Includes Indian American student Sampurna Chakravarti.
By Dileep Thekkethil
Three Indian-origin students are among the top 55 scholars selected for this year’s Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which is given to scholars who have excelled in their academics as well as social commitment.
The Indians selected for the scholarship are Sagnik Dutta, Sampurna Chakrabarti, and Malavika Nair.
The new batch will join 35 US scholars selected in January to form the class of 2016 for pursuing their international scholarship at the prestigious University of Cambridge in the UK this October.
The other students selected for the scholarship program come from 29 countries, including Sudan and Rwanda. The batch of 2016 scholars represents 68 universities. Out of this, 18 universities are sending their first Gates Cambridge Scholar.
Among the 55 scholars, 41 of them will pursue a Ph.D. and the other 14 will do their one year M. Phil program.
Sagnik Dutta will pursue his Ph.D in Politics & International Studies at the Corpus Christi College under the University of Cambridge.
Dutta, who is a journalist by profession, said “In my PhD thesis at the Department of Politics and International Studies, I propose to look at the relationship between religion and constitutionalism in the context of Muslim personal law reform in India. I propose to combine a discourse analysis of the judgments of the Supreme Court with an ethnographic study of sharia courts run by women in Mumbai to examine the discursive constitution of religion and a liberal ‘rights’ regime.”
Sampurna Chakrabarti will join Dutta to pursue PhD in Pharmacology at Corpus Christi College. She is currently doing her graduation in B.S. in Biological Sciences and B.A. in Psychology from The State University of New York at Buffalo.
Chakrabarti’s bio says: “My research will help understand arthritis and pain pathologies that affect millions of people worldwide. I am also passionate about educational equality and hope to work with organizations around the world, especially in developing countries, to make quality education available to all. I am honoured and excited to become a member of the vibrant and compassionate Gates Cambridge community where scholars from across the world share the vision of making a difference in the world.”
Malavika Nair will join Churchill College to pursue her PhD in Materials Science. She was a student of University of Cambridge and did Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Materials Science and Metallurgy under the Natural Sciences Tripos.
Her bio read: By combining experimental and computational techniques, my research aims to probe the architectural cues that will enable us to successfully obtain cellular selectivity in three dimensional environments for tissue regeneration. Collagen scaffolds are particularly exciting in this regard – not only do they bridge the gaps formed by diseased tissue to provide mechanical support as well as the potential for cell colonisation, they are also bioresorbable, leaving little to no trace of the scaffold after the desired tissue has regenerated. Outside of developing a vested interest in ice-templated scaffolds, I also enjoy exploring linguistic etymology, hiking and having a good chat about almost anything under the sun. I am also a coffee and music enthusiast – unfortunately, without much talent for the latter!”
According to the press release of Gates Cambridge: “The Gates Cambridge Scholarship aims to identify and select applicants who are academically outstanding and are likely to be transformative leaders for the benefit of others in all fields of endeavour.”
The 55 scholars were selected from a pool of 3,730 applicants who went through several stages of screenings and elimination based on their intellectual ability, commitment to improving the lives of others, leadership skills, and academic eligibility.
Various departments of Cambridge University recommended 242 candidates for the prestigious scholarship program, out of which 101 were interviewed by a panel of four professors from different departments in the university.