22 Women Named Gates Cambridge Scholars

Each year 40 Americans are awarded Gates Cambridge Scholarships. The awards pay for graduate study at Cambridge University in England. The scholarships were established in 2000 with a $210 million endowment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Of the 40 Gates Cambridge Scholars from America who will begin study in England this fall, 22 are women. Here are brief biographies of the women selected from a field of 750 applicants.

(Top row, L to R) Jane Abbottsmith, Sarah Armitage, Mia Bennett, Rachel Bolten, Brittany Chao, Camille Cole, Evelyn Denham, Elizabeth Evans, Hilary Fabich, Samantha Godwin, and Grecia Gonzalez. (Bottom row, L to R) Alison Greggor, Allison Hinckley, Madeline Huberth, Marie Rose Katia Mehu, Eileen Moison, Sarah Mummah, Alexandra Reider, Brielle Stark, Victoria Tobolsky, Elizabeth Wilder, and Ke Wu.

Jane Abbottsmith from Cincinnati is a senior at Princeton University. She will study for a master’s degree in theology and religious studies at Cambridge and investigate contemporary questions of Christian moral duty.

Sarah Armitage of Concord, Massachusetts, is a history major at Yale University. At Cambridge she plans on studying the municipalization of social services in 1920s and 1930s Britain.

Mia Bennett is a 2010 graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles where she majored in political science and European studies. At Cambridge she intends to pursue a master’s degree in polar studies and to go on to obtain a Ph.D. in geography.

Rachel Bolten is a 2010 graduate of Princeton University. She majored in English and American studies. She plans to study the Depression-era British Mass Observation Project while at Cambridge.

Brittany Chao, from Westford, Massachusetts, is a biology major at Cornell University. She is interested in the fields of disease pathogenesis and immunology and plans on a career developing vaccines or therapeutics.

Camille Cole is a senior at Pomona College. At Cambridge, she plans on continuing her undergraduate research on the nineteenth-century political, cultural, and environmental interactions between the British and Ottoman empires and the Ma’dan (marsh-dwellers) in the marshes of southern Iraq.

Evelyn Denham, from Davidson, North Carolina, is a senior at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. At Cambridge, she plans on studying European literature and culture, concentrating on early modern German.

Elizabeth Evans is the daughter of a U.S. Parks Service ranger. She is a senior at Occidental College. For her master’s degree in environment, society and development she will study poverty alleviation and conservation interventions.

Hilary Fabich is a chemical engineering graduate of Montana State University. She plans on pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Cambridge.

Samantha Godwin is from Washington, D.C. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University College London and earned a law degree at Georgetown University. She will pursue a Ph.D. at Cambridge focusing her research on the legal status of children.

Grecia Gonzalez is the daughter of Nicaraguan immigrants who settled in La Puente, California. She is a senior at Harvard University pursuing a degree in chemical and physical biology and conducting research on HIV. She will study for a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Cambridge.

Alison Greggor is a native of Novato, California. As a student at the University of California at Berkeley, she focused on studying animal behavior. At Cambridge, she will pursue a Ph.D. in experimental psychology and conduct research on the area’s population of jackdaws.

Allison Hinckley, from Portland, Oregon, is studying chemical engineering with an interest in sustainable energy. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, her research focuses on nanoengineered fuel cells. At Cambridge, she will study for a master’s degree in micro- and nanotechnology enterprise. She speaks four languages and three dialects of Arabic.

Madeline Huberth is a native of Monroe, New York. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan where she majored in cello performance and interdisciplinary physics. She will study for a master’s degree in music studies at Cambridge conducting research on sound quality under various hearing conditions.

Marie Rose Katia Mehu is an appellate level prosecutor for the state of Arizona. She has represented the state in more than 500 criminal appeals. Mehu will study for an LL.M. degree in international law at Cambridge.

Eileen Moison, from Glenmoore, Pennsylvania, is studying biochemistry and business at the University of Pennsylvania. She will pursue a master’s degree in biochemistry at Cambridge.

Sarah Mummah is a graduate of Stanford University where she majored in human biology. While in college she founded the nonprofit organization, DreamCatchers which tutored and mentored low-income middle school students. After graduation she received a Fulbright grant to conduct public health research in Mexico. In England, she will study for a master’s degree in public health.

Alexandra Reider is from San Francisco. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley where she studied comparative literature and French. She currently is teaching English in Cherbourg, France. At Cambridge she will explore medieval culture and literature.

Brielle Stark is a native of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, but now lives in Ohio. She is a senior at Bryn Mawr College where she majors in psychology with a concentration in neural and behavioral science. At Cambridge, she will work toward a Ph.D. in clinical neurosciences and conduct research on the recovery of language after a stroke.

Victoria Tobolsky is a graduate of Princeton University where she conducted research on the skeletal evolution of the human family tree. At Cambridge, she will pursue a master’s degree in human evolutionary studies with the goal of one day becoming a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.

Elizabeth Wilder, a native of Tucson, Arizona, is a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where she majored in English. She currently is teaching English at the University of Montenegro. She will study Victorian literature at Cambridge.

Ke Wu is a native of Wuhan, China, but grew up in Arizona. She is a graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in biochemistry. She currently is teaching in an inner-city high school in Los Angeles. She will pursue a master’s degree in politics, development, and democratic education as a Gates Cambridge Scholar.