgers University

I am excited about coming to Cambridge and meeting people from around the world. My research here will be in the field of protein folding.

My path to a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science began in chemistry, a discipline that holds transformative power for society in many ways. I pursued an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and a consecutive MSc in Business Chemistry at the University of Münster. Focusing on analytical chemistry, I completed a semester abroad as a visiting researcher at the University of Oxford, where I investigated the composition of archaeological materials. To unlock the full potential of chemistry, I believe it is vital to ask questions beyond the laboratory, questions concerning the very foundations of the discipline. In my MSc in Philosophy of Science at LSE, I found the tools to articulate and address these questions. In my PhD, I want to investigate the ontology of chemical substances. They are often understood as structurally distinct natural kinds. However, on the microstructural, quantum mechanical, macromolecular and macroscopic levels, the story is much more complicated and often seems contradictory. Chemical substances make up the world around us (including ourselves), but what even are they? I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to pursue this project and look forward to being a part of the Gates scholars community.

Previous Education

University of Munster (Westfalische Wilhelms Unive Business Chemistry 2021
London School of Economics & Political Science (Un Philosophy of Science 2020
University of Munster (Westfalische Wilhelms Unive Chemistry 2017

Johanna is currently a Research Fellow at the United Nations University - International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) working in the new Gender and Health Hub. Prior to this position Johanna worked as a consultant for UNU-IIGH on a gender-based project focusing on the community health workforce in Niger, Mozambique and Zambia. She also completed a consultancy with the African Women’s Development Fund, mapping the scale and key gendered concerns of non-communicable diseases and their effect on women across Africa. Johanna has led research on digital technologies and infectious disease outbreaks and prior to this served as the Policy Director for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health based in London. Johanna has also worked as Lead of Information Management for the National Chlamydia Screening Programme, UK. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Cambridge funded by the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Birmingham.

I am originally from Charlotte, NC and I completed my bachelor’s degree at UNC-Charlotte, where I graduated with honors in both biology and psychology. My early research experiences led me to pursue a combined MD/PhD degree through the NIH Cambridge Scholars Program. I completed my second year of medical school at UNC Chapel Hill. Now I will begin my PhD work in the Department of Surgery at Cambridge and at the NIAID at the NIH. At Cambridge, I will work to develop methods of producing functional liver cells from adult stem cells. Then I will use these methods at the NIH to develop stem cell therapies for liver fibrosis in animal models. I am very grateful for the opportunity to spend my time at Cambridge as a Gates Scholar and an NIH Cambridge Scholar. As an aspiring physician scientist, I cannot imagine a more rewarding or enriching environment in which to train. I know my time as a Gates Scholar will continue to shape how I care for my future patients and also my research career.

Growing up in Bellingham, Washington, I developed a passion for elder care early on and it has since become an integral part of my life. After graduating from high school, I moved to Los Angeles where I attended Loyola Marymount University to study biochemistry and conduct research on the pathogenesis of misfolding protein diseases, namely, type II diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease with Dr. David A. Moffet. I became increasingly interested in the latter as I frequently volunteered at a convalescent home for the elderly through the Ignatians Service Organization. The relationships I’ve developed with the elderly throughout my life have subsequently inspired me to further understand the intersection of my research with the social sciences and explore the similarities and differences in senior care between the United Kingdom and the United States. At Cambridge, I will be pursuing a PhD in Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Christopher Dobson where I will investigate the mechanism through which tau protein aggregates with emphasis on methods of inhibition for the treatment of neurodegeneration. My experience here will allow me to expand upon my knowledge of amyloidogenic diseases and collaborate with students from around the world to foster intellectual diversity. Outside of the lab, I enjoy hiking, running, music, cooking, as well as volunteering with incarcerated youth, persons experiencing homelessness and environmental justice programs.

Previous Education

Loyola Marymount University Bachelor's Degree in Biochemistry 2019

Links

http://www.linkedin.com/in/dillonrinauro

Links

https://www.htw-berlin.de/hochschule/personen/person/?eid=10789
https://de.linkedin.com/in/oliver-rinne-70a5b031

In life, I’ve learned that the future doesn’t hang around and wait for us to prepare, we must seize the opportunities presented today and make the most of them. People and organizations must constantly learn and adapt. At Cambridge, I will focus on looking at how hierarchical relationships in an organization affect learning, specifically, how a group steeped in tradition and based on power relationships can adapt to the changing world around it and prove successful in the future.

As an undergraduate studying Natural Sciences at UCL I have been able to explore both Physics and Chemistry from a unique, interdisciplinary perspective. The strong research base of the university quickly engaged me in various research projects, all centred around science on the nanoscale. Following on from this experience, I am now studying with the CDT in Nanosciences at Cambridge. After a first year of rotations, I have now settled on a PhD project in silicon-based quantum computing. The capabilities of scalable quantum computers promise to help in the development of new materials and medicines and have many applications in data management and optimisation of hard to tackle systems. They are expected to impact a vast number of industries and are likely to lead to cheaper, more accessible technologies.

Previous Education

University College London Physics and Inorganic Chem. 2019

Born and raised in Mixco, Guatemala, I had only traveled to a handful of places until, at age 17, I was awarded a scholarship to attend UWC Red Cross Nordic in Norway. UWC would be the start of a transformative six-year journey that took me to academic institutions in 3 different continents and allowed me to visit over 30 distinct cities. These experiences, combined with the knowledge I acquired through my degree in Civil Engineering at Brown University, awoke my curiosity about the impact that the built environment has on the natural context and its inhabitants. Therefore, I became increasingly interested in the concepts surrounding high performance buildings and sustainable design. After graduating from Brown in 2012, I came back to Guatemala where I have been at the forefront of the local green building movement, working as the Engineering and Sustainability Coordinator for an architectural firm, and specializing on the LEED certification program. More recently, intrigued by how the ideas behind green buildings can be extrapolated to entire cities, I cofounded the Guatemalan Network for Sustainable Cities, where I currently serve as Research Director. I look forward to joining the MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development at Cambridge, with the conviction that it will enable me to tackle the ever more complex problems that engineers face in the process of finding sustainable solutions. I hope to use this knowledge to help build better cities in my home country.

Previous Education

Brown University

I am currently a resident physician in Child Neurology at Stanford. For my PhD in Clinical Biochemistry, I researched genetic forms of insulin resistance, an area I continued to work in at Harvard during my MD studies.

I was born in Singapore in 1988 and was raised in Sydney, Australia. From 2007–2010, I undertook a BSc. (Adv) Hons. at the University of Sydney, Australia, for which I was awarded first class honours and the University Medal in Physical/Organic Chemistry. In 2012 I obtained an MSc. in polymer chemistry from Sydney University under the supervision of Professors Sebastien Perrier and Maxwell J. Crossley. From 2013 to 2016, I was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to undertake PhD studies under Professor Jonathan Nitschke at the University of Cambridge. My PhD thesis explored the covalent post-assembly modification of metallosupramolecular architectures.

From February 2017-2019, I undertook a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Stevens Group at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. My work focused on the preparation of stimuli-responsive synthetic biomaterials for accelerating the healing of chronic skin wounds.

From June 2019, I will join the faculty at the University of Sydney's school of chemistry as a Discovery Early Career Research Award Fellow, funded by the Australian Research Council. My work will focus on stimuli-responsive self-assembled polymers.

Previous Education

University of Sydney MSc., Polymer Chemistry 2012
University of Sydney BSc. Adv (Hons 1M), Physical–Organic Chemistry 2010