Thirty new US Gates Cambridge scholars will take up their places at Cambridge this Autumn, a decade since the international postgraduate scholarship programme started.

The 30 students from 21 US States and 31 US colleges and universities (a number of scholars have attended more than one university) were whittled down from an initial field of around 800 applicants and an interview shortlist of 80.

The students, who will study for Masters or PhD degrees at the University of Cambridge, were selected at interviews in New York in early February by academics and others from Cambridge and several US universities.

The scholarship programme was set up in 2000 and funded by a $210 million donation to the University of Cambridge by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, set up by Bill and Melinda Gates (pictured at the 2009 Cambridge Honorary Degree Congregation).

It enables academically brilliant postgraduates from outside the UK who have a strong interest in social leadership and responsibility to study at the University of Cambridge, which celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2009.

Between 2001 and 2010 there have been almost 1,000 Gates Scholars from over 90 countries. The aim is to set up an international network of scholars and alumni who will have a transformative effect on society.

Over the past 10 years, the spread of universities represented has been broadening. For example, this year sees the first Gates scholars from eight institutions: Keele University in the UK, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, University of Akron, University of Nebraska, University of Rochester, Virginia Military Institute, Wake Forest University and Yeshiva University.

The 30 American Scholars will be joined by 60 Gates Scholars from other parts of the world who will be selected after interviews in late March 2010.

Professor Robert Lethbridge, Provost (CEO) of the Gates Cambridge Trust, said: "We are delighted with our new American Gates Scholars selected in New York.

"Not only will these talented young people engage fully with the University and Colleges while in Cambridge, but they have also been chosen for their likely future influence and engagement with some of the world's most pressing problems.

"Ten years after the arrival of the first Gates scholars to Cambridge we are just as delighted to be welcoming these new scholars."

Brief biographies of the scholars are available at https://www.gatescambridge.org/.
 

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