Two Penn State students selected as Gates Cambridge scholars

University Park, Pa. -- One day in early February, Penn State senior Gillean Denny opened her University WebMail account and saw an e-mail entitled “Urgent: Gates Cambridge.” She expected to see a simple follow-up to the Gates Cambridge Scholarship interview she had just participated in the previous weekend in Annapolis, Md.

The full scholarship, which is offered worldwide and places graduate students at the world-renowned University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, is an extremely competitive and distinguished program. To Denny’s utter shock, the e-mail message began, “I am pleased to inform you....”

After a lengthy application and interview process, Denny, an architecture major, and chemistry major Rebekah McLaughlin have both been named Gates Cambridge Scholars. They are two of only 48 scholars from the United States to be selected this year.

On Feb. 12, shortly after Denny's e-mail notification, Penn State’s University Fellowships Office (UFO) was honored to host two important guests from the Gates Cambridge Trust to speak about the opportunities it offers.

Gordon Johnson, provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust, deputy vice chancellor of the University of Cambridge and president of its Wolfson College, and James Smith, executive officer of the Gates Cambridge Trust and senior member of Wolfson College, oversee the entire scholarship trust fund initiated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Johnson and Smith’s visit was the first they made to any university in the U.S.

Johnson, who is academically acclaimed for his personal research on the history of India and also on the recent history of the University of Cambridge itself, spoke at length about the vision and standards that the Trust has for the Gates Cambridge Program. He encouraged all motivated students to consider participating in the program, citing the decided challenge of application as an honor worth pursuing for its own sake, regardless of admission to the program.

The Trust seeks academically and socially engaged students of high academic achievement and vision and provides a means for them to further their dreams and academic abilities for an internationally diverse, academically challenging venue. Johnson was pleased to recognize Denny and McLaughlin as two ideal examples of Gates Cambridge scholars.

McLaughlin, originally from Irwin, Pa., was “flattered and surprised” when she received word of her award. Her academic record within Penn State’s Schreyer Honors College and previous research experience at Penn State and in Boston have given her a unique, strong background to prepare her for a career in science and develop practical ways to benefit others through that work.

She hopes that her research will help to develop and further the practical application of magnetic resonance imaging techniques in a medical diagnostic setting. She has been communicating electronically with her future Cambridge faculty instructors, and she looks forward to a strong collaborative student/teacher relationship with them.

Denny is an architecture major originally from Springfield, Pa. She is interested in sustainable design innovation in the urban environment and plans to pursue her master of philosophy degree in environmental studies. She looks forward to working with peers from a variety of disciplines and research approaches. She has been in steady communication with the head of her graduate program since April 2006, during which time her “anticipation and determination grew” as her application went from “vague daydream” to “lovely reality.” Along the way, she found that everyone who she interacted with in the program was “more than willing to help me in any way that would enable me to succeed.”

Just as important, she found Tineke Cunning and her UFO staff to be an invaluable, encouraging asset. “During the interviews in Annapolis I had an opportunity to speak with my fellows, many of whom said their schools did not prepare them [the way that the UFO did], and they regretted the loss,” said Denny. “I arrived there confident and left optimistic.” It’s a sentiment echoed by McLaughlin, who states that she is very grateful for the “extremely helpful” application aid from Cunning and her staff. McLaughlin “would definitely recommend using them as a resource when applying for a fellowship like this.” Denny agreed, urging her peers to “take advantage of the UFO in every way possible. They make it clear that they are there for you and want to get you wherever it is you aim to go. And most important, they achieve.”

Story by Josh Ambrose, undergraduate intern in the Office of University Fellowships.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

From Penn State Live  located at http://live.psu.edu/