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The similarities found between humans and seemingly unrelated organisms are often astonishing. My research on Drosophila immunity has furthered the parallel between mammalian and insect host defense systems, once again promoting the fruit fly as a viable model for human pathways and disease. Besides research, I’m interested in the public face of science: the way that science is portrayed through the media, the way it influences politics and the way it is governed through public policy.

Previous Education

University of California (San Diego) BS Molecular Biology, MS Developmental Biology 2000

Caroline is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College. Her research focuses on cognitive neuroscience approaches to memory, perception, and neurodiversity.

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Caroline received her BA from Columbia University in 2009, where she studied neuroscience and philosophy. She received her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2013, as a Gates-Cambridge Scholar and NIH-Cambridge Fellow. At Cambridge, Caroline worked in the labs of Dr. Chris Baker at the National Institutes of Health and Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen at Cambridge. She performed her postdoctoral research in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT with Dr. Nancy Kanwisher, where she held a junior fellowship in the Harvard Society of Fellows. Caroline was named a fellow of the American Academy of Achievement (2014), a NARSAD Young Investigator of the Brain and Behavior Foundation (2015), and a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (2016).

Previous Education

Columbia University

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join the Gates Cambridge community as an MPhil student in Sociology. Currently, my work for the Rio de Janeiro-based news platform RioOnWatch.org involves coordinating research on the opportunities for media to challenge dominant narratives about Rio's historically stigmatized favela communities. This is a particularly important moment for activists in Rio due to the immense media spotlight brought by the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Intensified global media scrutiny offers unique leverage for marginalized voices to amplify their struggles for change, at the same time as forced removals and Games-focused public spending serve to marginalize some populations further. At Cambridge, I'll be expanding my current work by exploring the narratives and forms of media produced by activists across a number of sports mega-events. As I'm British by nationality but have lived largely in the United States since age seven, I'm looking forward to continuing my studies in the UK and having more regular access to authentic Cadbury's chocolate.

Previous Education

Harvard University

It was a privilege to enjoy a civilian college experience and to get an MPhil in Economics at the same time. I now return to the Army, but I will always be honored to have met such amazing people at Cambridge. I'm sure both my academic experience and my new friendships will be very important over the rest of my life.

Dr. Robinson is co-founder and CEO of Monopar Therapeutics. In 2010, Dr. Robinson co-founded and was CEO of Tactic Pharmaceuticals. He helped lead Tactic through a successful sale of its lead compound. His passion is leveraging his interests in medicine, science, and finance to help bring new therapeutics to patients. The compound Dr. Robinson researched at Northwestern University as an undergraduate, and published on in Science, is currently in a Phase II clinical trial for Wilson Disease. Among his previous experiences, Dr. Robinson in 2008 worked at Onyx Pharmaceuticals in their Nexavar marketing division, from 2008-2009 as a co-manager of a healthcare clinic in San Jose CA, from 2004 to present as Founder and President of an undergraduate research focused non-profit, and from 2006 to 2007 at Bear Stearns investment bank. He was previously on the board of Wilson Therapeutics, and is currently on the board of Northwestern University's Chemistry of Life Processes Institute. Dr. Robinson graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University, earned a master's degree in International Health Policy and Health Economics from the London School of Economics on a Fulbright Scholarship, an MBA from Cambridge University on a Gates Scholarship, and an MD from Stanford University.

My interest in mythology grew out of time I spent volunteering at a Shetland marine mammal sanctuary after graduating from Amherst College. Folklore I learned there showed me how mythological and folk traditions act as frameworks for understanding our relationship to nature and wildlife. This interest has fueled much of my research and writing, and I have become interested, too, in how poetry both represents and forges connections to the land around us. At Cambridge, my research will explore how Ted Hughes repurposed and retold early Celtic mythology in his poetry, and I will also chart connections between Ted Hughes’s mythic and personal poetry. Finding metaphors for personal experience within mythic narratives—rife, as they are, with shape shifting and magical apparitions— is, I believe, a way to examine literature’s transformative potential. Mythology brims, too, with quests to rid the land of curses—to make fields prosperous again–- and I am interested in how Ted Hughes used mythic traditions as templates for writing about our own need to preserve the natural world. I earned my MFA in poetry at Johns Hopkins University, and, while studying there, I began writing a book of poems inspired by my work with marine mammals and my studies of folklore. Since graduation, I have been teaching writing in Baltimore and working on a novel centered around the history of Shetland’s Antarctic whaling. I am overjoyed to be joining the Gates Cambridge community.

Previous Education

Amherst College
Johns Hopkins University

As a Gates Scholar, I studied for a PhD in the department of Chemistry in the laboratory of Professor Michele Vendruscolo, where I worked on developing computational methods to determine protein structures and conformational ensembles that describe the motions of dynamic proteins. These techniques were utilized investigate the processes of protein folding and misfolding.

After my studies at Cambridge I worked as an NSF postdoctoral in the laboratory of Professor Arthur G. Palmer III at Columbia University, where I studied the role of conformational dynamics in protein function with NMR spectroscopy and molecular simulations.

I then worked as a scientist at D.E. Shaw Research, where I developed new physical models that have enabled the accurate simulation of intrinsically disordered proteins.

As an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Computational Molecular Science at Dartmouth College, my group utilizes molecular simulations to obtain atomistic descriptions of the molecular recognition mechanisms of intrinsically disordered proteins. We aim to use insights form these simulations to understand, predict and ultimately design dynamic and heterogeneous binding interactions of disordered proteins, with a goal of developing new avenues to therapeutic interventions in diseases associated with disordered protein dysfunction through the rational design of biologic and small molecule inhibitors.

Previous Education

Pomona College BA Chemistry 2006

I grew up in North-West Tasmania and attended the University of Tasmania in Hobart for my BSc in Physics/Applied Mathematics and BSc (Hons) in Physics. During this time, I became interested in the supermassive black holes found in galaxy centres known as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), which play a large role in the formation and evolution of galaxies over cosmic time. For my PhD, I will be simulating the processes that govern accretion onto these objects, and how different instabilities generated during accretion may lead to a twinkling effect at X-ray wavelengths. The findings from this project will help inform our understanding of the behaviour of weakly-magnetised plasmas and turbulence in fluids, which may have far-reaching consequences beyond the field of AGN. I will also be continuing on with my second passion, which is to find new ways to share the wonders of science with as many people as possible, particularly students in our oft-forgotten rural communities. I believe that all students should have the necessary opportunities to forge their own future, regardless of wealth or circumstance, and that the provision of scholarships and additional academic and pastoral supports is key to closing this societal gap.

Previous Education

University of Tasmania Physics 2018
University of Tasmania Physics, Applied Mathematics 2017

Links

https://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/people/Payton.Rodman
https://www.paytonelyce.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/payton-rodman

I grew up in the beautiful city of Pilar in Argentina but left to pursue a BSc Politics and Philosophy at LSE. As an undergraduate, I became particularly intrigued by questions regarding the nature of goodness and evil and dedicated my dissertation to the (apparent) incompatibility between the existence of God and the evil in our world. During my MSc Political Theory at LSE, I continued to inquire into the intricate nature of moral properties and their normativity through the close study of Kant, Hobbes, Marx and Aristotle. I ultimately came to think that the normativity of ethics might not spring from rationality but from requirements of interpersonal relations. With this in mind, I devoted my MPhil Philosophy research at Cambridge to uncovering what love and friendship are all about. I will continue this study in my PhD by asking whether acting ethically is a necessary presupposition of acting with someone. I hope my project will offer a framework to understand not only the source of the normativity of moral demands but also the moral dimension of our personal and political relations with each other. I am humbled to join the Gates Cambridge community and look forward to working with such a talented group of scholars.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Philosophy 2021
London School of Economics & Political Science (Un Political theory 2020
London School of Economics & Political Science (Un Politics and Philosophy 2019

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/frodriguezx2
https://facundorodriguez.site

In 2007, I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in Philosophy and Bioethics. At Cambridge, I completed an MPhil and am currently pursuing a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science. My research focuses on the use and regulation of human tissue in the United States and the United Kingdom. I am also pursuing a JD at Yale Law School where I serve as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law and Ethics.

As an undergraduate at Yale, I studied the history of relations between the United States and Mexico in the 20th century. I focused particularly on the movement of people and ideas during the early decades of the 20th century and the Cold War years. By highlighting the historical fluctuations in migration, my work hopes to frame current conversations about migrations across borderlands. At Cambridge, I will interrogate Mexico’s cultural response to decolonization movements around the world during the 1960s and 1970s. While scholars have written about the cultural exchange between countries like Cuba, South Africa, and Vietnam during decolonization, it is necessary to continue this dialogue to include more movements. Outside classes, I have developed an immense appreciation for museums and galleries. These public-facing institutions shape the way societies engage and discuss ideas. To connect my research with broader audiences, I have devoted time to working in a variety of museum spaces. In the summer of 2016, I developed a temporary exhibit about the segregation of Mexican children in 1920 Topeka, Kansas. The exhibit was researched and funded by the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. I hope to maintain this tradition of breaking past academic circles by seeking novel ways to discuss important moments of the past with increasingly larger audiences. It is an incredible honour to join the Gates Cambridge community.

Previous Education

Yale University BA & MA in Global History 2019

There is perhaps too little concern for the study of hope. Much of our efforts are devoted to the comprehension and contemplation of violence, to the analysis of war and its destructive force. But equally relevant is to recognise that even in scenarios where violence is present, there are stories of people who try to build something different. And that these are accounts worth paying attention to. Growing up amidst Mexico’s “War on Drugs” has deeply shaped my life and gaze as a researcher. It has led me to analyse the global dynamics that favour conflict and the legal frameworks of war, but also to the study of local peace processes linked to environmental protection. For my PhD in Development Studies, I seek to explore the emergence of collective action to address socio-environmental threats. In a global context of interrelated social and environmental crises, I want to understand how people come together, how transformative alternatives are forged, and how they may help repair the social fabric, promote healing, and enact justice. With this research, I wish to learn from local actors and everyday resistance and contribute to the efforts to outline a different future.

Previous Education

University of Amsterdam Conflict Resolution Governance 2020
Universidad Iberoamericana International Relations 2017

Experiences with the lived effects of psychiatric and neurodegenerative illnesses have largely shaped my curiosity to understand the intricacies of the human brain and aspiration to help those who suffer from insults to its fragility. As an undergraduate student at McGill University majoring in Neuroscience, I became involved in research ranging from brain plasticity, to Alzheimer’s disease, to computational genetics, to factors influencing the etiology of schizophrenia. Particularly, I developed an interest in using computational tools to characterize and quantify alterations in brain anatomy related to different disorders of the brain. At Cambridge, I will pursue a PhD in Psychiatry, with a focus on using a multimodal approach combining brain structural and functional data and cognitive measures to explore the neural mechanisms for the manifestation of hallucinations in schizophrenia. An understanding of the phenomenon of hallucinations has far-reaching implications for treatment strategies, commonalities between disorders, and insights into the nature of consciousness. Due to the inseparable integration of clinical observations and scientific questions, I ultimately hope to complete a medical degree after my PhD, with the overarching goal of translating neuroimaging findings into clinical practice. Academics aside, I practice acroyoga, rock climbing, and figure drawing. I’m humbled and excited to join this diverse community of scholars.

Previous Education

McGill University

I will complete an MPhil in International Relations at Cambridge, writing a thesis on terrorism in North Africa, specifically al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Afterwards, I will serve as an Infantry Officer in the US Army, eventually hoping to work in Africa in Special Forces or as a Defense Attaché. One day, I hope to help craft US policy towards that troubled continent.